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JetBlue's Schedule Change Refund Policy is Changing Back, After the DoT Enforcement Notice reminded carriers to refund passengers in the case of flight cancellations or significant schedule changes.
Prior to the coronavirus epidemic, JetBlue's refund policy in the event of flight cancellations and schedule changes of 2 hours or more was to permit a refund back to the passenger's credit card, if requested (always better than accepting a travel credit, which you may or may not use by the time it expires).
Then, several days ago, JetBlue changed its refund policy such that a schedule change of 24 hours and 1 minute or more was required to receive a refund back to the passenger's credit card:
Fortunately, on Friday April 3, 2020, the Department of Transportation reminded all airlines that for flights that originate in or arrive in the U.S., they are required to refund passengers back to their original form of payment for any flight cancellations or significant schedule changes. And while the DoT didn't specify what constituted a significant schedule change, it's safe to say that a flight that departs a full day earlier or later is a major change.
Today, the JetBlue schedule change policy is back to what it was originally. Whether for flights prior to May 31 or flights from June 1 onward, if the schedule change to the flight is 120 minutes or longer, the passenger may request a refund back to the original form of payment. Since this usually won't automatically happen, be sure to clearly state that you do NOT want a Travel Bank credit, and are insisting on a refund back to your credit card.
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Hello. It is good that at least one airline is going back to more common sense approach to the policy. My daughter and her husband in the US military and due to COVID-19 pandemic, their leave in April was cancelled by their superior until further notice. They already had their flights booked through Southwest back in February and cancelled the reservation shortly after their leave was called off sometimes in March. They are now stuck with over $1200 travel funds expiring in February 2021. They cannot use their travel funds before the expiration because this leave was supposed to be… Read more »
Eri, really sorry to hear your daughter and her husband won’t have any leave in April due to the epidemic. It sounds as though they cancelled their Southwest flights before Southwest cancelled the flights, and unfortunately, that means they don’t have any recourse. If they had waited until Southwest cancelled the flights, then they would absolutely be able to insist that Southwest refund the money back to the credit card they used to purchase the tickets. This is why I always recommend waiting to cancel flights, even if you know you won’t be able to use them. By waiting, you… Read more »
Thank you for reply, Hilary. I wish Southwest would at least extend their travel funds expiration date or make it as book by the expiration date. Since she booked her flights with my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, we are thinking about filing travel insurance claims with Chase as a last result. I will keep your advise in mind for my own reservation for trip to Paris next month with United. Most likely we will reschedule our travel plans unless the situations drastically change for better. At least United is giving us the rebooking without any fees and 11 months out… Read more »