Consumer groups push Congress to uphold automatic refunds for airline passengers

Consumer groups are urging Congress to maintain automatic refunds for airline passengers whose flights are canceled or delayed by several hours.

Just last week, the Transportation Department announced a rule requiring airlines to issue prompt and automatic refunds. President Joe Biden praised the rule, writing this week on

But eight words in a 1,069-page bill that the Senate began debating Wednesday would keep the burden of refunds on consumers’ shoulders. The bill says airlines may only pay refunds “upon written or electronic request by the passenger.”

Consumer advocates say travelers will lose money without automatic refunds.

“How many average air travelers know what the (refund) rules are? How many of them know how to file a claim?” said William McGee, a consumer advocate with the American Economic Liberties Project, a group skeptical of big companies, including airlines. “The percentages are so low that the airlines are sitting on a huge amount of money that will never be repaid because no one asks for it.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the bill’s language around refunds would be “a gift to the airlines, who know that many travelers will not have the time or resources to navigate the bureaucratic process they have designed.”

The eight words are not new. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., included them in the bill she introduced last June to reauthorize Federal Aviation Administration programs for five years, and an amendment to eliminate them failed in the Senate Commerce Committee, whose Cantwell is chairman.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said this week that his department has good legal authority for its rule on automatic refunds. However, John Breyault, an advocate with the National Consumers League, said the wording in the new bill could make it easier for airlines to block automatic refunds in court.

Airlines for America, a trade group for the largest U.S. airlines, has opposed automatic refunds from the start, just as it has opposed virtually any attempt to tell airlines how to do business. The trade group argued that airlines should be able to offer to put a stranded traveler on another flight or give them frequent flyer points — and only provide a refund if the customer rejected that offer.

The trade group declined to comment Wednesday.

Refunds are emerging as one of the most controversial provisions in the massive $105 billion FAA bill. There is also likely a fight over a provision to allow ten additional flights a day at the busy Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C.

Consumer groups generally support the bill, which would triple maximum fines for airlines that violate consumer protections, require airlines to seat families together at no extra cost, and require airline travel vouchers to be valid for at least five years. It would also write into law a new Transportation Department rule that defines a significant delay — one that could result in a refund — as three hours for domestic flights and six for international flights.

However, they didn’t get other things they wanted, including minimum seat sizes and more authority for the government to regulate airline schedules and fees.

The bill includes a number of security-related measures in response to a series of close calls between aircraft at the country’s airports. It will allow the FAA to expand the number of air traffic controllers and safety inspectors and equip more airports with technology designed to prevent collisions between aircraft on runways.