US DOT's refunds page, read 17 September 2026 and last updated 7 November 2025, lists two significant change triggers that apply only to a passenger with a disability, a changed connecting airport and a substitute aircraft missing a needed accessibility feature. Neither has an hour threshold, and companions on the same reservation are refunded too.
Yes, if you are a passenger with a disability, and you do not need the new routing to be late. On 17 September 2026 the US Department of Transportation refunds page listed seven kinds of significant change, and the sixth reads Change in connecting airports for passengers with a disability, defined as the consumer who is an individual with a disability being scheduled to travel through one or more connecting airports different from the original itinerary. There is no hour figure attached. The change itself is the trigger. The page carried the note Last updated Friday, November 7, 2025.
For everyone else, a swapped connection is not a significant change on its own. A passenger without a disability gets a refund for a different origin or destination airport, for more connections than the original itinerary, for a downgrade, or for a departure or arrival moved by three hours on a domestic itinerary and six hours on an international one. Routing you through Charlotte instead of Dallas with the same arrival time triggers none of those.
The reason the disability trigger exists is practical. A connection is where wheelchair assistance is handed off, where an aisle chair has to be arranged, and where a service animal relief area may or may not exist. The regulation treats that as a change to the product, not a detail.
The underlying text is 14 CFR Part 260, the refund rule DOT published at 89 FR 32832 on 26 April 2024. Section 260.2 defines a significantly delayed or changed flight in seven numbered items. Items six and seven apply only to an individual with a disability.
Here is the full list as the DOT page and section 260.2 give it, read on 17 September 2026, with the threshold each trigger carries and who it covers. The first five are the ones the top results stop at.
| Trigger | Threshold | Who it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Earlier departure | 3 hours or more domestic, 6 hours or more international | Every passenger |
| Later arrival | 3 hours or more domestic, 6 hours or more international | Every passenger |
| Different origin or destination airport | None, the change itself | Every passenger |
| More connection points than the original itinerary | None, the change itself | Every passenger |
| Downgrade to a lower class of service | None, the change itself | Every passenger |
| Different connecting airport | None, the change itself | Individual with a disability only |
| Substitute aircraft missing a needed accessibility feature | None, the change itself | Individual with a disability only |
That is the seventh trigger. Section 260.2 item seven covers an individual with a disability who is scheduled to travel on substitute aircraft on which one or more accessibility features needed by the customer are unavailable. Section 260.6(b)(3) tightens the wording to features available on the original aircraft needed by the individual, so the test is a comparison. The plane you booked had it, the plane you are now on does not, and you need it.
The rule does not list the features. An accessible lavatory, movable aisle armrests, an on-board wheelchair, a seat with the legroom a fused leg requires, in-seat power for a ventilator, all of these are the kind of thing 14 CFR Part 382 addresses aircraft by aircraft, and all of them vary between a widebody and the narrowbody that replaces it when a route is downgauged. The word that carries the weight is needed. A feature you would have liked is not the same as one you need, and the airline can ask which it is.
Note the asymmetry with the general rule. For a passenger without a disability an aircraft swap refunds nothing unless it also moves the schedule past the hour thresholds or downgrades the cabin. A swap from a widebody to a narrowbody on the same schedule is a shrug. For a passenger who needs an accessible lavatory on a seven hour sector it is a full refund on request. We cover the aircraft swap from the other direction, when it removes seats and the airline calls it a downgauge, in smaller plane, no bumping payment.
Yes, and this is the part none of the general explainers carry. Section 260.6(b) says the carrier that is the merchant of record must provide a full and prompt refund to an individual with a disability who notifies it that they do not want to continue travel because of the changes in (b)(1) to (b)(3), and then continues, the carrier must also provide a full and prompt refund to any individuals in the same reservation as the individual with a disability who do not want to continue travel without the individual with a disability.
Three conditions sit inside that sentence. The companion has to be on the same reservation, not a separate booking on the same flight. The companion has to tell the airline they do not want to travel without the passenger with a disability. And the trigger has to be one of the three in 260.6(b), which are a downgrade that removes a needed accessibility feature, a different connecting airport, or a substitute aircraft missing a needed feature. A companion whose own flight is otherwise fine is refunded on the strength of the other person's trigger.
