Can You Get a Refund on Flights: 24-Hour Rule and Bumped Flights

You can get a refund on flights whenever the airline cancels your trip or makes a significant change to it and you decide not to travel on the alternative, and that rule applies to every fare type, including non-refundable tickets.¹ Under Department of Transportation rules that took effect in October 2024, most of those refunds now come to you automatically, in cash, on the card you used to pay. You’re also owed money back on baggage fees when your bag is badly delayed and on other paid extras the airline failed to deliver.

When the Airline Owes You a Refund

Two situations trigger the right to a full cash refund: the airline cancels the flight, or the airline makes a “significant change” and you decline the new itinerary along with any voucher or credit offered.¹ The refund covers everything you paid, including taxes and any ancillary fees, and the airline cannot charge you a processing fee to issue it.²

The DOT defines a significant change as any of the following:

A departure or arrival time that moves 3 or more hours on a domestic flight, or 6 or more hours on an international flight
A change to a different departure or arrival airport
Added connections that weren’t in your original itinerary
An involuntary downgrade to a lower cabin class

These protections cover every scheduled flight to, from, or within the United States.³ The airline cannot substitute a travel voucher or credit unless you agree to take one.

When the Refund Is Automatic

You no longer have to hunt down a form and beg for your money in most cancellation cases. An automatic refund is required when:

The airline cancels the flight and doesn’t offer you an alternative or any compensation
The airline offers you a rebooked flight or a voucher and you reject it
The airline offers alternatives, you don’t respond, and the flight leaves without you
The airline offers only a voucher or credit, you don’t respond, and the airline’s own reasonable deadline passes

In each case, the regulation fixes the date that counts as your refund request, which is either the date you rejected the offer, the date a response deadline expired, or the date the flight departed without you.⁴ From that date the processing clock runs.

Situations that still require you to submit a request include voluntary cancellations of refundable tickets and disputes over whether a change was “significant” enough to trigger the rule.

How Fast the Money Must Come Back

Once a refund is owed, the airline has a hard deadline. Credit card purchases must be refunded within 7 business days. Cash, check, and debit card payments must be refunded within 20 calendar days.⁴ Business days means Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays. The money has to go back to your original payment method unless you agree to receive it another way. When those windows close without a refund, it’s time to escalate.

The 24-Hour Window After Booking

Federal rules give you a short cooling-off period right after you book. Airlines must either hold your reservation at the quoted fare without payment, or let you cancel without penalty, for at least 24 hours after booking. The airline chooses which option to offer and must disclose that choice during booking.⁵

The catch: this protection only applies when you book at least one week before departure. Book six days out and it doesn’t apply. It covers every carrier selling tickets on U.S. routes, including foreign airlines.

Refundable vs. Non-Refundable Tickets

A refundable ticket lets you cancel for any reason and get your money back on the original payment. It costs more, sometimes a lot more, but it gives you flexibility when your plans are uncertain.

A non-refundable ticket is cheaper and more restrictive. If you cancel a non-refundable ticket voluntarily, you typically get a travel credit rather than cash, and each airline sets its own rules for how long the credit lasts and whether a change fee applies. The important line: non-refundable only limits your rights when you’re the one changing plans. When the airline cancels or significantly changes the flight, you’re entitled to cash on any ticket type.⁶

Baggage Fees and Other Paid Extras

The rules reach past the ticket price. If you paid to check a bag and it’s significantly delayed, the airline owes you that fee back. The DOT thresholds:

Domestic flights: bag not delivered within 12 hours of arrival
International flights of 12 hours or less: bag not delivered within 15 hours
International flights over 12 hours: bag not delivered within 30 hours

The clock starts when you’re allowed off the plane at your final destination and stops when you pick up the bag or it’s delivered where you asked. If the airline officially declares the bag lost, the fee refund is owed immediately.³

The same principle covers other paid amenities. Wi-Fi that didn’t work, a seat selection the airline moved you out of, in-flight entertainment that wasn’t available: those specific fees are refundable.⁶ Airlines must process these within the same 7-business-day or 20-calendar-day windows.

If You Were Bumped From an Overbooked Flight

Getting involuntarily denied boarding is a different situation with its own compensation table. On top of getting you to your destination, the airline owes you cash based on how late you arrive.

