Serious Communicable Disease: 14 CFR Part 262 Credit Rules

Under 14 CFR Part 262, a serious communicable disease is an illness that meets two conditions at the same time: it spreads easily through casual contact in an aircraft cabin, and it causes serious health consequences such as breathing problems, organ damage, neurological difficulties, or death.¹ That definition matters because it opens the door to a federal right: a transferable travel credit or voucher, valid for at least five years, when a qualifying illness or related restriction stops you from flying.²

The Two-Prong Definition

Part 262 doesn’t list qualifying diseases by name. It sets a test, and any illness has to clear both parts to count.

First, the disease must spread easily through ordinary activities in a plane cabin: sitting next to someone, talking, shaking hands, touching shared surfaces. Second, it must cause serious health consequences. The regulation gives breathing problems, organ damage, neurological difficulties, and death as examples of what “serious” means here.¹

The regulation walks through three examples to show how the test works. The common cold spreads easily on a plane but doesn’t cause serious health consequences, so it fails the second prong. AIDS causes serious consequences but doesn’t transmit through casual cabin contact, so it fails the first. SARS clears both hurdles. The framework is meant to apply to whatever pathogen shows up next, not just to diseases already named.¹

Three Situations That Qualify You for a Credit

Meeting the definition isn’t enough on its own. Your circumstances have to fit one of three scenarios in 14 CFR 262.4, and each has its own rules on timing and paperwork.²

A Government Order Blocks Your Trip

You qualify if a federal, state, local, or foreign government order tied to a serious communicable disease prevents your planned travel. Stay-at-home orders, border closures, entry restrictions, and quarantine notices all count. A quarantine also triggers the protection if it would consume more than half your time at the destination, not counting travel days. You must have bought the ticket before the public health emergency was declared, or, if no emergency was declared, before the government restriction took effect.²

A Doctor Tells You Not to Fly During a Declared Emergency

If a public health emergency has been declared for your origin or destination, a licensed medical professional advises you not to fly to protect your own health from a serious communicable disease, and you purchased the ticket before the emergency was declared, you qualify. This pathway needs an active declaration. Without one, it doesn’t apply.²

You’re Contagious and Would Endanger Others

This is the broadest scenario because it doesn’t require any emergency declaration. If a licensed medical professional determines you have or likely have contracted a serious communicable disease and flying would pose a direct threat to other passengers, you qualify. There’s no purchase-date requirement here.²

What Documentation the Airline Can Ask For

The paperwork the carrier can demand depends on which scenario you’re claiming.

For a government restriction, the airline can ask you to produce the applicable order or another document showing it blocks your travel or imposes a quarantine longer than half your trip. No medical certificate is required.³

For the two health-based scenarios, the airline can require a medical certificate: a written statement from a licensed treating medical professional giving their opinion that you should not fly, grounded in your condition and current medical knowledge about the disease, including CDC or WHO guidance where available. The regulation defines “licensed treating medical professional” broadly, covering physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other providers licensed to diagnose or treat the relevant condition.⁴

Every certificate has to include the provider’s license information: the issue date of the license, the type of license, and the state or jurisdiction that issued it. The rule doesn’t require a phone number, email, or license number, though individual airline forms may ask for more.³

Dating rules split between the two health scenarios. When you’re protecting your own health during a declared emergency, the certificate must be dated after the declaration and no earlier than one year before your scheduled travel date. When you’re the one who’s contagious, the airline can require a certificate dated close to your travel date, based on how long the disease stays transmissible.³

If you’re contagious and can’t get a certificate before your flight, the airline must allow you to submit it within a reasonable time after the scheduled travel date. The regulation doesn’t fix a number of days, so tell the airline as early as you can that you won’t have the paperwork in time.³

What the Credit Has to Be Worth

Once you qualify, the airline must promptly issue a credit or voucher worth at least the full fare you paid, including government-imposed taxes and fees, carrier-imposed charges, and any prepaid ancillary services you didn’t use. Amounts you’ve already had refunded, such as the September 11th Security Fee, can be deducted.⁵

Two features of the credit are easy to miss. It must be transferable, so you can hand it to someone else to use. And it can’t expire for at least five years from the date the airline issues it.² A credit with a shorter validity window, or one flagged as non-transferable, conflicts with the rule.

Which Flights and Fares Are Covered

Part 262 applies to U.S. and foreign air carriers operating scheduled passenger service to, from, or within the United States. A covered flight includes any scheduled flight operated or marketed by such a carrier on a U.S. route, including itineraries with brief stopovers at a foreign point when the journey isn’t broken.⁴

There is no carve-out for basic economy, non-refundable tickets, or discounted fare classes. Airlines also cannot bury contract-of-carriage terms that override these obligations; any such term is treated as an unfair and deceptive practice under federal law.⁶

If the Airline Refuses

Start with the carrier. Federal rules require airlines to acknowledge a complaint within 30 days and send a written response within 60 days, and every airline serving the United States must publish complaint instructions on its website.⁷

If that response doesn’t fix the problem, escalate to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The DOT forwards the complaint to the airline and requires a copy of its response. Because of volume, the DOT doesn’t investigate every individual complaint, but it uses filings to run targeted compliance reviews. Filing still counts even when your case isn’t opened on its own, because a pattern against a specific carrier can prompt broader enforcement.⁷

1
eCFR. 14 CFR 262.2 – Definitions
2
eCFR. 14 CFR 262.4 – Passengers Entitled to Receive Travel Credits or Vouchers
3
eCFR. 14 CFR 262.5 – Documentation
4
eCFR. 14 CFR Part 262 – Travel Credits or Vouchers Due to a Serious Communicable Disease
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eCFR. 14 CFR 262.6 – Value of Travel Credits or Vouchers
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eCFR. 14 CFR 262.9 – Contract of Carriage
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U.S. Department of Transportation. File a Consumer Complaint