When an airline cancels your flight and doesn’t offer you a refund, here are four ways that may get your money back.
What’s the law on refunds for canceled flights?
If an airline cancels your flight to or from the U.S., you’re owed a refund to your original form of payment. Ditto for any extra charges, like checked bag or seat assignment fees.
You don’t have to take it from me; take it from the Department of Transportation federal regulations:
“If your flight is cancelled and you choose to cancel your trip as a result, you are entitled to a refund for the unused transportation–even for non-refundable tickets. You are also entitled to a refund for any bag fee that you paid, and any extras you may have purchased, such as a seat assignment.”
In April, the DOT made clear this rule applies even during the coronavirus pandemic.
The individual airline contracts of carriage (these are the agreements that spell out the rights and responsibilities between a specific airline and its passengers) also provide for refunds in the event of flight cancellation:
American Airlines
“We will refund a non-refundable ticket (or the value of the unused segment of your trip) to the original form of payment if we cancel your flight.”
Delta Airlines
“If there is a flight cancellation, diversion, delay of greater than 90 minutes, or that will cause a passenger to miss connections, Delta will (at passenger’s request) cancel the remaining ticket and refund the unused portion of the ticket and unused ancillary fees in the original form of payment in accordance with Rule 22.”
Southwest Air
“Delays or Involuntary Cancellations. If a Passenger’s scheduled transportation is canceled, terminated, or delayed before the Passenger has reached his/her final destination as a result of a flight cancellation, Carrier-caused missed connection, flight delay, or omission of a scheduled stop, Carrier will either transport the Passenger at no additional charge on another of Carrier’s flights, refund the fare for the unused transportation in accordance with the form of payment utilized for the Ticket, or provide a credit for such amount toward the purchase of future travel.”
United
“Force Majeure Event–In the event of a Force Majeure Event, UA without notice, may cancel, terminate, divert, postpone, or delay any flight, right of carriage or reservations (whether or not confirmed) and determine if any departure or landing should be made, without any liability on the part of UA. UA may re-accommodate Passengers on another available UA flight or on another carrier or combination of carriers, or via ground transportation, or may refund any unused portions of the Ticket in the form of a travel certificate.”
(United’s policy appears to give it wiggle room, but the DOT regulation controls. If the flight is canceled, you’re entitled to a refund. Period.)
Note: These rules apply only to U.S. carriers and flights to and from the U.S. Flights to foreign countries on foreign carriers are subject to different rules. For example, Canada allows airlines to offer only vouchers for canceled flights.
What if only part of your flight itinerary is canceled?
What if you have a roundtrip flight booked with two legs each way, and the airline cancels one of the legs on your return flight, with the other three flights still scheduled?
You’re owed a refund for the whole trip. You booked a roundtrip (not 3/4 of a roundtrip), and as that’s no longer what the airline is providing you, you are entitled to your money back.
Why aren’t the airlines offering refunds?
Many passengers are reporting that after flights are canceled the only refund option their airline is telling them about is a travel voucher. In some case the travel voucher is automatically issued without the passenger specifically choosing it.
If a refund is your right after a flight is canceled, why aren’t the airlines telling you about it? Easy answer: Money.
Airlines are in a tough financial position at the moment; not enough people are flying and they’ve got liquidity issues. So when airlines cancel flights, most are doing what they can to convince people to accept a voucher rather than a cash refund.
These airlines essentially want consumers to give them an interest-free loan. They get an added bonus if you don’t use the voucher; then the loan becomes a gift (just like the remaining balance on all those gift cards you’ve lost or forgotten about).
If your flight gets canceled and your airline doesn’t readily offer a refund, how can you get your money back?
You have four options.
1. Call the airline and ask for a cash refund.
Politely—remember what your Mom told you about honey versus vinegar—but firmly insist on it. It may be helpful to cite the Department of Transportation rule above.
Don’t get mad at the person on the phone. Like us, many airline employees are in an tough situation right now—afraid for their job security, overworked, and dealing with lots of frustrated (and ticked off) passengers.
Do remember airlines can’t charge you a cancellation or other administrative fee for refunds on flights to or from the U.S. You’re entitled to 100% of the amount you paid.
2. Dispute the charge on your credit card.
One of the benefits to making a purchase with a credit card is you can dispute charges for various reasons. You initiate the dispute either online (find the charge you want to dispute on your online statement and follow instructions from there) or by calling the number on the back of your credit card.
Here are some examples of when a credit card dispute is appropriate:
-You didn’t receive what you paid for
-The item you received was defective
-You didn’t authorize a purchase
-You were charged twice for the same item
-You were charged a recurring fee after canceling the service or product
-You were charged the wrong amount
In the case of airline tickets, the basis for the dispute would be not receiving what you paid for; that is, a round-trip (or one-way) ticket to your destination.
If you want to initiate a charge dispute, here are some things to keep in mind:
-You’re supposed to reach out to the merchant to resolve the issue, and only dispute the charge once you’ve hit a brick wall.
(I’ve had the credit card company accept the fact I’ve waited on hold for hours without someone picking up as hitting the brick wall.)
-You often have only 60 days from when the purchase was made to dispute a charge.
(I’ve had credit card companies extend this deadline 60 days from when the service was to be provided; for example, a plane ticket bought in January for travel in September could be disputed when the flight was canceled in August.)
Note: Credit card companies are undoubtedly being inundated with charge disputes for unrefunded airline tickets. See this note that was recently added to the Chase website section on disputing charges:
“If your dispute is related to travel, we recommend that you start with your travel provider because many airlines and hotels are being flexible about impacted areas. If they can’t help, submit a dispute online and we’ll work with you to try and find you a solution.”
Will a credit card company find in your favor if the airline has offered a travel voucher in lieu of a refund? I don’t know, but the answer should be “yes”.
3. File a DOT complaint.
While this probably won’t get you an immediate resolution, you still can (and should) file a complaint with
the US Department of Transportation.
This isn’t just to blow off steam. These complaints count against the airlines (see, there is such a thing as a permanent record); if an airline accumulates enough of them, they may face a DOT enforcement action and, if found guilty, a fine. The DOT clarification about refunds being owed even if flights are canceled because of the coronavirus (see above) was prompted by hundreds of passenger complaints received during the last two weeks of March this year.
The one time I filed a DOT complaint, I received a non-automated reply from a specific person at the DOT. Two weeks later, the airline honored the award ticket I had booked two months prior that it had summarily canceled. Did the DOT complaint help? I don’t know, but it probably didn’t hurt.
4. Hope for a class action payout.
Plaintiff’s class action lawyers are going after the airlines for their failures to refund tickets for canceling flights. While most class actions that aren’t dismissed at the pretrial stage are resolved by pretrial settlement (if I’m talking like a plaintiff’s trial lawyer, it’s because I was one 😉), the process still takes time.
If your airline is a defendant—it looks as though actions have been initiated against most carriers—keep your eyes open for settlement news.
Twist’s Take: If an airline cancels your flight to or from the U.S., you’re entitled to a full refund. If a carrier tries to foist a voucher on you instead, don’t take it! Instead, call them up and ask for a refund, dispute the charge with your credit card provider, and file a DOT complaint.
