As of October 28, 2024, new automatic airline refund rules went into effect, per the U.S. Department of Transportation’s rule and amendment to the rule.
The rule states that “for passengers that hold a nonrefundable ticket on a scheduled flight to, from, or within the United States, an air carrier or foreign air carrier will provide a full refund of the fare (including any taxes and ancillary fees) the carrier collected for any cancelled or significantly delayed or changed flight if the passenger chooses not to fly on the significantly delayed or changed flight or accept rebooking on an alternative flight or accept any voucher, credit, or other form of compensation offered by the air carrier or foreign air carrier”.
Airlines are required to refund passengers within 7 business days for credit card purchases and within 20 days for cash, check, debit card, or other forms of purchase.
Delays
Passengers are entitled to a refund if their flight is significantly delayed or changed and they choose not to fly or accept another form of compensation such as a voucher or credit. A significant delay or change is defined as:
- A delay of three hours or more on domestic flights
- A delay of six hours or more on international flights
- Departure from a different origin airport
- Arrival at a different destination airport
- The addition of more connection points than the original itinerary
- A downgrade to a lower class of service
- A traveler with a disability rescheduled to travel through one or more connecting airports that are different than the original itinerary
- A traveler with a disability who is rescheduled to travel on a different aircraft on which accessibility features needed by the traveler are unavailable.
Cancellations
Passengers are entitled to a refund if their flight is canceled and they choose not to accept rebooking on an alternative flight or accept another form of compensation such as a voucher or credit.
Baggage
Passengers are entitled to a refund if their checked bags are lost or significantly delayed. A refund of the baggage fee is due if the passenger has filed a Mishandled Baggage Report and the airline fails to deliver the checked baggage within the time frame below:
- Domestic Flights- 12 hours from the time the passenger’s flight arrives at the gate
- International Flights (where the flight duration of the segment between the U.S. and the foreign country is 12 hours or less) – 12 hours from the time the passenger’s flight arrives at the gate
- International Flights (where the flight duration of the segment between the U.S. and the foreign country is over 12 hours) – 30 hours from the time the passenger’s flight arrives at the gate
Expensing Refunds
The expense process will differ depending on whether the ticket was purchased on a University T&E card or with personal funds.
- T&E Card
- If you receive a refund on the T&E card, create an expense report to expense the refund using the same expense item and worktags used for the original purchase.
- Personal Funds
- If you receive a refund on a personal card, you cannot request this amount for reimbursement.
- If you receive a refund and already received reimbursement for the expense:
- Write a check for the correct amount being repaid to the University of Virginia.
- Work with your fiscal admin to locate the person in your department/building to see who has a Remote Deposit Scanner (RDS). The person with a scanner can deposit the check as an Expenditure Credit (QRG).
- The next business day, an Ad Hoc Bank Transaction will go to the person with the Cost Center Deposit Specialist role. They should credit the funds to the same worktags that were originally charged on the original Expense Report including using the same spend category (follow the Expenditure Credit Section of the Ad Hoc Bank Transaction QRG).
- Once you receive a receipt, go back into the expense report and add an attachment with a comment regarding the airline refund and repayment to the University for the additional reimbursement.
If you have any difficulty completing this process, please reach out to your Expense Ambassador.