What US airlines owe you when a flight is delayed or cancelled

Under US rules, an airline that cancels your flight or significantly delays it owes you a refund if you decide not to travel. That applies whatever the reason, weather included. Federal rules don’t require cash compensation, meals or a hotel for a delay. Those come from each airline’s own promises, and the DOT holds airlines to what they’ve promised.

Much of the confusion comes from pages written by companies that file claims for a cut, and from European rules that don’t apply to a US domestic flight.

This describes US rules as of November 7, 2026. It isn’t legal advice; the airline’s contract of carriage and DOT’s page are the authority.

The refund rule

The rule is 14 CFR Part 260, from a final rule published April 26, 2024 and effective June 25, 2024. The DOT’s page summarises it plainly. You’re entitled to a refund if the airline cancels your flight, or significantly delays or changes it, and you choose not to travel or accept what’s offered instead.

“Significantly” has a definition.

There are further cases for passengers with disabilities, on the DOT page.

The refund is the full fare, with taxes and fees. It goes back in the original form of payment. The rule’s deadline for a “prompt refund” is 7 business days for a credit card purchase and 20 calendar days for anything else.

Taking the flight ends it. The DOT says that if you chose to take a significantly delayed flight or an alternative the airline offered, you aren’t entitled to a refund under its rules. Think before you accept a rebooking, and read what you’re being offered. A voucher offered in place of a refund has to come with a statement that you can have the refund.

One live exception: a flight that only got a new number counts as cancelled under the rule’s text, but the DOT has paused enforcement of that case until July 7, 2027, as long as you’re rebooked on it and it isn’t otherwise significantly changed.

What the airlines promise

Federal rules make each large airline publish a customer service plan, and the DOT keeps a dashboard of what those plans commit to when a delay or cancellation is within the airline’s control. The DOT calls these promises enforceable: it says airlines are required to adhere to them. This is the table for controllable disruptions, as shown on November 7, 2026. The page was last updated September 11, 2025.

Those nine are Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest and United.

Read an airline’s contract as well, since the wording can be tighter than a tick mark. Delta’s contract gives its overnight hotel voucher for a disruption of more than 4 hours and leaves out weather and other force majeure events. American’s says that if a delay is beyond its control, you pay for your own hotel and meals.

When the cause is weather, the promises mostly stop. The DOT’s advice is to ask airline staff what they’ll cover.

The five delay reasons explains how “controllable” gets decided, and how a rule due on February 1, 2027 redraws that line.

Stuck on the tarmac

14 CFR 259.4 sets separate limits for a plane waiting on the ground with you aboard.

• The airline must give you a chance to get off before 3 hours on a domestic flight, or 4 on an international one.
• Food and water are due no later than 2 hours in.
• Lavatories must keep working, and medical attention must be available.
• You must be told the status once the delay passes 30 minutes.

There are exceptions: if the pilot decides that returning to the gate would risk safety or security, or if air traffic control advises it would significantly disrupt the airport. The clock on a departing flight starts when the door closes.

What was proposed, and isn’t

In December 2024 the DOT published an advance notice saying it was considering requiring cash compensation, rebooking at no charge, meals and lodging for significant disruptions. On November 17, 2025 it withdrew that notice. So there’s no pending federal requirement for cash compensation, and any article saying it’s coming is out of date.

Separately, a rule published April 24, 2026 requires airlines to post a one-page summary of passenger rights on their websites. It took effect May 26, 2026, but posting isn’t required until the DOT announces that the paperwork approval is finished.

What’s left out here

Everything above is about US rules on flights to, from or within the United States. A flight from the EU or UK can fall under their rules, which this page doesn’t cover. Being bumped from an oversold flight has its own rules. Delayed bags have one more: the DOT says the fee comes back if a domestic bag is more than 12 hours late, and how long checked bags take covers the normal case.

If you think an airline hasn’t kept a commitment, the DOT’s advice is to go to the airline first and then file a complaint with DOT.

If your flight is only running a little late, you don’t have a claim yet, and you should still leave on time.

If your flight is cancelled, Skycap says so on every screen, drops the leave-by and points you to the airline’s app. Add the new flight and it picks up from there. How delays work in the app