The downgrade item is worth a second look. A downgrade already refunds every passenger under item five of the general definition, so 260.6(b)(1) adds nothing for the passenger with a disability. What it adds is the companion refund. A family of four downgraded together is refunded because each of them was downgraded. A family of four where only one seat was downgraded, and that seat was the one with the accessibility feature, is refunded because 260.6(b) reaches the other three.
They do, and that is what turns it from a rule the airline has to know into a term you can quote back at the agent. American's conditions of carriage, marked Updated August 13, 2026 when we read them on 17 September 2026, say American will promptly refund a customer with a disability who informs it they do not wish to travel because of a downgrade that removes a needed accessibility feature, a change of connecting airport, or a change to a different aircraft on which an accessibility feature available on the original aircraft needed by the customer is not available. The next sentence refunds individuals on the same reservation who inform American they do not wish to travel without that customer.
American's general list on the same page is more generous than the federal floor. It refunds itinerary changes of 3 or more hours (domestic) / 4 or more hours (international), against DOT's six hours for international. That is the right way round to read any contract of carriage, the regulation is the floor and the airline can only add.
Allegiant's customer service plan, read the same day, carries both disability triggers in near identical wording, plus the companion clause for individuals on the same reservation. Section 260.11 requires carriers to put the refund terms in the contract of carriage, which is why two airlines with nothing else in common carry the same paragraph. On any other carrier, search its contract for the phrase accessibility feature.
The refund is triggered by your notification, not by the airline noticing. Under 260.6(b) the carrier's duty starts upon notification by the individual with a disability that they do not want to continue travel. Until you say so, the airline assumes you are flying the changed itinerary. The order that works is this.
It should not need to, and it usually would not. A change of connecting airport or aircraft that you decline is not a covered cancellation reason on most policies, because you chose not to fly. The regulation is the remedy, the policy is not. What a policy can still do is pick up the hotel, ground transport, or tour you had prepaid on the strength of the original itinerary, and it will deduct anything the airline refunded first. Our travel insurance guide covers where those lines fall, and insurance deducts what the airline paid shows the deduction in practice.
Two limits to keep in view. The rule covers flights to, from, or within the United States on a covered carrier. A change of connecting airport on a Lisbon to Rome itinerary is a question for EU rules, and EU261 has no equivalent trigger. And the rule refunds the fare, taxes, and ancillary fees you paid the airline, not the consequential costs of the trip you no longer take. For those, and for a broader look at what a schedule change refunds when you are not a passenger with a disability, see ninety minute schedule change refund. Everything above was read from the public pages named on the day stated, following our methodology.
No. The DOT refunds page and 14 CFR 260.2 attach the three hour and six hour thresholds only to earlier departures and later arrivals. The two disability triggers, a different connecting airport and a substitute aircraft missing a needed accessibility feature, are triggered by the change itself, however small the schedule difference.
The rule uses the definition in 14 CFR 382.3, which American's contract repeats, an individual with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of one, or is regarded as having one. You self identify. The airline can ask which accessibility feature you need, and the rule's word is needed, not preferred.
Yes, under 14 CFR 260.6(b), if the companion is on the same reservation and tells the airline they do not want to travel without you. The trigger must be one of the three in that paragraph, a downgrade removing a needed feature, a different connecting airport, or a substitute aircraft missing a needed feature. American and Allegiant both carry the same clause.
Then there is no fare refund. The right under 260.6 depends on choosing not to fly the changed itinerary and not accepting rebooking, a voucher, or other compensation. If you fly a downgraded cabin the airline refunds the fare difference, but a passenger who flies through the substituted connecting airport is not owed a refund for it afterwards.
DOT's refunds page, read 17 September 2026, says 7 business days for a credit card purchase and 20 calendar days for cash, check, or other forms of payment, counted from when you reject the alternative. American's contract states the same 7 business days for cards and 20 days for other payments. The refund goes to the original form of payment.
Only to flights to, from, or within the United States operated by a covered carrier. An itinerary entirely outside the US, on a foreign airline, falls under that country's rules. EU261 has no connecting airport or accessibility feature trigger, so for a European itinerary the airline's own contract of carriage is the document to check.