Do airlines have to give you a refund?

What are your rights? Under federal law, consumers are entitled to a refund if the airline cancels a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel.



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To be clear: Refunds are required by law when the airline cancels the flight itself, for any reason, whether in the airline's control or not. If you want a refund and paid by credit card, you must get that refund within seven days. If you paid by check or cash, you must get your refund within 20 days.

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If you contact the airline or ticket agent to obtain a required refund and you are refused that refund, you should file a complaint against the airline or ticket agent with the Department at https://secure.dot.gov/air-travel-complaint.

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Airlines and ticket agents are required to make refunds promptly. For airlines, “prompt” is defined as being within 7 business days if a passenger paid by credit card, and within 20 days if a passenger paid by cash or check.

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You can get a full flight ticket refund only if you booked a refundable ticket. However, airline ticket refund rules vary from airline to airline. Thus, it is better to refer to the airline's website or contact it directly for possible airfare reimbursement.

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When a flight delay occurs, you are entitled to assistance and a choice between rerouting, reimbursement, or rebooking. If you arrive at your destination more than 3 hours after your scheduled arrival time, you are entitled to the same reimbursement, rerouting, and rebooking structure as a denied boarding.

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So the airline has offered you a voucher, which is perfectly legal, but you'd rather just have the cash. You'll need to proactively ask your airline for a cash refund in writing. The same goes for if you've booked through an online travel agency like Expedia. They are also covered under DoT rules.

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Can I get a cash refund rather than a voucher? Only if you have booked directly with British Airways and you notice a mistake with your booking after you have paid for your ticket(s). Then, you can cancel your flight booking and claim a full refund without penalty up to 24 hours from when you make the original booking.

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If your cancelled is covered by UK law, your airline must let you choose between two options:
  1. Receive a refund. You can get your money back for all parts of the ticket you haven't used. ...
  2. Choose an alternative flight. If you still want to travel, your airline must find you an alternative flight.


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The base fare, also known as the “actual ticket price”, will only be repaid in full if the airline is able to resell your ticket and if permitted by the airline's terms and conditions. In such a case, up to 95% of the total ticket price can be refunded to the passenger.

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There's no official requirement for passengers to receive a refund or reimbursement as a result of a flight delay, though the DOT's delay and cancellation dashboard can help travelers better understand what they're entitled to.

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Frontier Airlines bumped the biggest proportion of passengers of the 15 largest US carriers in early 2023. Of every 10,000 Frontier passengers, 3.73 were involuntarily denied boarding due to oversales, the DOT said. Allegiant, Delta, Endeavor, and Hawaiian didn't bump any passengers in the quarter, per the DOT.

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The short answer to this is economics: airlines want to make sure that every flight is as full as possible to maximize their profits. The reported reason why airlines routinely oversell their seats is to recover costs the airline incurs for seat cancellations and for travelers who do not show up to take the flight.

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