Your Rights in the Sky: The DOT’s Role in Protecting Passengers

  • The DOT acts as a watchdog, ensuring that airlines comply with federal laws and uphold their own customer service policies.
  • Airlines operate with a lot of independence, but the DOT steps in to maintain the balance between corporate interests and consumer protections.
  • When you’ve been mishandled by an airline, the DOT will intervene to hold airlines accountable.

At its core, the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) exists to make travel across the U.S. reliable, safe, and efficient. 

I’m not sure about you, but when I think of flying, those aren’t necessarily the first three words that come to mind! 

So what oversight does the DOT actually have, and how does it influence your experience as a passenger on a commercial flight? 

. . .

The DOT’s Role in Airline Oversight

While airlines have authority over setting many of their policies, the DOT has some of their own basic rules that airlines need to follow. 

Enforcing refunds

The DOT requires airlines to initiate automatic and prompt refunds to passengers. 

This means that you don’t need to ask for your money back or jump through the airlines’ hoops — if you’re owed a refund for whatever reason, they need to process it automatically so you get your money back within seven days.

You’re entitled to a refund when:

  • Your flight has been significantly changed or canceled and you opt not to continue your travel plans (essentially, you’re holding an unused ticket)
  • Your baggage has been delayed 12+ hours on a domestic flight and 15-30 hours on an international flight (depending on flight distance)
  • You paid for wifi or a seat upgrade and did not receive it on the flight

See more details about each refund scenario on the DOT website

Overbooking

Though it feels unfair and downright infuriating at times, the practice of “bumping” passengers from a flight is not illegal.

Airlines overbook because they’ve crunched the numbers and know that, statistically, a certain percentage of passengers won’t show up. 

Most of the time, the airline predicts the no-shows accurately. But sometimes they don’t, and that’s when some poor, unfortunate soul gets bumped. 

Before the gate agent bumps someone, they are required by the DOT to ask for volunteers and offer compensation. There are no rules for how much the airline can offer someone to voluntarily switch to a later flight, so passengers can negotiate as much as they want.

If nobody volunteers, then the airline will bump someone based on the airline’s own criteria, not the DOT’s. Oftentimes, the airline’s frequent flier members or those who checked in early will have priority over others.

The DOT protects you if you’ve been bumped. If the airline can’t get you on a flight that lands at your destination within an hour of your original arrival time, you’re owed money. How much you get depends on the price of the ticket, how delayed you are, and if you’re on a domestic or international flight. 

To give you a rough idea, most passengers who experience a short delay because they were bumped will receive double the one-way price of the flight they were bumped from, capped at $775. 

The DOT lists the exact compensation amounts on their website.

. . .

Tarmac delays

If there’s one thing worse than your flight getting delayed, it’s your flight getting delayed when you’re already onboard. Thankfully, there are some protections put in place by the DOT in the case of a tarmac delay. 

First, the airline is required to provide an update to passengers after the first 30 minutes, then they can offer updates as they deem appropriate. After two hours, they need to provide you with snacks and water.

If three hours have passed (four for an international flight) and you’re still on the ground, the airline is required by the DOT to move the aircraft to a safe place for passengers to exit. 

Throughout the entire tarmac delay, bathrooms need to be accessible and the cabin must be within comfortable temperatures. 

Enforcing the Air Carrier Access Act

It’s illegal for airlines to discriminate against passengers because of a disability. 

The DOT enforces the Air Carrier Access Act, which outlines the assistance airlines and airports are required to provide, along with expectations for airlines’ standards of care for passengers with disabilities. 

All domestic airlines are required to abide by these protections, along with flights entering the U.S. or leaving the U.S. on international carriers.

If you run into any issues, you can request the airline contact their Complaint Resolution Official (CRO). This individual is required to be accessible in person or by phone during operating hours and it’s their job to resolve conflicts on behalf of the airline. 

Finally, if an airline has not followed the regulations, you can file a complaint with the DOT no more than six months after the occasion.

Mediation and accountability

The first step when something goes wrong is to file a complaint with the airline itself. Airlines are responsible for advertising to their customers how to complain to the airline, and many issues can be resolved without bringing the DOT in at all.

The DOT also has a rule that requires airlines to acknowledge consumer complaints within 30 days of receiving them. Airlines must address the complaint itself within 60 days.

If you feel the airline hasn’t addressed the issue to your satisfaction, then you should send in a complaint to the DOT. You can mail in your complaint or file a complaint online. 

