Sky Harbor travelers react to new airline refund rules by U.S. DOT

PHOENIX - Anyone who flies a lot has dealt with delays that keep you waiting for hours at your gate.

If you decide to bail on that flight and go home another way, the airlines now have to pay you back fast in cash.

"Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them – without headaches or haggling," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted on X.

In April, the U.S. Department of Transportation said it was issuing an automatic refund rule, which explicitly defines the specific circumstances in which airlines must provide refunds.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NEW RULES

‘A step forward for consumer protections’

"We only landed here about 15 minutes late," Shannon Mayes, a traveler at Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport said.

We asked if she'd experienced a delay of hours.

"Yes," she said. "That’s not fun."

A traveler named Dennis Medeiros says he once canceled a flight and drove all the way home to Rhode Island. He got airline credits, but not a cash refund.

That changes now.

New regulations are in effect that require airlines to give an automatic refund if a flight is canceled or delayed more than three hours for domestic, and six hours for international.

Katy Nastro of the Going travel app says this change is a win for consumers, but questions still remain.

"What exactly is automatic, according to Delta, for example. What exactly is automatic, according to Spirit, for example. There will be some variation across airlines, but the majority of these new regulations are a step forward for consumer protections when it comes to air travel," Nastro said.

The refund regulation change is part of larger changes announced earlier this year which include more transparency for so-called junk fees. The airline industry is suing to stop that change.

In a one-on-one interview with U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg earlier this year, he pushed back.

"I was disappointed to see the airline industry lobby suing us over this rule. They basically said if we make sure the passengers have that information, it will be confusing," he said.

‘I’d rather have the money’

The U.S. DOT website states, "For airlines, ‘prompt’ is defined as being within 7 business days if a passenger paid by credit card, and within 20 days if a passenger paid by cash or check."

A traveler named Kyle Costa is happy about the change. He says airline credit doesn't cut it.

"It ends up costing you more money than what they typically credit you, too, so I think that’s actually a pretty good rule to put into effect, to hold them a little bit more accountable," Costa said.

Medeiros says he too would rather have money back than airline credit.

"I’d rather have the money. If you’re going to inconvenience me, in nine times out of 10, it's the airlines' fault. If it's weather, I get it. But, nine times out of 10, it's the airlines' fault. I’d like to have the money," he said.

The timing of this is important, too. It's right before the holiday travel season.

In recent years, weather has caused massive delays and cancelations. This change could have a big impact if that happens again.