Originally Posted by
Often1
On April 25, it will have been 10 years since DOT published it's crystal clear ruling:
See Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections, 76 Fed. Reg. 23110-01, at 23129 (Apr. 25, 2011) (“We reject . . . assertions that carriers are not required to refund a passenger's fare when a flight is cancelled if the carrier can accommodate the passenger with other transportation options after the cancellation. We find it to be manifestly unfair for a carrier to fail to provide the transportation contracted for and then to refuse to provide a refund if the passenger finds the offered rerouting unacceptable (e.g., greatly delayed or otherwise inconvenient) and he or she no longer wishes to travel.”) 2 U.S. Dept. of T
I have yet to hear of AA persisting in denying refund claims or in contesting chargebacks for cards issued by US financial institutions when they are both timely made and properly documented. In fact, the DOT website now summarizes the whole issue in one sentence.
- Cancelled Flight – A passenger is entitled to a refund if the airline cancelled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the passenger chooses not to travel (emphasis mine).
You are leaving out the full background on this matter.
Not only is there no US law that a refund is required despite your claims otherwise; there is also no DoT regulation for it either. It’s a DoT position it is unfair and deceptive practice. It has not been challenged and tested in court. That doesn’t make it law.
DoT specifically looked into this position previously around the same time the other passenger protections were considered. Regulations were published for tarmac delay/baggage fee etc but
DoT specifically opted NOT to published regulations concerning requiring refunds on non-refundable and instead address on a case by case basis. This is documented in the Federal Register you referenced as part of soliciting comments from industry and public during rule making process.
One of the problems is there is a difference between layman’s definition of cancelled and industry definition of cancelled. This is really DoT failing to put down explicit regulation and definition on cancellation. EC261/2004 laid down the layman's definition of cancellation governing; DoT never did.
As for AA, they have schedule change and schedule irregularity policy on sales link. The word cancel is not in the schedule change policy at all. It’s only in the schedule irregularity policy. Cancelled is when the flight failed to operate as scheduled (still exist in the timetable). Which is different than being removed from schedule/timetable completely ahead of time.
If you do a schedule search in GDS or ExpertFlyer, it will show the timetable published by airline. Example is LGA-CLT AA# 1234. operates daily effective April 1, 2021 to May 15, 2021 on a 738 departs 9AM arrive 1030AM.
Schedule Change is this flight entry is removed from or modified in the timetable ahead of time.
Cancellation is this entry is still on the timetable but failed to operate due to whatever reason.