Please be advised that the following actions will be taken in response to the U.S. DOT “NPRM Airline Ticket Refunds and Consumer Protections”.
1. Applicable Law
14 CFR Parts 259, 260, 262, and 399 Docket No. DOT-OST-2022-0089 and DOT-OST-2016-0208 RIN 2105-AF04
2. Effective Date
May 16, 2024
*Although the effective date of the law was initially October 28, 2024, the law has been applied retroactively, except for the following.
● Refund for ancillary fees for extra services not provided: October 28, 2024
3. Scope of Application
A single ticket for an itinerary that includes flights to, from, or within U.S.A., and flight segments that do not include stopovers
*Tickets are eligible regardless of whether they are issued in the U.S. or not.
4. Outline of the Law
(1) Definition of canceled Flight
A flight that was published in a carrier’s Computer Reservation System (CRS) at the time of the ticket sale but not operated by the carrier.
(2) Definition of Significant Change of Flight Itinerary
1) Customers are scheduled to depart from the origination airport three hours or more (for domestic itineraries) or six hours or more (for international itineraries) earlier than the original scheduled departure time;
2) Customers are scheduled to arrive at the destination airport three hours or more (for domestic itineraries) or six hours or more (for international itineraries) later than the original scheduled arrival time;
*International standards apply for DMS/INT or INT/DMS internal itineraries.
<Example> HND-X/LAX-LAS LAS-X/SFO-HND, etc.
*When arrival at the final destination is delayed by more than 6 hours due to flight cancellations or delays on routes other than those to/from the U.S.
<Example> ITM-x/HND-LAX LAX-x/HND-PVG, etc.
3) Customers are scheduled to depart from a different origination airport or arrive at a different destination airport;
4) Customers are scheduled to travel on an itinerary with more connection points than that of the original itinerary;
5) Customers are downgraded to a lower class of service;
6) Customers with a disability are scheduled to travel through one or more connecting airports that differ from the original itinerary; or
7) Customers with a disability are scheduled to travel on a substitute aircraft that results in one or more accessibility features needed by the passenger being unavailable.
(3) Entity Responsible for Refunding Airline Tickets
The airline (*) or travel agency (*) that issued the initial ticket, including code-share and interline itineraries.
*The entities that are the merchants of records shown in the customer’s financial charge statements.
(4) Notification of Right to Refund
Require airlines and travel agencies to notify passengers the following.
Travel agency: The right to a refund of the ticket and ancillary fees
Airlines:
-The right to a refund of the ticket and ancillary fees
-The right to an alternative flight or other compensation (such as travel credits or vouchers); and
-The policy regarding refunds and rebooking when passengers do not respond to carriers’ offers of alternative flights or other compensation.
(5)“Prompt” Refund
1) purchased with credit cards: within 7 business days (*) of refund request or refund becoming due
2) Purchased with payments other than credit cards: within 20 calendar days of refund request or refunds becoming due
(*) Define “business days” to mean Monday through Friday excluding Federal holidays in the United States.
(6) Automatic Refunds of Airline Tickets
Require airlines to provide automatic ticket refunds in the following cases
1) Flight cancellation: the airline fails to provide an alternative flight or other compensation; or
2) Significant Change: passenger refuses to take the significant changed flight and the carrier does not provide an alternative flight or other compensation; or
3) Passenger refuses to take the significant changed flight or alternative transportation; or to accept any other compensation offered in lieu of a refund; or
4) the airline offers a significant changed flight or alternative flight, but the passenger fails to respond by the deadline set by the airline, fails to accept any other compensation, and it is the policy of the airline that failure to respond shall be deemed a refusal of alternate transportation; or
5) the airline fails to offer boarding on a substantially changed flight or a substitute flight, or offers any other compensation, and the passenger fails to respond by the deadline set by the airline; or 6) the airline offers a significant changed flight or an alternative flight or other compensation, but the airline does not set a deadline for the passenger to respond, and the passenger does not respond and does not take the flight; or
*Airline may set a reasonable deadline for a passenger to accept or decline to board a significant changed flight or to accept or decline to offer an alternative flight. If the passenger does not accept the proposed alternative flight by the deadline,
1) cancel the reservation and receive a refund, or
2) keep the reservation and forfeit the right to a refund, or Policies must be established, published, and adhered to
(7) Refunding Ancillary Services Fees for Services Not Provided
Effective: October 28, 2024
The airline that failed to provide the ancillary service to provide automatic refunds of ancillary service fees when a passenger pays for an ancillary service that the airlines fail to provide.
*Subject to automatic refund: In situations where the ancillary service the consumer paid for is not available for all the passengers who paid for that service
(e.g.)
Wi-Fi not available for all passengers on a flight
Lounge access not available for all passengers on a certain date etc.
In case of unavailability for a passenger or several passengers, the passenger's notification will be considered a request for refund and no automatic refund will be obligated.
5. Details of our correspondence and handling
(6)
-The deadline set by ANA is the departure date of the affected. However, in the case of a flight cancellation or significant change of flight that occurs on the day before or the day of departure, the deadline is 7 days from the departure date of the affected flight.
- If the delayed flight or alternative flight has not been used or refunded by the deadline, the
ticket will be subject to automatic refund.
(7)
The eligibility for automatic refund of ancillary service fee is as described (7) in 4. Outline of the law, but, if the passenger eligible for automatic ticket refund has paid the Ancillary Services fee, it will be refunded at the time the ticket refund is processed.
End of Document