II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 561 

To provide for cash refunds for canceled airline flights and tickets. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2023 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SCHATZ, 

Ms. WARREN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To provide for cash refunds for canceled airline flights and 

tickets. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cash Refunds for 

5 Flight Cancellations Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CASH REFUNDS FOR CANCELED AIRLINE FLIGHTS 

7 AND TICKETS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 417 of title 49, United 

9 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 41727. CASH REFUNDS FOR CANCELED AIRLINE 

2 FLIGHTS AND TICKETS. 

3 ‘‘(a) CASH REFUNDS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara6 graph (B), a covered carrier or ticket agent who 

7 sells a ticket for a passenger to take a covered 

8 flight, and either such flight is canceled or sig9 nificantly delayed (as defined by the Secretary 

10 of Transportation) by the covered carrier or 

11 such ticket is canceled by the passenger at least 

12 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the 

13 flight, shall offer the passenger a full cash re14 fund for such ticket, including any ancillary 

15 fees paid, within 30 days of the passenger mak16 ing the request. 

17 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—A covered carrier or 

18 ticket agent shall only be required to offer a 

19 cash refund under subparagraph (A) for 1 

20 flight booked by a passenger on any city-pair 

21 itinerary on any given date. 

22 ‘‘(2) ALTERNATIVE FORM OF COMPENSATION.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A covered carrier or 

24 ticket agent may offer an alternative form of 

25 compensation determined appropriate by the 

26 covered carrier or ticket agent, including a 


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1 credit, a voucher, or other mechanism to com2 pensate a passenger, provided that any such 

3 offer includes a clear and conspicuous notice of 

4 a passenger’s right to a cash refund under 

5 paragraph (1). 

6 ‘‘(B) NO EXPIRATION DATE.—An alter7 native form of compensation provided pursuant 

8 to subparagraph (A) shall remain valid and re9 deemable by the passenger indefinitely. 

10 ‘‘(3) RETROACTIVE REFUNDS.—In the case of a 

11 passenger who— 

12 ‘‘(A) received an alternative form of com13 pensation during the period beginning on 

14 March 1, 2020, and ending on the day prior to 

15 the date of enactment of this Act for a covered 

16 flight or ticket for a covered flight canceled by 

17 the covered carrier or by the passenger; and 

18 ‘‘(B) has not fully used such alternative 

19 compensation, 

20 such passenger may request a cash refund to replace 

21 the alternative compensation, or the remaining alter22 native compensation if the passenger has used part 

23 of the alternative compensation, and the covered car24 rier or ticket agent shall comply with such request 

25 within 30 days of receiving such request. 


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1 ‘‘(4) REIMBURSEMENT TO TICKET AGENT.—A 

2 ticket agent who provides a cash refund to a pas3 senger under this section, including a retroactive re4 fund under paragraph (3), shall be entitled to 

5 prompt reimbursement from any covered carrier for 

6 the portion of the ticket price paid to that carrier. 

7 ‘‘(b) FUNDING.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a 

9 covered carrier or ticket agent may use amounts ap10 propriated or otherwise made available to the com11 mercial airline industry in any appropriations en12 acted on or after March 1, 2020, in response to 

13 COVID–19 to pay for the cash refunds under sub14 section (a), including retroactive refunds under para15 graph (3) of such subsection. 

16 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—A covered carrier may not 

17 use amounts appropriated under section 4112 of the 

18 Coronavirus Economic Stabilization Act of 2020 

19 (title IV of division A of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, 

20 and Economic Security Act (Public Law 116–136)) 

21 to pay for the cash refunds under subsection (a), in22 cluding retroactive refunds under paragraph (3) of 

23 such subsection. 

24 ‘‘(c) DISCLOSURE.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) PRIOR TO PURCHASE.—Prior to the sale of 

2 a ticket for passenger to take a covered flight, a cov3 ered carrier or ticket agent shall disclose, in writing 

4 in written or electronic communication, that the pas5 senger has a right to cancel their ticket at any time 

6 for any reason and receive a full cash refund. 

7 ‘‘(2) CANCELLED OR SIGNIFICANTLY DELAYED

8 FLIGHT.—In the case of a covered carrier or ticket 

9 agent who sells a ticket for a passenger to take a 

10 covered flight, if such flight is canceled or signifi11 cantly delayed (as defined by the Secretary of 

12 Transportation) by the covered carrier or such ticket 

13 is canceled by the passenger at least 48 hours before 

14 the scheduled departure of the flight, the covered 

15 carrier or ticket agent shall disclose, in writing in 

16 written or electronic communication, that the pas17 senger has a right to receive a full cash refund for 

18 their ticket. 

19 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS FOR DISCLOSURE.—Any 

20 written or electronic disclosure under paragraph (1) 

21 or (2) shall be in a clear and conspicuous format. 

22 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 ‘‘(1) AIR CARRIER, FOREIGN AIR CARRIER, 

24 TICKET AGENT, AND UNITED STATES.—The terms 

25 ‘air carrier, foreign air carrier, ticket agent, and 


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1 United States’ have the meanings given those terms 

2 in section 40102. 

3 ‘‘(2) COVERED CARRIER.—The term ‘covered 

4 carrier’ means— 

5 ‘‘(A) any passenger air carrier that had an 

6 operating revenue in 2018 that exceeded 

7 $1,500,000,000 according to the Bureau of 

8 Transportation Statistics; or 

9 ‘‘(B) any passenger foreign air carrier op10 erating a flight to or from the United States. 

11 ‘‘(3) COVERED FLIGHT.—The term ‘covered 

12 flight’ means a flight of a covered carrier that is 

13 scheduled to depart from, or arrive at, an airport lo14 cated in the United States.’’. 

15 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 46301 of title 49, 

16 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

17 following new subsection: 

18 ‘‘(j) PENALTIES RELATING TO CASH REFUNDS FOR

19 CANCELED AIRLINE FLIGHTS AND TICKETS.—An air car20 rier or ticket agent that violates section 41727 shall be 

21 liable to the Government for a civil penalty of $1,000 for 

22 each violation.’’. 

23 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap24 ter 417 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 

25 adding at the end the following: 

‘‘41727. Cash refunds for canceled airline flights and tickets.’’. 


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1 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

3 of this Act. 

Æ 


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