The new terminology aims to make it easier for airline customers to get refunds
Most people understand that when a flight they were expecting to take doesn’t take off, the flight has been “cancelled.” But when flyers would try to get a refund for those not-happening flights, they’d sometimes run into trouble getting their money back because the airline would have a different definition of “cancelled.” Now, that’s changing.
“Cancelled flight or cancellation means a flight with a specific flight number scheduled to be operated between a specific origin-destination city pair that was published in a carrier’s Computer Reservation System at the time of the ticket sale but was not operated by the carrier,” rules from the Department of Transportation now read.
The department unveiled the rule in April as part of an effort to make it easier for airline customers to get refunds — in cash — for travel disruptions. It goes into effect starting Monday.
“Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them — without headaches or haggling,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at the time of the announcement. “Our new rule sets a new standard to require airlines to promptly provide cash refunds to their passengers.”
In its justification for the rule, the government said that it would save customers $3.8 million a year in time and get them $16 million a year in newly expedited refunds.
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