Under a new rule from the U.S Department of Transport, airlines must provide passengers with refunds for paid-for additional services such as Wi-Fi or seat selection, if those services can’t be delivered. The ruling also stipulates that the refund must be monetary and not, for example, a voucher to be used on a different flight.

There will also be refunds for checked baggage fees, if the luggage goes missing for more than 12 hours and there has been a definition imposed on what constitutes a ‘significant change’ in departure times, which has been set at three hours for a U.S domestic flight, or six hours for an international flight.

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“Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them – without headaches or haggling,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Our new rule sets a new standard to require airlines to promptly provide cash refunds to their passengers.”

The rule creates certainty for consumers by defining the specific circumstances in which airlines must provide refunds. Prior to this rule, airlines were permitted to set their own standards for what kind of flight changes warranted a refund. As a result, refund policies differed from airline to airline, which made it difficult for passengers to know or assert their refund rights. DOT also received complaints of some airlines revising and applying less consumer-friendly refund policies during spikes in flight cancellations and changes.