A Bipartisan Majority of Voters Support New FAA Rules Requiring Airlines to Provide Automatic Refunds

By Anika Dandekar

Congress today passed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act, which codifies new Department of Transportation (DOT) rules that aim to protect consumers by requiring airlines to pay quick, automatic refunds to passengers in the following cases: 

  • Canceled or significantly changed flights that are delayed more than 3 hours domestically or 6 hours internationally

  • Significantly delayed baggage return that is not delivered within 12 hours of a domestic flight or within 15 to 30 hours of an international flight arriving

  • If extra services that a customer paid for, such as Wi-Fi, seat selection, or inflight entertainment, were not provided

New polling from Data for Progress finds that when likely voters are informed of this new rule, 84% say they support it, including 88% of Democrats, 82% of Independents, and 80% of Republicans.

 
 

The FAA authorization bill, as originally proposed, would have reversed the new DOT rule, requiring the responsibility to be on the customer in cases where airfare refunds are owed.

Voters were informed of this proposal “that would limit these refunds so that they are not automatic, and would “require passengers to submit a written or electronic request to receive them.” In response, 76% of voters, including majorities across party lines, say that “airlines should provide refunds in these cases automatically,” while only 18% say “airlines should provide refunds in these cases only if a passenger requests it themselves.” 

 
 

These findings demonstrate that the new FAA rules requiring airlines to provide automatic refunds are broadly popular with voters across party lines. 

Anika Dandekar (@AnikaDandekar) is a senior analyst at Data for Progress.

Survey Methodology

From May 10 to 14, 2024, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,268 U.S. likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points. The following are defined as 2024 swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Abby Springs