Air Travel & Passenger Rights
Know your rights when you fly. Plain-English guides to overbooking and being bumped, lost or delayed luggage, delays and cancellations and the new automatic-refund rule, being removed from a flight, TSA screening and device searches, tarmac delays, and the real consequences for unruly passengers — what airlines can and cannot do, and how to get what you are owed.
All Air Travel & Passenger Rights guides
- Unruly Passenger Consequences: FAA Fines, Arrest, and Bans
What really happens to unruly airline passengers: FAA civil fines up to tens of thousands per violation, federal criminal charges, airline bans, and the no-fly reality.
- Can TSA or Border Agents Search Your Phone at the Airport?
Can TSA or CBP search your phone at the airport? The difference between the domestic checkpoint and the border, the border-search exception, and how to protect your data.
- Bumped From a Flight? Your Denied-Boarding Compensation Rights
Overbooked and bumped from a flight? What denied-boarding compensation you are owed under DOT rules, the $1,075 and $2,150 caps, and how to claim it.
- Tarmac Delays: The 3-Hour Rule and What Airlines Must Do
Stuck on the tarmac? The DOT 3-hour domestic (4-hour international) rule, your right to food, water, and working lavatories, and what to do if the airline breaks it.
- TSA Airport Screening: What Agents Can and Cannot Make You Do
Your rights at the TSA checkpoint: why screening needs no warrant, when you can opt out of the body scanner, what agents can ask, and what they cannot do.
- Can an Airline Kick You Off or Refuse to Fly You?
When can an airline remove you from a flight or refuse to fly you? The captain’s authority, what counts as a lawful refusal, illegal discrimination, and your options.
- How to File an Airline Complaint and Actually Get Results
A step-by-step guide to complaining about an airline: start with the carrier in writing, escalate to the DOT, use credit-card chargebacks, and when to try small claims.
- Your Rights as an Airline Passenger: What Airlines Can and Cannot Do
A plain-English guide to your rights as an air passenger in the U.S.: what federal law guarantees, what is left to the airline’s contract, and where to push back.
- Lost, Delayed, or Damaged Luggage: What Airlines Owe You
What airlines owe you for lost, delayed, or damaged baggage: the $4,700 domestic liability limit, bag-fee refunds for delays, the Montreal Convention, and how to file.
- Flight Delays and Cancellations: Refunds, Rebooking, and the New Rules
Your rights when a flight is delayed or canceled: the DOT automatic-refund rule, what counts as a significant change, rebooking, and why the U.S. has no EU-style payout.