The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced on Friday it is temporarily pausing refund obligations when airlines change flight numbers, easing a rule that currently treats renumbered flights as cancellations warranting passenger refunds.
Regulations put in place under the Biden administration in 2024 noted flights that are given a different number than the one assigned when the consumer purchased the ticket are considered new flights, with the original considered canceled and refund eligible.
The DOT said, effective immediately, it will not enforce the requirements regarding refunds when a flight is renumbered, so long as the passenger is rebooked on the flight under the new number and the flight is operated without any “significant change or delay.”
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The announcement comes after an April review, which sought to limit the burden on airlines for operational or commercial changes that do not severely impact passengers.
The DOT also received a request for enforcement discretion from two U.S. carriers following their merger. In that request, the carriers described the need to renumber tens of thousands of flights for operational integration and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) compliance.
The DOT determined passengers were not harmed by the renumbering and granted the request.
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Recently, officials said the department received word from another U.S. airline advocating for a revision to the current definition of a canceled flight as established by the prior administration, arguing the definition is not required by statute, does not reflect the realities of airline operations, and is “overly broad.”
Enforcement will be paused until June 30, pending a decision on whether to move forward with a final rule to change the definition of a canceled flight, according to the DOT.
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“The Department is taking this interim step of pausing enforcement of its refund requirements under these specific limited circumstances while it engages in a new rule-making to consider whether to modify the definition of canceled flight through rule-making,” officials wrote in a document published Friday in the Federal Register.
A final decision is expected in February, allowing for a comment period for stakeholders to submit their input.
The DOT did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
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