Information, not legal advice. RefundRules summarizes US DOT rules from 14 CFR Part 260. It does not know your ticket, the airline's records, or facts you leave out. Confirm with the airline and the DOT before relying on it.

Delayed checked bag: when you get your bag fee back

12, 15 or 30 hour standards and the Mishandled Baggage Report requirement.

Checked bag fee refunds

Bag fee refund is owed if a Mishandled Baggage Report is filed and the bag is not delivered within 12 hours (domestic), 15 hours (international, longest nonstop US segment 12 hours or less) or 30 hours (international, longest nonstop over 12 hours) of the last segment's arrival, or the bag is lost.

14 CFR 260.2 (Significantly delayed checked bag); 14 CFR 260.5

Refund deadline

7 business days for credit card purchases; 20 calendar days for cash, check, debit card and other forms of payment. Note: the DOT consumer page says 20 business days; the regulation text says 20 calendar days.

14 CFR 260.2 (Prompt refund); 14 CFR 374.3

Check your case with an AI agent

Add RefundRules as a remote MCP server and describe what happened. It returns a verdict with citations.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "refundrules": { "url": "https://refundrules.pages.dev/mcp" }
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}

Official sources: DOT refunds, DOT automatic refund rule, file a DOT complaint.

Rules from 14 CFR Part 260 (eCFR Title 14 Part 260, up to date as of 2026-10-16). Retrieved 2026-10-20.