Guide · United States
The US pays refunds, not delay compensation
There is no American EU261. Federal rules give your money back when a flight is cancelled or changed and you decide not to fly, and they pay cash when you're bumped off an oversold seat. That is the whole list.
If your route has no EU or UK leg, the check says no and you pay nothing.
US DOT refund rules are refund rules, not compensation rules — the United States sets no fixed cash payment for a delayed or cancelled flight. A cancelled or significantly changed flight you choose not to take is refunded automatically, in the original form of payment. Being bumped from an oversold flight pays cash, capped at $1,550.
Under US federal rules a delayed or cancelled flight carries no compensation. The entitlement is a refund.
Why a refund is not compensation
Airline emails treat these two words as the same thing. They aren't. The difference decides whether a disrupted trip leaves you square or leaves you paid.
Your own fare, returned
You paid for transport you didn't get, so the fare comes back. You end the day square: your money, no flight. The American version of this is unusually strong — automatic, and back to the card you paid with.
A fixed sum on top
A statutory payment for the disruption itself, owed whatever the ticket cost. Under EU261 that's €250, €400 or €600 per passenger by distance. The US has no equivalent for delay or cancellation — not in 14 CFR 259.5, not anywhere else in the federal rules.
The EU261 bands and the three-hour threshold are set out in full on the EU261 page, including the cases where a European flight pays nothing either.
The three things US rules do give you
Short list. Each one is real and each one is worth claiming.
A prompt automatic refund, in the original form of payment
Cancel your flight or change it significantly, and if you choose not to travel the refund is owed without you asking — back the way you paid. Not a voucher. Cited to 14 CFR 259.5 and tightened by the DOT automatic refund rule, 89 FR 32760 (2024). United offers travel credit first as a matter of habit; the rules entitle you to cash.
Cash for being bumped from an oversold flight
The one place US law puts a number on the disruption. It's a multiple of your one-way fare rather than a flat band, so a $90 ticket pays nowhere near the cap.
| How late you land | Airline pays | Capped at |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 hours | 200% of the one-way fare | $775 |
| Beyond 2 hours | 400% of the one-way fare | $1,550 |
Set by 14 CFR 250.5, with the payment rules in 14 CFR 250.9. It applies when you were bumped involuntarily. Take the volunteer deal at the gate and you've traded this for whatever they offered.
Meals and hotels, under the airline's own commitments
US carriers publish customer service commitments covering meals and overnight accommodation when a delay is within their control, and the DOT holds them to what they published. A promise the airline wrote, not a right Congress wrote — so it varies by carrier. Europe handles the same problem by statute: meals, two phone calls and a hotel are owed by regulation even when no compensation is due.
US, EU261 and UK261 side by side
Same disruption, three legal systems, wildly different outcomes. This is the table worth keeping.
| United States | EU261 | UK261 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compensation for a long delay | None at any length | €250, €400 or €600 from 3 hours late | £220, £350 or £520 from 3 hours late |
| Refund if you don't travel | Automatic, in the original form of payment | Full refund, and from 5 hours late you may take it instead of flying | Same as EU261 |
| Denied boarding | 200% of the fare to $775, or 400% to $1,550 | €250 to €600, owed from the first minute under Art. 4(3) | £220 to £520, owed from the first minute |
| Meals and a hotel | Whatever the airline's own published commitment says | Owed under Art. 9, even when compensation isn't | Owed under the retained Art. 9 |
| Who enforces it | DOT Aviation Consumer Protection, after the airline has had 4 weeks | 18 national bodies — the DGAC in France, the LBA in Germany, AESA in Spain | UK Civil Aviation Authority, through PACT, after 8 weeks |
| How long you have to claim | 2 years | 1 to 6 years, by country | 6 years |
EU261 amounts are per passenger and banded on great-circle distance. The sterling figures are the same three bands retained in UK law — the UK261 bands and when they apply instead of EU261 are on their own page. Escalation to any of these regulators is free.
When a US passenger is covered by EU261 anyway
Here's the part that pays. Your passport is irrelevant to EU261; your airport is not. The rule is Art. 3(1)(b), and it's asymmetric — which is why two flights between the same two cities can have opposite answers.
Paris (CDG) → New York (JFK) · Delta
Leaving Europe: covered, whoever flies it
Departing an EU, EEA or UK airport puts the flight inside EU261 whichever airline operates it. Paris to New York is over 3,500 km, so a three-hour delay lands in the €600 band per passenger — on Delta exactly as on Air France. Delta denies EU261 by default on flights it operates out of Europe. It still applies.
