The US government has issued its final rules for flight delay and cancelation compensation.
Airlines are required to provide cash refunds within days for canceled flights and ‘significant’ delays, the Transportation Department said.
A significant delay has been defined as over three hours on domestic flights and at least six hours for international services.
Customers can opt for the cash refund even if the offer of reassigning to another flight or a travel credit is offered.
Customers will be able to accept either of the three options.
A similar rule also applies for refunds of checked-bag fees.
This kicks in if a bag isn’t delivered within 12 hours for domestic flights or from 15 to 30 hours for international flights.
The Biden Administration took action over spiraling complaints over Covid-era refunds and compensation that took many months to process, and often not at all.
Trade group Airlines for America says the volume of complaints has progressively fallen sharply since 2020.
A4A says the major US airlines processed $43 billion in customer refunds between 2020 and 2023.
The Transportation Department has published separate rules on extra fees for airline customers to make pricing of ancillary products more transparent.