Domestic flights:

Under 1 hour late: no compensation required
1 to 2 hours late: 200% of your one-way fare, capped at $1,075
Over 2 hours late: 400% of your one-way fare, capped at $2,150

International flights departing a U.S. airport:

Under 1 hour late: no compensation required
1 to 4 hours late: 200% of your one-way fare, capped at $1,075
Over 4 hours late: 400% of your one-way fare, capped at $2,150

These amounts were set in January 2025.⁷ The payment has to come as a check or cash, not a voucher, unless you agree to something else.⁸ Gate agents often hand out travel vouchers by default; if you were bumped involuntarily, you can insist on the payment.

The word to watch is “involuntarily.” If you volunteer to give up your seat for whatever the airline offers at the gate, that’s a negotiation and these minimums don’t apply. Only take a voluntary bump if the offer actually works for you.

If You Were Downgraded

When the airline involuntarily moves you from a higher cabin to a lower one, you have two options. Refuse to fly on the downgraded ticket and take a full refund, or take the downgraded flight and get back the fare difference between what you paid and the lower cabin.³ A drink voucher is not a legal answer to being placed in a cheaper seat than you bought.

If You Booked Through Expedia or a Travel Agent

When you didn’t buy directly from the airline, the refund goes through whoever charged your card. That “merchant of record” is the name that appeared on your credit card statement. If the travel agency charged you, they issue the refund. If the airline charged you even though you booked through a third party, the airline issues it.³

One exception: ancillary fee refunds (baggage, Wi-Fi, seat selection) always come from the airline, even when the travel agency handled the original ticket sale. When the airline cancels a flight and the agent needs to issue the refund but doesn’t hold the money, the airline must transfer the funds to the agent promptly so the refund can go through.²

How to Request a Refund

When you do need to file a request, most airlines have a refund form buried in the customer service or “manage booking” section of their website. Have your six-character confirmation code and your 13-digit ticket number ready; the ticket number is on your receipt or electronic itinerary. A screenshot of the cancellation or schedule change notification from the airline’s app helps if there’s any dispute over what happened.

Enter your information carefully. Mistyped ticket numbers are the most common reason refunds stall. The money goes back to the original payment method, so if that credit card has been replaced or closed, check with your card issuer that they can still receive the credit.

If the Airline Won’t Pay

When the deadline passes and no refund shows up, the DOT’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection accepts complaints through its online form. The DOT forwards your complaint to the airline and requires the carrier to respond directly to you, with a copy to the DOT.⁹ Airlines must acknowledge within 30 days and respond substantively within 60 days.

A DOT complaint isn’t a lawsuit and the DOT won’t order the airline to pay you directly, but carriers know the agency tracks patterns and issues penalties for consumer protection violations. Many airlines resolve disputes once a formal complaint lands.

If the airline still won’t pay, you have a separate right under the Fair Credit Billing Act to dispute the charge with your credit card issuer. The FCBA treats a charge for services not delivered as a billing error, so you can’t be charged for a flight you never received.¹⁰ The deadline is strict: you must submit a written dispute within 60 days of the billing statement that contained the charge. Miss it and you lose the right to dispute. The issuer must acknowledge within 30 days and resolve the dispute within two billing cycles, and no more than 90 days. During the investigation, the issuer can’t try to collect the disputed amount or report it as delinquent.

Chargebacks go smoother when you can show you tried the airline’s refund process first and filed a DOT complaint. Keep dated records of every request, response, and deadline along the way.

1
eCFR. 14 CFR 260.6 – Refunding Fare for Flights Cancelled or Significantly Delayed or Changed by Carriers
2
eCFR. 14 CFR Part 260 – Refunds for Airline Fare and Ancillary Service Fees
3
U.S. Department of Transportation. Refunds
4
Federal Register. Refunds and Other Consumer Protections
5
eCFR. 14 CFR 259.5 – Customer Service Plan
6
U.S. Department of Transportation. What Airline Passengers Need to Know About DOTs Automatic Refund Rule
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U.S. Department of Transportation. Bumping and Oversales
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eCFR. 14 CFR 250.5 – Amount of Denied Boarding Compensation for Passengers Denied Boarding Involuntarily
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U.S. Department of Transportation. Air Travel Complaints
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors