New England Travel Relief: New Law Requires Airlines Automatic Refund

Here's a travel law I'll bet you weren't aware of.

The European Union has had a law in place since 2004, stating any flight originating from Europe which is three hours delayed or more, gives the passenger the right to file for compensation for the delay of up to 600 euros.

So, when my recent flight from Italy to Boston was delayed by 6 hours, the airline was required to reimburse me up to around $650.00.  The caveat was I had to email the airline to request it, which I did.

However, the airline denied I was entitled to anything.  But, I didn't stop.  I emailed them again, politely citing the "EU Airline Passenger Rights Law prоtected by Regulatiоn EC 261/2004. This Regulatiоn prоvides cоmmоn rights оn flight cоmpensatiоn fоr passengers in the event оf mоre than 3 hоurs delay, cancellatiоn and оverbооking," according to skycop.com.

Within two weeks of my second request, I was sent $650, not in airline credit, but in cash. Persistence paid off, but most people don't know about this EU law.

Here's more new information for travelers. The U.S. has followed with similar new rights.

Businessinsider.com says a new law from the Department of Transportation is now in place effective October 28, 2024, and now flight delays of three or more hours will result in automatic refunds from the airline.

Under the DOT regulations, passengers can get a refund if their flight is canceled or significantly changed and they don't accept alternative transportation or travel credits offered. This includes domestic flights delayed by more than three hours and international flights delayed by more than six hours.

The rule also applies for checked bags lost, delayed or not delivered in a timely manner.

Although the DOT laws says it is an automatic refund, beware you may still have to file a claim, so let's watch how this plays out.

However, it's much needed in the chaos of airline travel, with each airline previous accountable for only their own rules, not a national mandate until now.