US flight delay rules
The United States has no statutory compensation for a delayed flight, however long it lasts. What US rules do give you is an automatic cash refund when a flight is cancelled or significantly changed, and compensation when you are bumped from an oversold flight.
Check your own flight against US DOT rules →Who it covers
- Flights to, from and within the United States, on US and foreign carriers operating those routes.
- A flight from the EU to the US is also covered by EU261, which does pay for delay. On that route, claim under EU261 — it is worth far more.
What it pays
| Distance or situation | Per passenger |
|---|---|
| Delay, any length | No statutory compensation |
| Cancellation or significant change | Refund of the unused fare, in the original form of payment |
| Denied boarding (bumping), involuntary | A percentage of your one-way fare, subject to a cap the DOT adjusts for inflation |
What triggers it
Delay
No payment is owed by law. Individual airlines make their own commitments in their customer service plans, and those commitments are enforceable against them — read the plan for the carrier you flew.
Cancellation or significant change
You are entitled to a refund rather than a voucher, automatically and without asking, if you do not accept the alternative offered.
Involuntary denied boarding
Compensation is calculated from your one-way fare and how late the airline gets you to your destination, up to a capped maximum.
Duty of care — separate from compensation
US law imposes no duty of care. There is no legal right to a meal, a phone call or a hotel, however long you wait. Anything you receive is the airline's own policy, not your entitlement — which is exactly why a delay in the US is worth so much less than the same delay in Europe.
The refusals airlines send, and what answers them
“Here is a voucher for your cancelled flight”
Where you are entitled to a refund you may insist on the original form of payment. A voucher is something you may accept, not something you can be given instead.
“The delay was weather”
For US purposes the cause rarely matters, because no compensation is owed for delay either way. What matters is whether the flight was ultimately cancelled or changed enough to trigger the refund right.
Enforcement
Complaints go to the DOT's Aviation Consumer Protection Division. The DOT does investigate and does fine airlines, and a complaint on the record is worth filing even when no money comes back to you directly.
How long you have
Contract claims against an airline are governed by the carrier's conditions of carriage and by state limitation law, which varies. File early.
Primary sources
Read the law itself rather than anyone's summary of it, this one included. Every link below was checked on 12 September 2026.
- Aviation consumer protection — US Department of Transportation
- File an air travel complaint — US Department of Transportation
The other statutes
- EU261 compensation — EU261
- UK261 compensation — UK261
- Israeli Aviation Services Law — the Aviation Services Law
- Canada APPR compensation — the APPR