Cash Refunds for Flight Cancellations Act
Sponsored By: Senator Markey, Edward J. [D-MA]
Introduced
Summary
Mandatory cash refunds for canceled or significantly delayed U.S. flights, with clear timelines, disclosure duties, and penalties to ensure passengers can get money back instead of being forced into vouchers.
Show full summary
- Travelers: Passengers get full cash refunds, including taxes and fees, when they reject or do not accept a canceled or significantly changed flight. Credit card refunds must arrive within 7 business days and cash or other refunds within 20 days.
- Passenger cancellations and vouchers: If a passenger cancels a ticket at least 48 hours before departure they must be offered a full cash refund and receive it within 30 days. Vouchers or credits can be offered only with clear notice and must be redeemable at any time with no expiration.
- Carriers and ticket agents: The law targets large U.S. carriers (starting threshold $1.5 billion in prior-year revenue) and all foreign carriers. The Secretary must issue a rule within 1 year to apply these refund rules to ticket agents and carriers face civil penalties for violations.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Cash refunds for cancelled or late flights
This bill would require airlines to give a full cash refund, including taxes and any fees, when they cancel a flight or a flight is significantly changed or delayed and you refuse to fly, to be rebooked, or to accept noncash compensation. If you paid by credit card, refunds would be issued within 7 business days after the earliest date the refund was requested. If you paid with cash or another method, refunds would be issued within 20 days. The bill would let you cancel a ticket at least 48 hours before departure and get a full cash refund within 30 days, and it would require a written notice of that 48-hour cancellation right before ticket sale. Airlines could offer vouchers or credits only as a clear alternative; vouchers must be redeemable at any time and must not expire.
Which airlines must give refunds
This bill would cover passenger airlines with more than $1.5 billion in operating revenue last year and would cover any foreign passenger airline that flies to or from the United States. Starting in 2028, the $1.5 billion threshold for U.S. carriers would rise each year by the annual percent change in the CPI-U.
Apply refund rules to ticket agents
This bill would require the Transportation Secretary to issue a final rule within one year to make ticket agents follow the same refund and notice rules as airlines. The Secretary would also be able to require airlines to promptly transfer funds to a ticket agent when the Secretary finds the agent is responsible for the refund and the agent does not have the passenger's money. That would help passengers get cash refunds faster when they bought tickets through agents.
Fines for breaking refund rules
This bill would make violations of the refund and related requirements subject to civil penalties under existing FAA civil-penalty authority. That would raise the enforcement risk for airlines and ticket agents and could encourage better compliance, but it also means carriers and agents could face fines for breaking the rules.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Markey, Edward J. [D-MA]
MA • D
Cosponsors
Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA]
MA • D
Sponsored 9/22/2026
Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR]
OR • D
Sponsored 9/22/2026
Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]
CT • D
Sponsored 9/22/2026
Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT]
VT • D
Sponsored 9/22/2026
Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]
VT • I
Sponsored 9/22/2026
Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY]
NY • D
Sponsored 9/22/2026
Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY]
NY • D
Sponsored 9/22/2026
Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
RI • D
Sponsored 9/22/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov