Question Regarding Flight Cancellation

[ancestry]

I quickly scanned Bavaria's old thread on traveling in winter but didn't see an answer to this specific question.

In general if a flight is cancelled due to bad weather and the airline is unable to fly you out on the day that you are scheduled, do they refund you your money if you are not able to travel on any other day?

More details for our specific situation.....We are traveling January 8-12. Should bad weather move in around the 8th, we are not able to go early (i.e. the 6th or 7th) and would not want to go later (i.e. the 9th or 10th). If we can't go on the 8th basically don't want to go at all. If it makes any difference our flight to MCO is on AirTran (although the flight back is on JetBlue).

What happens in this case? Would they refund us our money? Give us a travel credit? etc...

I just want to be prepared so I know what is reasonable for me to expect or ask for should this happen. I have traveled during bad weather before but always was able to go earlier or later. I've never been in the position before of not being able to go at all if I couldn't go on a specific date.

 

[jsilvers]

IIn general if a flight is cancelled due to bad weather and the airline is unable to fly you out on the day that you are scheduled, do they refund you your money if you are not able to travel on any other day?

The U.S. Department of Transportation requires airlines to offer a full refund as an alternative if a flight is cancelled. See http://airconsumer.dot.gov/rules/19960715.htm.

Of course, that doesn't mean that frontline airline employees are aware of this requirement and will do so without a struggle...

 

[Lewisc]

.We are traveling January 8-12. Should bad weather move in around the 8th, we are not able to go early (i.e. the 6th or 7th) and would not want to go later (i.e. the 9th or 10th). If we can't go on the 8th basically don't want to go at all. If it makes any difference our flight to MCO is on AirTran (although the flight back is on JetBlue).

What happens in this case? Would they refund us our money? Give us a travel credit? etc...

Makes a big difference. Airtran will refund your money. However if the weather improves and flights from Orlando to your location are running on Jan 12 JetBlue is under no obligation to give you a refund. The fact that you never made it to Orlando is irrelevant. Jetblue wasn't responsible for getting you to Orlando.

Under your circumstances you should have booked both legs with the same carrier.

edited to add JetBlue is a customer friendly airline. I wouldn't be surprised if they offered you a credit, possibly even a full credit, toward future travel.

 

[ancestry]

Makes a big difference. Airtran will refund your money. However if the weather improves and flights from Orlando to your location are running on Jan 12 JetBlue is under no obligation to give you a refund. The fact that you never made it to Orlando is irrelevant. Jetblue wasn't responsible for getting you to Orlando.

Thanks for clarifying. I did understand this and am aware that we don't get to Orlando on Air Tran than I will have to "cancel" through Jet Blue and will be charge the cancellation fees.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

This is a good illustration of the problem of booking one way trips on two separate carriers. However, who yet knows what the weather will be like on January 8?