Before your next take-off, take a look at your new passenger rights.
Federal Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said automatic airfare refund rules that help passengers get their money back if a flight is canceled or delayed took effect Monday -- but not all flights are eligible.
It depends on where you are going and how long your flight was delayed.
“You get your money back, and you get your money back without having to ask,” Buttigieg said.
“When an airline knows that anybody on a flight that’s going to get canceled is going to get their money back, it gives them more of a reason to make the investments and the realistic schedules to prevent that from happening to you in the first place," Buttigieg said.
If your flight is disrupted and you don’t rebook, you get an automatic cash refund within 20 days. That applies to cancellations, domestic delays of three or more hours and international delays of at least six hours.
Separate rules mandate a luggage fee refund if you don’t get your bag by a certain time and refunds for prepaid services like seat selection and wi-fi if you don’t receive them.
“I think airlines are just going to have to realize that consumers, you can’t just capture them forever with policy,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, who worked on the regulations.
A group representing major airlines says it’s on board with automatic refunds -- though the rules have faced pushback from the industry.
“The market got distorted with some of these tactics in which airlines basically had too much power over the consumers,” Cantwell said.
The policy requires airlines to complete refunds within one week if you paid with a credit card. For other forms of payment, the refund must be issued within 20 days.