When your flight is canceled or seriously delayed, the airline may owe you cold, hard cash—here’s how to get it.
Among unseasonable storms, staffing shortages, and the occasional government shutdown, air travel has served up plenty of reminders that flights don’t always go as planned. When your air itinerary falls apart, the difference between eating the cost and getting your money back often comes down to one thing: knowing what you’re owed.
Know your rights
For domestic flights—plus international flights departing from or arriving in the U.S.—you’re covered by U.S. Department of Transportation rules. Under DOT policy, if your flight is canceled and you choose not to travel, you’re entitled to a refund. No questions asked. It doesn’t even matter whether the cancellation was the airline’s fault or Mother Nature’s.
And the policy applies to any unflown portion of your ticket. Say you book a weekend round-trip from Washington, D.C. to Boston, and your outbound flight is canceled. If you scrap the whole trip, the airline owes you a refund for the entire itinerary. But if you make it to Boston and a storm cancels your return, taking the train home means you’re owed a refund for just the return leg. The catch? You have to walk away
Here’s the fine print that trips people up: you’re only owed a refund if you decline rebooking and don’t travel. If the airline cancels your 8 a.m. flight, rebooks you on a 1 p.m. flight the next day, and you take that (painfully late) flight, the airline doesn’t owe you a dime.
Delays count, too
Refund rules aren’t just for cancellations. If your flight is significantly delayed or the airline makes a significant schedule change—and you choose not to travel—you’re owed a refund for the unused portion of your ticket. And Congress has defined “significant”: a domestic flight arriving at least three hours late, or an international flight arriving at least six hours late.
Your refund should come to you (quickly)
Under the FAA Reauthorization Act passed in 2024, airlines must notify you when a disruption makes you refund-eligible, then issue the refund promptly and automatically—within seven days if you paid by credit card, or 20 days for other payment methods. Translation: you shouldn’t have to fight for your money.
Don’t get vouchered
Airlines are allowed to dangle a voucher or miles instead of a refund, but refund-eligible passengers don’t have to bite. You can insist on cash, and the airline is required to clearly tell you that’s an option.
Should you ever take the miles? Only if the math works. Say you’re owed $217 for a canceled American Airlines ticket, and the airline offers you 10,000 miles instead. AAdvantage miles are currently worth about 1.4 cents apiece, so that’s roughly $140. Pass. But 50,000 miles (worth about $700 by the same math)? Now we’re talking. Just remember that airlines devalue miles over time, so if you do accept them, use them soon.
Meals, hotels, and other maybes
Compensation for meals, an unexpected hotel stay, or that midnight ride to the airport hotel falls into a different category entirely. Many airlines make promises about these on the DOT’s airline customer service dashboard, but they’re goodwill gestures, not guarantees—and they generally apply only to “controllable” disruptions like maintenance issues or airline staffing problems. Don’t count on a hotel voucher when a winter storm or air traffic control is to blame.
One last thing: if you believe an airline hasn’t followed the rules or has unfairly denied your refund, you can file a complaint with the DOT.
Twist’s Take: If your flight is canceled or significantly delayed—for any reason—and you choose not to travel, the airline owes you an automatic cash refund. Don’t settle for a voucher or miles unless the math clearly works in your favor.