When an airline cancels or significantly changes your flight, it owes you a cash refund of your fare and any extras you paid for. Say no to the voucher and the rebooking unless you want them, because accepting either can cost you that refund.
Say the airline cancels your family’s flight at the gate the night before vacation, and the agent offers four travel vouchers. It feels generous, but the airline is keeping money it already owes you.
Under a 2024 Department of Transportation rule, any airline flying within, to, or from the US must refund your fare, taxes, and extras like seat fees when it cancels your flight and you turn down its alternatives. The refund is automatic, so there’s no claim to file. The reason for the cancellation doesn’t matter, and weather counts.
A significant change gets you the same refund. That covers any delay or schedule change that moves your departure three or more hours earlier or your arrival three or more hours later (six on international trips). A switch to a different airport, an added connection, or a downgrade to a lower cabin counts too.
Take the rebooking or a voucher only if you want it, because accepting either can end your claim to the refund. Silence isn’t a yes. If you never answer the offer, the airline has to refund you once the new flight leaves without you.
The airline then has seven business days to put the money back on a credit card, or 20 calendar days for a debit card, cash, or check. For your family, that means all four fares, the taxes, and the $120 you paid to sit together. If a travel site charged your card, ask the site for the refund, since agencies owe one only after you request it.
If the money hasn’t arrived by the deadline, send the airline a written refund request and keep a copy. If that goes nowhere, file a complaint with the Department of Transportation.
When the gate agent offers a voucher, ask for the refund instead. Cash can buy a seat on any airline, while a voucher ties you to the one that just canceled on you.
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