Data / Federal rules / 2026-13675
Airline Refunds and Other Consumer Protections
The Transportation Department published this final rule in the Federal Register on July 7, 2026.
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What the agency says
The U.S. Department of Transportation (Department or DOT) is extending its current enforcement discretion, announced on December 5, 2025, regarding specific refund regulations. Under current regulations, a flight assigned a different flight number than was active at the time of ticket purchase is considered a "cancelled flight," making the consumer eligible for a prompt refund and related notifications. The Department is extending its discretion to not enforce these requirements for renumbered flights, provided that the passenger is rebooked on a flight with a new number and the flight operates without any "significant change or delay" as defined in its regulations. This extension provides the Department with the necessary time to complete the pending rulemaking addressing the definition of a flight cancellation.
Key facts
- Document number
- 2026-13675
- Type
- Final rule
- Action
- Notification of enforcement discretion
- Agency
- Transportation Department
- Published
- July 7, 2026
- Dates
- As of July 7, 2026, the Department is extending the pause on the enforcement of airline refunds requirements regarding cancelled flights under 14 CFR parts 260 and 399 for flights that are merely renumbered. This enforcement discretion is extended for 1-year from the date of this publication, expiring on July 7, 2027.
- Docket
- Docket No. DOT-OST-2022-0089, DOT-OST-2025-2285
- Regulation ID (RIN)
- 2105-AF04; 2105-AF36
- Code of Federal Regulations
- 14 CFR 260; 14 CFR 399
- Significant
- Yes, under Executive Order 12866
- Pages
- 2
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Everything from the Transportation Department · Published in July 2026
Read from the Federal Register API, last updated 2026-10-23. The document on federalregister.gov is the official record; dates and dockets can change through later corrections. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0.