Cathay Pacific: CX US DOT Automatic Refund Rules

 

In compliance with the new US DOT automatic refund rules, Cathay Pacific will expect all travel agency partners to comply with the following:

 

Airfare and Ancillary Services Fees Refund Rules:

• From 28 October 2024, a passenger is automatically due a refund if a carrier cancels a flight or if there is a significant change in flight schedule.
• These rules apply to tickets/itineraries to or from the United States with brief or incidental stopover(s) at a foreign point without a break in the journey.
• The refund required is the full price paid for the ticket and any ancillaries (that are not provided), including government-imposed taxes and fees and carrier-imposed fees and surcharges, minus the value of any air transportation already used by the passenger.
• If no alternative transportation or compensation is offered to the passenger in lieu of a refund, a refund must be processed within the relevant timelines, i.e. within seven business days for credit card purchases and within 20 calendar days for purchases by cash, check, or other forms of payment.

Cancelled Flight or Significant Change:

• A canceled flight is defined as a specific flight number, that was published in a carrier’s Computer Reservation System to operate between a specific origin-destination city pair at the time of the ticket sale, that was not operated.
• A significant change in flight schedule is defined as the following:

• The passenger is scheduled to depart from the origination airport three hours or more (for domestic itineraries) or six hours or more (for international itineraries) earlier than the original scheduled departure time;
• The passenger is scheduled to arrive at the destination airport three hours or more (for domestic itineraries) or six hours or more (for international itineraries) after the original scheduled arrival time;
• The passenger is scheduled to depart from a different origination airport or arrive at a different destination airport;
• The passenger is scheduled to travel on an itinerary with more connection points than that of the original itinerary;
• The passenger is downgraded to a lower class of service.
• The passenger who is an individual with a disability is scheduled to travel through one or more connecting airports different from the original itinerary; or

The passenger who is an individual with a disability is scheduled to travel on substitute aircraft on which one or more accessibility features needed by the passenger are unavailable.