From DOT’s Website:
“Biden-Harris Administration
Announces Final Rule Requiring Automatic Refunds of Airline Tickets and
Ancillary Service Fees”
The Biden-Harris Administration
today announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has issued a
final rule that requires airlines to promptly provide passengers with automatic
cash refunds when owed. The new rule makes it easy for passengers to obtain
refunds when airlines cancel or significantly change their flights,
significantly delay their checked bags, or fail to provide the extra services
they purchased. “Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline
owes them - without headaches or haggling,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary
Pete Buttigieg. “Our new rule sets a new standard to require airlines to
promptly provide cash refunds to their passengers.” The
final rule creates certainty for consumers by defining the specific
circumstances in which airlines must provide refunds. Prior to this rule,
airlines were permitted to set their own standards for what kind of flight
changes warranted a refund. As a result, refund policies differed from airline
to airline, which made it difficult for passengers to know or assert their
refund rights. DOT also received complaints of some airlines revising and
applying less consumer-friendly refund policies during spikes in flight
cancellations and changes.
Under the rule, passengers are
entitled to a refund for:
Canceled or significantly
changed flights: Passengers will be entitled to a refund if their flight is
canceled or significantly changed, and they do not accept alternative
transportation or travel credits offered. For the first time, the rule defines
“significant change.” Significant changes to a flight include departure or
arrival times that are more than 3 hours domestically and 6 hours
internationally; departures or arrivals from a different airport; increases in
the number of connections; instances where passengers are downgraded to a lower
class of service; or connections at different airports or flights on different
planes that are less accessible or accommodating to a person with a disability.
Significantly delayed baggage
return: Passengers who file a mishandled baggage report will be entitled to
a refund of their checked bag fee if it is not delivered within 12 hours of
their domestic flight arriving at the gate, or 15-30 hours of their
international flight arriving at the gate, depending on the length of the
flight.
Extra services not provided:
Passengers will be entitled to a refund for the fee they paid for an extra
service — such as Wi-Fi, seat selection, or inflight entertainment — if an
airline fails to provide this service.
DOT’s final rule also makes it
simple and straightforward for passengers to receive the money they are owed.
Without this rule, consumers have to navigate a patchwork of cumbersome
processes to request and receive a refund — searching through airline websites
to figure out how make the request, filling out extra “digital paperwork,” or
at times waiting for hours on the phone. In addition, passengers would receive
a travel credit or voucher by default from some airlines instead of getting
their money back, so they could not use their refund to rebook on another
airline when their flight was changed or cancelled without navigating a
cumbersome request process.
The final rule improves the
passenger experience by requiring refunds to be:
Automatic: Airlines must
automatically issue refunds without passengers having to explicitly request
them or jump through hoops.
Prompt: Airlines and
ticket agents must issue refunds within seven business days of refunds becoming
due for credit card purchases and 20 calendar days for other payment methods.
Cash or original form of
payment: Airlines and ticket agents must provide refunds in cash or
whatever original payment method the individual used to make the purchase, such
as credit card or airline miles. Airlines may not substitute vouchers, travel
credits, or other forms of compensation unless the passenger affirmatively
chooses to accept alternative compensation.
Full amount: Airlines and
ticket agents must provide full refunds of the ticket purchase price, minus the
value of any portion of transportation already used. The refunds must include
all government-imposed taxes and fees and airline-imposed fees, regardless of
whether the taxes or fees are refundable to airlines.
The final rule also requires
airlines to provide prompt notifications to consumers affected by a cancelled
or significantly changed flight of their right to a refund of the ticket and
extra service fees, as well as any related policies.
In addition, in instances where
consumers are restricted by a government or advised by a medical professional
not to travel to, from, or within the United States due to a serious
communicable disease, the final rule requires that airlines must provide travel
credits or vouchers. Consumers may be required to provide documentary evidence
to support their request. Travel vouchers or credits provided by airlines must
be transferrable and valid for at least five years from the date of issuance.
The Department received a
significant number of complaints against airlines and ticket agents for
refusing to provide a refund or for delaying processing of refunds during and
after the COVID-19 pandemic. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, refund complaints
peaked at 87 percent of all air travel service complaints received by DOT.
Refund problems continue to make up a substantial share of the complaints that
DOT receives.
DOT’s Historic Record of
Consumer Protection Under the Biden-Harris Administration Under the
Biden-Harris Administration and Secretary Buttigieg, DOT has advanced the
largest expansion of airline passenger rights, issued the biggest fines against
airlines for failing consumers, and returned more money to passengers in
refunds and reimbursements than ever before in the Department’s history. Thanks
to pressure from Secretary Buttigieg and DOT’s flightrights.gov dashboard, all
10 major U.S. airlines guarantee free rebooking and meals, and nine guarantee
hotel accommodations when an airline issue causes a significant delay or
cancellation. These are new commitments the airlines added to their customer
service plans that DOT can legally ensure they adhere to and are displayed on
flightrights.gov. Since President Biden took office, DOT has helped
return more than $3 billion in refunds and reimbursements owed to airline
passengers – including over $600 million to passengers affected by the
Southwest Airlines holiday meltdown in 2022. Under Secretary Buttigieg, DOT has issued
over $164 million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection
violations. Between 1996 and 2020, DOT collectively issued less than $71
million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection violations. DOT
recently launched a new partnership with a bipartisan group of state attorneys
general to fast-track the review of consumer complaints, hold airlines
accountable, and protect the rights of the traveling public. In 2023,
the flight cancellation rate in the U.S. was a record low at under 1.2% — the
lowest rate of flight cancellations in over 10 years despite a record amount of
air travel. DOT is undertaking its first ever industry-wide review of
airline privacy practices and its first review of airline loyalty programs In
addition to finalizing the rules to require automatic refunds and protect
against surprise fees, DOT is also pursuing rulemakings that would:
Propose to ban family seating
junk fees and guarantee that parents can sit with their children for no extra
charge when they fly. Before President Biden and Secretary Buttigieg pressed
airlines last year, no airline committed to guaranteeing fee-free family
seating. Now, four airlines guarantee fee-free family seating, and the
Department is working on its family seating junk fee ban proposal. Propose to
make passenger compensation and amenities mandatory so that travelers are taken
care of when airlines cause flight delays or cancellations. Expand the rights for passengers who use
wheelchairs and ensure that they can travel safely and with dignity. The
comment period on this proposed rule closes on May 13, 2024. he final rule on
refunds can be found at https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/latest-news
and at regulations.gov, docket number DOT-OST-2022-0089. There are different
implementation periods in this final rule ranging from six months for airlines
to provide automatic refunds when owed to 12 months for airlines to provide
transferable travel vouchers or credits when consumers are unable to travel for
reasons related to a serious communicable disease.
Information about airline
passenger rights, as well as DOT’s rules, guidance and orders, can be found
at
https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer
^ This is Decades over-due. ^
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