Airline travel tips for the holidays

More people have been traveling this year than in 2023. 

For the first six months of 2024, the 10 largest airlines transported 442 million passengers, an increase of 7% from the 414 million in the first half of 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT.)

Heading into Labor Day, the DOT said: “Air travel volumes this summer are the highest on record.” 

That’s expected to continue through the holidays.

That means it’s more important than ever to allow plenty of time for screening and boarding. And because many flights are more full than they used to be, airlines frequently ask travelers to check carry-on bags to conserve overhead bin space and time. You should consider putting an AirTag or other tracker in your carry-on, in addition to in checked bags.

Anecdotally, airlines also seem to be cracking down a bit on size restrictions for carry-ons and personal items. The size limits aren’t uniform, so you should check with your airline ahead of time. 

A bill Congress passed in May contained dozens of new protections for airline travelers. One of the most significant is the guarantee of no-hassle refunds for all travel booked starting Oct. 28, 2024. The law says passengers are entitled to easy refunds if the flights are canceled or “significantly delayed” (see below) for any reason — if they want the refund.

In many cases, however, a passenger may not want a refund. They likely just want to get where they were going, as quickly as possible. A refund might mean the traveler needs to book a new flight, which could be more expensive with a last-minute ticket.

Read more about the new refund law here. Here’s an explainer on all of the new rights in the bill and when they take effect.

The refunds law requires “automatic refunds” when any airline cancels or significantly changes a flight to or from the United States and “the consumer is not offered or rejects alternative transportation and travel credits, vouchers, or other compensation.”

 What does this mean? Practically, if an airline cancels or significantly delays a flight, it may rebook you on another flight. That flight may depart a little earlier or much later. That might be OK with you, or it may not. 

If the airline wants to rebook you and notifies you, and you don’t respond in a timely manner, the airline may just issue the refund and you have no flight at all. Good luck booking a new flight on the spot and one that doesn’t cost significantly more.

This makes it critical that the airline has your current cell phone number and email for timely notifications. And you should pay attention to texts or emails from your airline in the hours before your scheduled flight. And, you should have that airline’s app on your phone for instant notifications. (You can delete the app when you’re back home if you’d like.)

The new law spells out that a “significant delay” is an arrival that’s three hours or more late for domestic flights and six hours or more for international itineraries. This is when a no-hassle refund must offered. If you take the delayed flight, you don’t get a refund (but you may get a food voucher, etc.)

Also considered “significant” changes:

• Departures more than three hours/six hours early
• More connections
• Different connecting cities or 
• A passenger with a disability is scheduled to travel on a different plane that doesn’t offer all of the features needed.

Airlines canceled 1.6% of flights going into the Labor Day weekend, up from 1.5% of flights at the same point in 2023, the DOT said. That’s still better than during each of the five years before 2023, and way better than 2020 and 2022.
As for delays, 77% of flights were on time from January through June 2024, according to the DOT. That’s slightly better than the 76.5% on-time performance for the same period in 2023.

When flights are canceled or delayed for a reason that’s the airline’s fault – inadequate staffing, bad scheduling, equipment failures, etc. – more airlines guarantee hotels, food vouchers, ground transportation and rebooking with another carrier than did in 2022. Two years ago, before a push by DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, none of the airlines offered hotels or food vouchers, even when a cancellation or delay was the airline’s fault.

Of the 10 largest airlines:

• All 10 will provide meal vouchers for travelers delayed more than three hours.
• All except Frontier will pay for a hotel for travelers stranded overnight.
• All except Frontier will pay for ground transportation to and from the hotel.
• Six of the 10 will rebook you with a competitor. 

Travelers should know what to expect if they encounter a cancellation or delay that’s the airline’s fault. The commitments airlines are required to keep are at FlightRights.gov

The airlines bill passed by Congress requires DOT to approve rules for children 13 or younger to be able to sit next to an accompanying adult with no additional fee, if adjacent seats are available when you book. The rules were proposed in August. There’s no indication when the rules will take effect or what exactly they may look like.

Ahead of that, however, several airlines have already started new fee-free policies. Currently, Alaska, American, Fronter and JetBlue guarantee adjacent seats for children 13 and younger for all fare types, again subject to limited conditions. 

Even if your airline doesn’t guarantee fee-free family seating, you can often choose adjacent seats at no charge when you book. If you can’t and it’s important to you, then you should book a different flight. If you do select adjacent seats and the airline tries to change them, make it clear that that’s not acceptable.

When a flight is canceled for any reason, rebooking or a refund must be the first options. An airline can offer a voucher instead, under two big conditions:

1. The airline must make it clear a passenger doesn’t have to accept the voucher. A refund is their right if that’s what they want.
2. Any vouchers issued must be good for five years.

This part of the law took effect in May but compliance wasn’t required for flights booked prior to Oct. 28, 2024.

For someone who documents a serious communicable disease and doesn’t want to fly, airlines must comply with offering vouchers by April 25, 2025.

Refunds have long been passengers’ right, but airlines previously had latitude to push customers toward flight vouchers. This was a huge problem in 2020, when COVID spurred cancellations and airlines issued vouchers that expired at the end of 2020 or perhaps in early 2021 — before many people were willing to travel again.

Not surprisingly, total complaints against U.S. and foreign airlines hit a record in 2020 that still hasn’t been matched. Travelers filed 102,550 complaints — 87% of them because of refunds, or the lack of.

Airlines aren’t required to pay for a hotel for travelers whose flight is canceled because of bad weather. They’re not required to give food vouchers if there’s a ground stop beyond their control that delays a flight for hours and hours. 

But, in many, many cases, airlines will in fact pay for hotels, food and ground transportation when they aren’t required to … if you ask nicely. Look at what the airlines guarantee to customers whose flights are disrupted for reasons within the airline’s control. Sometimes airlines will do the same even when the disruption isn’t their fault.

Airlines are under the microscope right now, with the most sweeping consumer protections passed by Congress at one time perhaps ever. Many airlines are trying to be on their best behavior by accommodating travelers even when they don’t have to.

Travelers have enjoyed many rights for years, such as if their bag is lost, they’re stuck on the tarmac for hours or if they’re involuntarily bumped from an overbooked flight. Our Flyers’ Bill of Rights guide outlines what you need to know.

Airlines are required to give you information on how to file complaints. They must acknowledge written complaints within 30 days and respond within 60 days.

If you don’t get satisfaction from an airline, file an official complaint with the FAA. All of the protections passed by Congress and all of the rules launched by the DOT stemmed from the thousands of complaints that travelers lodged over the years. Complaints about refunds not provided, or mishandled wheelchairs, or surprise junk fees all provided narratives from real people to help form new rules.

And the DOT goes after airlines that violate rules or don’t treat customers fairly. Your voice matters.