You are entitled to a refund for has been canceled Flight due to weather. However, in the US there is no compensation if you do not take up the airline’s re-booking offer.
The Mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast were hit by a blizzard yesterday. You are entitled to a refund for a flight canceled due to weather. But, your time, food or hotel costs while waiting for your next flight etc. are not covered by all airlines.
One of our neighbors, who went for dinner Saturday night, had already had his Sunday morning flight to St. Thomas canceled. She was rebooked for this morning. As I write this column, we have no idea whether that flight will also be cancelled.
Right now, the flight is listed as “on schedule” and the airport here is open for business, but on a significantly reduced schedule. Some TSA checkpoints are currently closed. At this point, getting to the airport may be his biggest problem. If the flight departs on time, if ground transportation remains parallel, she may miss the flight and lose the money paid for the ticket, plus she will have to buy another ticket, which will be much more expensive than the original ticket.
There will be no flight refunds or compensation if you miss your flight due to weather related problems on the ground, so be careful.
Public transport is mostly closed here. He says they will attempt a full schedule today, but the morning will be difficult due to an expected shortage of operators and drivers able to get to work. They have already said that rail transport including the airport will run only on weekend schedule tomorrow.
The roads here remain covered with snow at midnight. Major highways should be plowed and salted by the morning, however, those roads will likely be difficult to access. Uber, Lyft and taxi services will have difficulty getting around. The time it takes to drive to the airport could easily double or triple this morning. Schools in at least the area have already announced they are closed today, keeping buses and cars carrying students off the roads.
Many flights had to be canceled due to the snow storm that hit the US over the weekend.
Yesterday’s storm was the worst to hit this region of the Northeast in the last decade. Roads became particularly dangerous on Sunday afternoon as sleet fell for hours, adding to the snow already on the ground. As a result of the storm, airlines on Sunday faced flight cancellation figures not seen since the early days of the COVID pandemic. According to the FlightAware website, more than 10,900 flights were canceled and about 3,500 flights were delayed on Sunday.
Travelers who are stuck en route are facing long delays, multiple unplanned overnight hotel stays and being stuck on planes for hours. Unfortunately, the chaos is not over yet. More delays and cancellations are expected today as airlines attempt to accommodate passengers whose flights were canceled without delaying other passengers. So far, it appears that around 2,000 flights have been canceled today. Part of the problem is that for some flights, the crew and aircraft are in the wrong place as the airlines are trying to recover.
Caught in a snowstorm? If your flight was canceled and you do not rebook with your airline, you are entitled to a refund, but not compensation.
If you’re caught in a storm and your flight is canceled, you’re probably wondering what your airline owes you. There is no good news here. Airlines don’t owe you anything except a refund if you don’t rebook with them, as cancellations due to weather are considered “exceptional circumstances” beyond the airlines’ control.
The Trump administration rejected a Biden administration proposal for compensation for delayed and canceled flights that was similar to the rule in Europe.
In the US, unlike Europe, airlines do not have to compensate passengers for delayed or canceled flights. They do not have to compensate you for flights canceled due to weather, mechanical or crew problems. In Europe, EU261 requires airlines to pay for delays they must be able to control if the delay exceeds 3 hours. The Biden administration had proposed a rule similar to EU261, but late last year the Trump administration canceled the Biden administration’s proposed cancellation rule.
The Trump administration said the policy “allows airlines to compete on the services and compensation they provide to passengers, rather than imposing new minimum requirements that would impose significant costs on airlines.” In other words, the Trump administration is letting airlines pay passengers little or nothing for delays and cancellations. This is exactly the same compensation they have been giving to passengers for years.
While the proposed compensation rule was cancelled, air passengers are still entitled to a full refund for their canceled flight if they do not rebook with their airline.
If air passengers decline the airline’s rebooking offer for a canceled flight, they are still entitled to a full refund for the unused portion of their ticket. This is regardless of the reason for cancellation.
It doesn’t matter whether the flight cancellation is due to mechanical difficulties, flight crew shortage or even weather. Most people rebook airlines as it is usually the best option to reach their destination as quickly as possible. I did this for a flight to Los Angeles a few years ago. But if your rebooked flight is not on the same day as the original flight, there is no compensation for time lost, meals while waiting, or hotel costs.
I had a 6:30 a.m. flight, which ultimately got canceled four hours later. As the flight crew began to exit the jetway, they announced cancellation. Most of the people were standing in queue near the gate agent and waiting for 90 minutes for rebooking. I called the airline and got an exit row seat on the 3:15 pm flight within minutes. They refunded the miles I used to upgrade my original flight to first class. I had lunch.
If you do not rebook with your airline, you are entitled to a full refund if there is a “significant change” to your flight, in addition to a full refund for a canceled flight.
Sometimes, the offered flight may lag behind that of another airline. Remember that if your airline does not accept your rebooking, you are entitled to a full refund for the unused portion of your ticket due to cancellation, regardless of the reason. You are also entitled to a refund if there has been a “significant change” to your flight. This includes a turnaround of at least 3 hours in earlier departures or late arrivals for domestic flights and 6 hours for international flights.
Airlines may offer your refund in the form of a travel voucher, but you can decline it. Then the airline will have to refund the full amount of the ticket. For tickets purchased with a credit card, airlines have seven business days to get you a credit. They have 20 days to use other payment methods.
Again, if you accept the re-booking, there will be no refund and no compensation.
If your flight gets canceled for any reason, rebook immediately. You are competing with everyone else on the plane for the next available flight. If you have specific status with your airline, you may receive some compensation. There is no obligation on the airline to do so. Otherwise take cash, not vouchers.
If you book again with the airline, be polite throughout the booking process. If your rebooked flight means you’ll have to move around for a while, ask for some help in the form of hotel and/or dining vouchers. The worst that can happen is that you are told “no.”
(Image: Southwest Airlines B737 landing at Philadelphia International Airport. Copyright © 2018 NSL Photography. All rights reserved.)
Also read:
NYC is banning hidden hotel fees
How not to forget anything on your next trip?
After working for several years in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive, and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a technical consulting company and later restarted his photography business, NSL Photography. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a public health engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a renowned corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned writes about travel and photography around the world, as well as runs photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s photography blog and gallery.
