The winter storm spreading across the middle of the country Sunday brought its share of consumer headaches, starting with canceled airline flights. FlightAware, an airline tracking app, counted more than 1,800 canceled flights on Sunday and at least 8,500 delays
The most affected airports lay in a band from Kansas City to Washington, DC, but nearly all U.S. airports were affected in some way because of connecting flights.
Passengers whose flights were canceled are entitled to a refund of their ticket, not just a voucher for future travel. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation regulations, airlines are required to provide automatic cash refunds for canceled flights, regardless of the reason for the cancellation.
In late October, the Transportation Department strengthened its refund rule, requiring airlines to issue refunds “instantly” after canceling a flight.
“Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them—without headaches or haggling,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote in an October post on X. “Today, our automatic refund rule goes into full effect. Airlines are required to provide prompt cash refunds without passengers having to ask.”
Power outages
Even some people who weren’t traveling were affected by the storm. The Weather Channel reports more than 260,000 households were without electricity as of early Monday morning and at least three deaths had been attributed to the winter storm.
People without power are reminded not to use gasoline generators or propane grills indoors since both give off lethal levels of carbon monoxide.
Chapman, Kan., and St. George, Kan., got socked with the heaviest snowfall east of the Rocky Mountains. The Weather Channel said both areas recorded at least 18 inches of snow.
The storm, accompanied by frigid temperatures, is expected to continue moving east throughout Monday and Tuesday this week.