Guide — irregular operations

When the airline changes your flight

Schedule changes are routine. Airlines adjust timetables months ahead and again in the final weeks. Most changes are small and need nothing from you. Some give you rights that are easy to miss.

The three situations, and what each one means

Minor schedule change

Departure moves by a short interval, same day, same routing. Usually accepted automatically. Worth checking that your connection still works.

Significant change

A large time shift, an added stop, a change of departure or arrival airport, or a downgrade of cabin. This is where re-accommodation and refund rights typically start.

Cancellation

The flight is gone. The airline must either re-accommodate you or refund the unused portion. The choice is generally yours, not theirs.

The US DOT refund rule, in plain terms

For flights to, from or within the United States, if the airline cancels your flight or makes a significant change and you choose not to accept what they offer, you are entitled to a refund to your original form of payment — not a voucher, not a credit, unless you accept one. This applies regardless of whether the fare was described as non-refundable.

Separately, the 24-hour rule lets you cancel most qualifying US bookings for a full refund within 24 hours of purchase, provided the booking was made at least seven days before departure.

The distinction that matters: a refund is money back to your card. A travel credit is a voucher with an expiry date and restrictions. If you are owed a refund, you do not have to accept a credit — say so explicitly and in writing. See refunds and cancellations.

What to do, in order

Read exactly what changed. A 25-minute shift and a change of arrival airport are not the same thing, even though both arrive as “schedule change” emails.
Check your connections. The airline’s system may have accepted a connection that is now too tight, particularly on separate tickets.
Decide what you want — the alternative flight, a different alternative, or a refund — before you contact anyone. It shortens the conversation considerably.
Contact whoever issued the ticket. If that is us, call (855) 820-3470 with your AFS reference. If it is another agency or the airline, they hold the ticket and only they can reissue it.

At the airport, on the day

Once you are inside the airport on the day of travel, the airline’s own staff are almost always faster than any agency. Go to the desk or the airline app first. Keep boarding passes, receipts and any written notice of the delay — compensation claims depend on documentation you can only collect at the time.

If you are on a European itinerary, EU261 may entitle you to cash compensation on top of re-routing, depending on the length of the delay and the cause. That claim goes to the operating airline directly.

What the desk can and cannot do

Can

Read the fare rules on the ticket we issued and tell you what applies.
Request re-accommodation or a refund from the airline on your behalf.
Reissue where the airline permits an agency to reissue.
Explain the difference between what you are owed and what you are being offered.