Every month, the DOT publishes an Air Travel Consumer Report that details the common problems people are having with each airline. This public document includes information for consumers to compare records of each airline. 

It also includes interesting statistics about baggage loss and damage, percentages of on-time, delayed, and canceled flights, and more.

How Airlines Operate Under DOT Oversight

So, who’s really in charge here — airlines or the Department of Transportation? Well, neither.  

Balancing business autonomy with consumer rights

As you can gather, airlines have a lot of autonomy in setting their policies. They can set their own prices and routes, which allows for a competitive market so you, the consumer, have tons of options. 

On the flip side, nothing stops the airline from writing a lot of pesky fine print, like denying passengers compensation when flights are interrupted due to weather conditions.

However, airlines are still held to some standards by the government, as you read above. It’s a big balancing act between business autonomy and consumer protection. 

For example, laws like the Air Carrier Access Act (enforced by the DOT) have increased the safety and accessibility of air travel for millions of people!

Examples of DOT-driven changes

There have been some recent improvements beyond just automatic refunds. 

In early 2023, President Biden urged airlines to drop family seating junk fees. After further pressing from the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, four of the major airlines did so. 

Further legislation was proposed in 2023 to make it easier for families to sit together at no additional, jacked-up cost.

. . .

Perhaps one of the best ways to get airlines to behave is to fine them for poor behavior. When investigations reveal that an airline has failed to follow through on certain policies, the DOT will fine them. 

For example, in October 2024, American Airlines was fined a whopping $50 million for mistreating passengers with disabilities. This penalty was 25 times more than any other fine from the DOT for violating disability requirements. That’s certainly more than just a slap on the wrist!

These increased fines and penalties go “beyond the cost of business to better hold airlines accountable for the mistreatment of passengers and change airline behavior,” according to the DOT press release, and signify the end of an era of airline nonchalance toward penalties and passenger mistreatment. 

RELATED: DOT Fines JetBlue for Operating Chronically Delayed Flights

What This Means for You as a Passenger

When something goes wrong during air travel, don’t assume the airline has your best interests at heart. Know your rights and how the DOT regulations protect you!

Flying smarter with DOT protections

There are steps you can take to leverage your rights as a passenger. 

First and foremost, get familiar with your rights! Airlines are notorious for cutting corners on customer care, so read up on their passenger protection plans (and their contracts of carriage if you really want to dive into the fine print).

If you don’t feel like finding your magnifying glass to read the fine print, you can check out details about each airline’s customer service plan on Erika.com:

This way, if you aren’t offered a refund in a situation when you know that you’re entitled to one, you have the knowledge and know-how to file a complaint to get what you’re owed. 

TL;DR: How the DOT Protects Your Flight Rights

The Department of Transportation isn’t exactly a fairy godmother who waves a wand and fixes the plane when it breaks. 

But it is the fairy godmother perched on the gate agent’s shoulder as they give you a hotel for the night because the airline couldn't fix it in time to get you on your way!

The regulatory oversight of the DOT is understandably limited, but it provides certain protections to consumers like automatic refunds, time limits on tarmac delays, service guarantees for disabled passengers, and more. 

And lately, the department has been pressing for more protections for passengers, like killing those extra family seating costs. 

So, how does it feel to be a traveler empowered with knowledge? It feels good! 

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I'm an award-winning lawyer and personal finance expert featured in Inc. Magazine, CNBC, the Today Show, Business Insider and more. My mission is to make personal finance accessible for everyone. As the largest financial influencer in the world, I'm connected to a community of over 20 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. I'm also the host of the podcast Erika Taught Me. You might recognize me from my viral tagline, "I read the fine print so you don't have to!"

I'm a graduate of Georgetown Law, where I founded the Georgetown Law Entrepreneurship Club, and the University of Notre Dame. I discovered my passion for personal finance after realizing I was drowning in over $200,000 of student debt and needed to take action-ultimately paying off my student loans in under 2 years. I then spent years as a corporate lawyer representing Fortune 500 companies, but I quit because I realized I wanted to have an impact; I wanted to help real people and teach them that you can create a financial future for yourself.

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Advertiser Disclosure

Our aim is to help you make financial decisions with confidence through our objective article content and reviews. Erika.com is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Advertiser Disclosure

Our aim is to help you make financial decisions with confidence through our objective article content and reviews. Erika.com is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.