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Travel Woes Continue After Tech Outage. Here’s What to Know

Passengers are entitled to refunds if you don’t want to be rebooked

passengers in long lines at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on July 20, 2024
Passengers waited in line at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on July 20, 2024, in Atlanta, a day after a tech outage grounded flights. Delta’s CEO acknowledged cancellations and delays continued over the weekend.
Getty Images
By

Nicole Gill Council and Susan B. Barnes,

 
AARP
Published July 22, 2024

The travel industry continues to recover from the worldwide Microsoft technology outage July 19 that grounded and delayed flights around the world. In addition to airlines, the outage paralyzed financial institutions, media outlets and health care systems.

Yet three days later, some airlines still struggled to recover. As of 3 p.m. ET July 22, there were more than 5,200 delays and nearly 1,015 cancellations into, within and out of the United States, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. Delta Airlines topped the list of cancellations with nearly 815 on July 22. The airline had nearly 1,260 delays. American Airlines had more than 850 delays, while United Airlines had almost 315 delays.

The Associated Press reported that in a message to customers Sunday, July 21, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said flight cancellations continued Sunday as it tried to restore operations in the wake of Friday’s outage. He said more than 3,500 Delta and Delta Connection flights were canceled through Saturday. The airline has offered affected customers waivers to make changes at no charge, he said.

While noting that Delta uses the Microsoft Windows operating system for many applications, Bastian said one of the airline’s crew tracking-related tools was unable to effectively process the exorbitant number of changes that were triggered by the shutdown of the system.

“The technology issue occurred on the busiest travel weekend of the summer, with our booked loads exceeding 90 percent, limiting our reaccommodation capabilities,” Bastian wrote. “I want to apologize to every one of you who have been impacted by these events.”

The Associated Press reported that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke to Bastian on Sunday about the number of cancellations since Friday. The department’s officials reminded the airline of its responsibility to provide refunds to passengers with canceled flights who did not want to be rebooked on a later flight.

“I have made clear to Delta that we expect the airline to provide prompt refunds to consumers who choose not to be rebooked, and free rebooking and timely reimbursements for food and overnight hotel stays to consumers affected by the delays and cancellations, as well as adequate customer service assistance to all their passengers,” Buttigieg said, according to the Associated Press.

In April, the DOT issued a rule that requires airlines to automatically provide passengers with cash refunds when they are owed. Airlines still will be allowed to offer another flight or a travel credit instead of a refund, but consumers can reject the offer.

If you need to claim a refund for your flight cancellation or delay, keep the following tips in mind.

Refunds 101

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Aviation Consumer Protection program, you may have rights if your travel plans are impacted by a flight delay or cancellation, depending on the reason. The program applies to Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit and United airlines.

As an airline passenger, you are entitled to a full refund of the airfare you paid if:

  • The airline cancels your flight for any reason (weather, mechanical or staffing issues) and you decide not to travel.
  • The airline has made a schedule change or significantly delays your flight and you decide not to travel.

Most major U.S. airlines, including American, Delta, United, Southwest and JetBlue, have dedicated online resources for requesting a refund and checking on its status. If you paid for one class of service and are involuntarily moved to a lower class, you are owed the difference in fares. A refund is also in order if you paid baggage fees or purchased optional services such as a seat upgrade or in-flight Wi-Fi and cannot use those services due to a flight cancellation, delay or schedule change.

If you are entitled to a refund for interrupted or canceled travel, the DOT requires airlines and ticket agents to make payments within seven business days if you paid by credit card, and within 20 days if you paid by cash or check.

By the book

For quick reference as to which airlines have made commitments to compensating passengers when controllable cancellations occur, the DOT created a one-stop source: the Airline Customer Service Dashboard.

According to the Transportation Department: “Airlines are required to adhere to the promises that they make in their customer service plan, including commitments to care for customers in the event of controllable delays or cancellations. The Department will hold airlines accountable if they fail to do so.”

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All 10 airlines in the program are committed to rebooking passengers on the same airline at no additional cost when a controllable flight cancellation or delay occurs, and all are committed to providing cash or vouchers for meals when a flight delay results in passengers waiting three hours or more.

All airlines except Frontier are committed to providing complimentary hotel accommodations for passengers affected by overnight delays or cancellations, as well as transportation to and from the hotel.

When trying to make new travel plans at the airport, keep in mind that being polite may inspire customer service representatives to take that extra step to help.

Contributing: The Associated Press.

Nicole Gill Council is a writer and editor of travel and diversity, equity and inclusion content for aarp.org. Previously, she was a digital planning manager and a news editor at USA Today and Gannett News Service, and a copy editor at the Los Angeles Times and Newsday.

Susan B. Barnes is a longtime writer specializing in travel who has written for Afar, Allrecipes, Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and other publications.

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