The simple version

When a flight you paid for does not happen and no substitute works for you, the money goes back without your having to ask for it. Nothing extra arrives on top of it.

Those two ideas get run together constantly. One of them is written into the rules that apply here and the other is not.

And the first one carries a condition that decides most cases. You get the money back only if you turn down what is offered instead of the thing you bought.

The numbers

• The rule is 14 CFR Part 260, Refunds for Airline Fare and Ancillary Service Fees, read in the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations on November 14, 2026.
• Section 260.6(a)(1) requires a covered carrier that is the merchant of record to provide a full and prompt refund of the airfare, including any taxes and ancillary fees, to a consumer holding a nonrefundable ticket on a scheduled flight to, from, or within the United States.
• That obligation attaches to any cancelled flight, or any significantly delayed or changed flight, where the consumer chooses not to fly on it, not to accept rebooking on an alternative flight, and not to accept any voucher, credit or other form of compensation offered.
• Section 260.2 defines an automatic refund as issuing one without waiting for an explicit request, where the right to it is undisputed because the contracted service was not provided and the consumer either rejected the alternative offered or was offered none.
• Section 260.2 defines significantly delayed or changed by six tests. Departing three or more hours earlier on a domestic itinerary, or six or more on an international one. Arriving three or more hours later on a domestic itinerary, or six or more on an international one. A different origin or destination airport. More connection points than the original. A downgrade. The sixth test concerns accessibility and was not relied on here.
• Section 260.2 defines a prompt refund as one made within 7 business days for credit card purchases and within 20 calendar days for cash, check, debit card or other forms.
• The refund covers the airfare plus taxes plus ancillary fees. Section 260.2 lists ancillary services as including checked or carry-on baggage, advance seat selection, in-flight entertainment or Wi-Fi, beverages, snacks, meals, pillows and blankets, upgrades and lounge access.
• Part 260 also carries separate obligations this article does not cover: Section 260.4 on fees for services paid for but not provided, and Section 260.5 on significantly delayed or lost bags.

Why accepting the rebooking ends the claim

The rule is built around a service you paid for that was not delivered. If the carrier delivers something you take instead, the gap it was written to close is closed.

So it is conditioned on your own choice rather than on what went wrong. Three things have to be turned down: the changed service itself, a rebooking onto something else, and any credit offered in place of money.

That is why a counter can offer a credit in good faith and be fully within the rule. Taking it is a decision with a price, and the price is the cash otherwise due.

The actual math on what comes back

The amount due is not just the headline price. The rule names the base price plus any taxes plus the ancillary fees, so the figure to compare against a credit is the whole of what left your account.

Take a stated example. A $300 base, $58 in taxes and government charges, and $94 of ancillary fees comes to $452.

That arithmetic is ours and the three inputs are invented for illustration. The point is the gap: a credit offered at the $300 figure is $152 short of what the rule covers, and the shortfall sits in the parts nobody remembers paying.

What this means

The useful question at a counter is not whether you are owed something. It is which of the three things in front of you you are about to decline, because declining all of them is what the obligation is conditioned on.

It is also worth knowing that a request is not required. The text covers refunds issued without one, which means a carrier waiting to be asked is not how the rule is written.

What this is NOT

This article explains what 14 CFR Part 260 requires of a covered carrier when a flight is cancelled or significantly delayed or changed, read in the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations on November 14, 2026, and it quotes and cites that text rather than summarizing it from understanding. It is not legal advice and not a determination that any particular booking qualifies, which turns on the carrier, the itinerary, the payment and facts this article cannot see. It is not a claim that money is owed for the inconvenience itself: the regulation read here provides for the price being returned, and no mandated payment for the delay is described in it. It is not a statement about any carrier's own contract of carriage, which may offer more than the rule requires and was not read, and it is not a statement about the rules of any other country, which differ and were also not read. The $452 example and its three inputs are invented for illustration and the arithmetic on them is ours; every requirement in The numbers is cited to its section. One regulation was read and no enforcement action, guidance document or carrier policy was examined. This is not a political endorsement or criticism of anyone.

Sources

• Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 14 CFR Part 260, Refunds for Airline Fare and Ancillary Service Fees, read November 14, 2026, for the refund obligation in 260.6, and for the definitions of automatic refund, prompt refund, ancillary service and significantly delayed or changed flight in 260.2.
• United States Department of Transportation, Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, Final Rule on Refunds and Other Consumer Protections, the rulemaking that established Part 260, located through the Department's own aviation consumer rules index.