What you are actually owed.
US passenger rights are narrower than most people think and wider than most airlines volunteer. There is no American equivalent of Europe’s fixed delay payments, but there are real, enforceable rules about refunds, oversold flights and delayed bags, and since 2024 the refunds are supposed to be automatic.
Each page below gives you the answer in two sentences, then quotes the regulation, shows when it last changed, and sets out our own data on how often the situation actually arises.
Start with what happened to you
Your rights when a flight is cancelled
A cancellation means a cash refund is owed, not a voucher. Here is what the U.S. DOT rules actually give you, and how to make the airline pay it.
14 CFR 260.6
Your rights after a long delay
Delayed so long you gave up? Federal rules can entitle you to a cash refund. Know the thresholds before you accept a voucher.
14 CFR 260.2
When your refund never came
Airlines must refund you automatically for cancellations and significant changes. If it never arrived, that is a violation you can file on.
14 CFR 260.2 · 14 CFR 260.4 · 14 CFR 260.10
Your rights if you were bumped
Involuntary denied boarding has real statutory compensation, up to $2,150 depending on the delay. Here is how it is calculated.
14 CFR 250.5
Your rights for a lost or damaged bag
Domestic mishandled-baggage liability runs up to $4,700. Learn what you can claim and how to document it.
14 CFR 260.2 · 14 CFR 260.5
Situations we have not finished
We hold the regulations for these, but not yet our own data on how often they happen. Rather than publish a reworded copy of the rule, which the government already publishes better than we could, these pages wait until the data behind them lands.
- Stuck on the tarmacdata pendingThe three-hour domestic and four-hour international rule, in plain English: food, water, and the right to get off the plane.
- Denied for a disabilitydata pendingThe Air Carrier Access Act protects disabled travelers. Know what airlines must provide, and how to file when they fall short.
The rules themselves
Six parts of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations do most of the work: Part 250 on oversales, Part 253 on the contract of carriage, Part 254 on domestic baggage liability, Part 259 on customer-service commitments, Part 260 on refunds, and Part 399 on unfair and deceptive practices.
Each has its own page in the rule library: what the part does, which of its sections a passenger would ever need, the key section in its own words, and every time it has been amended.
What we do already track is when the rules changed. Every amendment to these regulations, merged across parts and put in date order, is on the rights timeline. It is the page that tells you the $2,150 denied-boarding ceiling only reached that figure in October 2024.
How we write these
Every page states the rule, cites it, and links the primary source so you can read it yourself. Every number is validated against the federal dataset it came from before the page can publish. When we get something wrong we log it publicly.
The full standards are on our editorial guidelines page, the arithmetic behind derived figures is on the methodology page, and corrections live at /corrections.
Row30 provides data journalism and education, not legal advice. We are not a law firm and do not represent passengers in legal proceedings. For advice about your own situation, consult an attorney.