How to find out exactly what you're owed when your flight is canceled, delayed

If your flight is canceled or delayed, do you deserve a meal voucher or refund? It hasn't always been easy to find out, but the Department of Transportation is spelling it out for travelers with a new interactive dashboard.

The tool launched Thursday on the DOT's Aviation Consumer Protection website lists what airlines owe travelers for various flight disruptions within their control.

The dashboard compares all the major domestic airlines' policies on issues such as which offer meals for delays of more than three hours and which offer to rebook flights on the same or different airlines at no additional charge. It focuses on what it calls “controllable” cancellations or delays – meaning those caused by mechanical issues, staffing shortages, or delays in cleaning, fueling, or baggage handling. Delays or cancellations caused by weather or security concerns do not count.

Here's how the dashboard works: 

What happens when a flight is canceled?

DOT rules already require airlines to offer customers a refund if their flights are canceled for any reason.

On the dashboard's launch day, American Airlines had the highest number of cancellations among domestic carriers. According to the dashboard American can: Rebook passengers on the same, or another airline at no additional cost; provide a meal or meal voucher when the cancellation results in a passenger waiting for three hours or more for a new flight; provide complimentary hotel accommodations for any passenger affected by an overnight cancellation or provide complimentary ground transportation to and from a hotel for any passenger affected by an overnight cancellation.

More at

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2022/09/01/flight-delay-canceled-airline-policy-consumer-dashboard/7937630001/