December 27, 2022
What are your travel rights when the airline cancels your flight?
We’ve been seeing airport chaos across the country. Thousands of travelers stuck with canceled flights, no baggage and no chances of rebooking for days.
So what are your rights in this situation?
First — according to the federal government, if you purchased a ticket and the airline cancels your flight for any reason, including weather, you are entitled to a “prompt” refund. Now, “prompt” isn’t defined and it probably doesn’t mean on the spot. But it means you will get one soon.
But a refund may not immediately help if you’re stranded in a city that’s not your destination. So what about your other rights?
Well, that’s complicated and in the end it depends on *why* the flight was canceled or delayed. But there is a place to go to at least get a little more insight.
Department of Transportation’s customer service dashboard. You can go to see what you are entitled to based on which airline you’re booked with. You may be entitled to meals, hotel accommodation and ground transportation to that hotel. *but* those rights only kick in if the flight cancelation or delay was “controllable.” Controllable means it was caused by the airline. That can include crew problems, maintenance problems and technology problems.
We know – at least initially, many of these flight delays and cancelations were a result of the extreme weather. So those would be uncontrollable. But all the cancelations and delays that have happened in the days following may be controllable.
So who decides what’s controllable and what’s not? Generally the airlines do – but because of the horrendous customer service issues especially at Southwest and chaos at the airports, the Department of Transportation today — has decided to step in and will examine whether or not they’re controllable.
More from the Department of Transportation here.
