The US Department of Transportation (DoT) proposes to toughen rules on airline refunds and extend consumers’ rights to refunds for flights cancelled or “significantly changed” months in advance.
The DoT also proposes to enforce the right to a refund when a flight operates but a passenger is unable to fly or chooses not to fly due to health restrictions.
At present, there is no US regulatory requirement for an airline to refund a passenger for a non-refundable ticket if the airline operates the flight but the passenger does not travel for public health reasons.
The enhanced refund rules would apply to all flights to, from and within the US.
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The proposals have been issued in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Airline Ticket Refunds and Consumer Protections by the DoT.
An airline refusing a request for a refund when it has cancelled or “made a significant change to a scheduled flight” would be guilty of an “unfair business practice”.
Current US regulations require airlines to provide prompt refunds “when ticket refunds are due” without fully detailing the grounds for refunds.
The DoT proposes a ‘cancelled flight’ to mean “a flight listed in the carrier’s Computer Reservations System [CRS] at the time the ticket was sold but not operated by the carrier.
“The reason the flight was not operated (mechanical, weather, air traffic control) would not matter.
“The removal of a flight from a carrier’s CRS after a consumer has purchased a ticket on that flight would not negate the obligation to provide a refund.
“A flight would be considered a ‘cancelled flight’ for the purpose of refunds even if it was removed from the carrier’s CRS six months before the passenger’s scheduled departure.”
Consumers would have the right to refuse an offer of alternative transportation and insist on a refund.
A “significant change of flight itinerary” would involve:
- A revised departure time of three or more hours from the original departure time for a domestic flight, or six hours for an international flight
- A revised arrival time three hours or more later than the scheduled arrival (domestic) or six hours (international)
- A change in the departure or arrival airport
- An increase in the number of connecting points
- A downgrade of the class of service, or
- A change in the type of aircraft that causes a “significant downgrade” of amenities and travel experience.
The DoT also aims to protect consumers when their travel is disrupted by “public health concerns”.
Refunds will be due when passengers are “restricted or prohibited from traveling by a governmental entity due to a serious communicable disease, for example, as a result of a stay-at-home order, entry restriction or border closure”.
They will also be due a refund when “advised by a medical professional” not to travel or when a passenger “determines not to travel consistent with public health guidance . . . irrespective of any declaration of a public health emergency”.
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