New York (JFK) → Paris (CDG) · United
Flying into Europe: only on an EU carrier
Arriving at an EU airport from outside brings EU261 in only when the operating carrier is EU-licensed. Same route, opposite answers: covered on Air France, outside the regulation on United. Emirates and Qatar inbound sit outside it too. This is the rule most people get wrong, and it goes against the reader.
The operating carrier decides it, not the code on your ticket. A flight sold as Delta and flown by Air France is an Air France flight for this test.
Asking, escalating, and the two-year clock
The refund is automatic on paper. In practice a credit gets offered, the offer gets accepted, and the entitlement quietly disappears. Four steps stop that.
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Ask in writing, and name the form of payment
Say you're not travelling and you want the refund to the original card. Email or the web form, never the phone alone — you want a dated record.
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Decline the voucher in writing
Travel credit is the first thing US carriers offer, United included. Accepting it ends the argument. One line refusing it keeps the cash claim open.
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File the DOT complaint after four weeks
Aviation Consumer Protection expects the airline to have had about four weeks first. Filing is free, and the airline has to answer the department in a way it never has to answer you.
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Watch the two-year clock
The US limitation period runs two years from the flight date. Short next to the six years the UK gives you, and it runs whether or not anyone replies.
If a leg of the trip did touch Europe, the sequence changes: the letter cites an article and the complaint goes to a national enforcement body instead. That's the full claim sequence with the deadlines.
Who this is wrong for: a purely domestic US delay
Chicago to Denver, five hours late, no EU or UK leg anywhere in the booking. There's no compensation to claim, so there's nothing for our kit to argue and you shouldn't buy it. Ask the airline for the meals or the room its own commitment promises, keep the receipts, and that's the ceiling.
The free check says the same thing before any payment screen, and the $19 flat fee and what it covers only makes sense once the check says yes. Selling you letters with no law behind them isn't a business we want.
Domestic, but bumped from an oversold flight? That does pay, in cash, under 14 CFR 250.5. Ask for the payment in writing before you leave the airport.
Questions people ask about US flight refunds
Does the US have anything like EU261?
No. There is no US fixed cash compensation for a delayed or cancelled flight, at any length of delay. Federal rules give a prompt automatic refund when you choose not to travel, plus cash for involuntary denied boarding on an oversold flight.
Can the airline give me a voucher instead of a refund?
Not if you asked for the refund. Under 14 CFR 259.5 and the 2024 automatic refund rule, the money goes back in the original form of payment. A voucher is an offer you're free to refuse, and refusing it in writing keeps the cash claim alive.
How much do I get for being bumped from an oversold flight?
200% of your one-way fare, capped at $775, if the airline gets you there 1 to 2 hours late. 400%, capped at $1,550, beyond that. It's a multiple of the fare you paid, so nobody can quote you a fixed figure in advance.
My US domestic flight was 5 hours late — what am I owed?
Nothing fixed. If you flew, there's no refund and no compensation. If the flight was cancelled or changed significantly and you decided not to travel, the fare comes back automatically. Meals or a hotel depend on that carrier's published commitment.
Does EU261 cover a Delta flight from Paris to New York?
Yes. Departing an EU airport brings the flight inside EU261 whoever operates it. Over 3,500 km puts a three-hour delay in the €600 band per passenger. Delta denies EU261 by default on those flights; the denial doesn't change the rule.
Is a New York to Paris flight covered by EU261?
Only if the operating carrier is EU-licensed. Air France, yes. United, no — Art. 3(1)(b) brings inbound flights in only for EU carriers. Same route, opposite answers, and it's the mistake US passengers make most.
Does a US airline have to pay for my hotel?
Only where its own customer service commitment says so, typically for delays within the airline's control. There's no federal duty of care in the US. Out of an EU or UK airport it's different: accommodation and transfers are owed by regulation.
How do I complain to the DOT about an airline?
File with the DOT's Aviation Consumer Protection office once the airline has had about four weeks to answer you. It costs nothing. Keep the two-year US limitation period in view, because a complaint doesn't stop that clock.
Find out whether a European leg saves your claim
Route, date, how late you landed. The check names the article, the band and the amount before any payment screen — and says no when the answer is no.
FlightOwe is an information service, not a law firm and not your legal representative. We tell you what the rules say and give you the letters — you file your own claim and keep everything you recover.