On this page 6
What it pays
| Situation | What is owed |
|---|---|
| Delay, any length | Nothing |
| Cancellation, you don't rebook | Full cash refund, automatically |
| Significant change (3h domestic / 6h international) | Full cash refund if you decline |
| Bumped, 1–2h late domestic (1–4h international) | 200% of fare, max $1,075 |
| Bumped, over 2h domestic (over 4h international) | 400% of fare, max $2,150 |
| Bumped, under 1h late | Nothing |
Denied-boarding compensation is a percentage of your own one-way fare, so those dollar figures are ceilings rather than entitlements. A cheap ticket produces a small payment.
Refunds, which are a real and recently strengthened right
If your flight is cancelled or significantly changed and you choose not to travel, you are owed your money back — in cash, to your original payment method, without having to ask. Under the DOT's refund rule the airline must issue it automatically rather than waiting for you to fight for it, and "significant" is defined: a change of more than three hours domestically or six hours internationally.
The practical value here is the word cash. The old pattern was a travel voucher with an expiry date and route restrictions. You can decline that and insist on the refund.
Denied boarding, the one real payment scale
Being involuntarily bumped from an oversold flight out of a US airport pays 200% of your one-way fare, capped at $1,075, or 400% capped at $2,150 where you arrive more than two hours late domestically or more than four hours late internationally. Get there within an hour of your original arrival and nothing is due.
Two things to know. You can insist on a cheque rather than a voucher, and it is payable on the day. And if you volunteer to be bumped, none of this applies — you have accepted a negotiated deal instead, usually worth less. See the denied boarding guide, because the gap between volunteering and being denied is often several hundred dollars.
What the airlines have promised instead
With no statutory compensation, meals and hotels for a controllable delay come down to each airline's own published commitments, which the DOT collects in a dashboard and treats as enforceable once made. They vary a lot between carriers. Ask at the desk, and cite the carrier's own policy rather than any law.
The important exception: flying to Europe
A flight leaving the United States is outside EU261 and UK261 — unless the operating carrier is European. New York to London on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic is covered by UK261 and can pay up to £520 for a long delay, while the same route on a US carrier pays nothing. Flying home from Europe to the US, you are covered on the departure leg whoever you fly with, because European rules follow the departure airport.
This is the most valuable thing on this page for an American traveller. If you fly transatlantic and care about disruption, the airline's nationality is worth real money.
Baggage and tarmac delays
Lost, delayed or damaged baggage is compensated up to a DOT-set limit on domestic flights and under the Montreal Convention internationally, and checked-bag fees must be refunded if the bag is materially delayed. Tarmac delay rules oblige airlines to let passengers off after three hours domestically or four internationally.
Put your flight through the calculator
All four regimes checked at once, with the article each number comes from.