Canceled After the FAA Ground Stop? Federal Rules Guarantee a Cash Refund, Not a Hotel

Travelers whose flights were canceled by the FAA’s nationwide ground stop on Friday, November 13, 2026, are owed a full cash refund if they choose not to fly, under Department of Transportation rules. What the rules do not promise is a meal, a hotel room or cash compensation, because the airlines did not cause the disruption.

The disruption is still running. FlightAware counted 9,174 canceled flights within, into or out of the US on Friday, and by about 11:20 a.m. ET on Saturday it showed another 4,127 for the day.

The refund you are owed

The DOT’s refund rule, 14 CFR 260.6, applies to any canceled or significantly changed flight to, from or within the US. The airline must refund the fare, taxes and any extras such as seat fees, even on a nonrefundable ticket, if you turn down the rebooking and any voucher it offers.

The refund is automatic: you should not have to ask for it once you decline the alternatives. It is also owed if you simply do not respond and the replacement flight leaves without you.

The cause does not matter. The DOT’s cancellation and delay dashboard says airlines must refund a canceled or significantly changed flight “regardless of the reason,” and that covers an FAA order as much as a broken jet.

A delay counts as significant when you would arrive three hours or more late on a domestic trip, or six hours on an international one. Departing that much earlier, a change of airport, an extra connection or a downgrade to a lower cabin also qualifies.

Card payments must be refunded within seven business days, and cash, check or debit card payments within 20 calendar days. If the airline will not pay, the DOT takes complaints online.

What each airline is offering

United, Delta, American, Southwest and JetBlue have issued travel waivers that let affected passengers move a trip without a change fee. They are separate from the federal refund, they differ on dates, airports and fare differences, and every rebooking window closes before Thanksgiving on November 26.

Airline	Original travel dates	Rebook by	Fare difference	If you cancel
United	Nov 13 to 15 (ticketed by Nov 12)	United flight departing Nov 12 to 20	Waived, same cabin and cities	Full refund
Delta	Nov 13 to 15, systemwide (ticketed by Nov 14)	Travel by Nov 22	Waived, same cabin	eCredit
American	Nov 13 to 14, 21 listed airports (ticketed by Nov 12)	Travel Nov 13 to 17, change booked by Nov 14	Same cabin or pay the difference	Refund on request
Southwest	Nov 13 to 16	Within 5 days of the original date	Waived, same city pair	Refund if Southwest canceled or significantly delayed
JetBlue	Nov 13 to 14 (booked before Nov 13)	Travel through Nov 18	Waived	Cancel fee waived

Delta, which said on Saturday that it automatically rebooks customers when it cancels a flight, asked travelers with flexible plans to move to Monday, November 16, or later. United said most of its weekend flights were operating normally, though some would still be delayed or canceled while it repositions aircraft and crews.

Why meals and hotels are not guaranteed

All nine airlines on the DOT’s dashboard promise a meal voucher for a wait of three hours or more, and eight promise a hotel for an overnight wait, but only when the airline caused the problem. The DOT’s customer service dashboard lists these as commitments for controllable cancellations and delays.

The DOT defines a controllable disruption as one caused by the airline, such as maintenance, crew problems, cabin cleaning, baggage loading or fueling. An FAA order holding every departure is none of those, and the airlines’ own notices put Friday’s cancellations down to the ground stop and congestion in the air traffic system.

Saturday’s cancellations sit in a grayer zone, because airlines are canceling flights to reposition crews and aircraft knocked out of place on Friday. Those flights fall between the two categories, so a stranded traveler should ask the airline what caused the cancellation and whether a voucher is available.

Cash compensation is not on the table either way. The dashboard shows that none of the nine airlines it tracks commits to paying cash for a cancellation or a delay of three hours or more. Our ground stop compensation guide covers the wider question.

The rule change is not in force yet

Some coverage this weekend described a new federal rule as already limiting what airlines owe. That is the September rule moving 10 kinds of disruption out of the “Air Carrier” cause code, among them an unexpected shutdown or failure of government systems.

It was due to take effect on October 19, 2026, but the DOT pushed that back to February 1, 2027, in a Federal Register notice published October 15. It does not touch the refund rule.

For this weekend it makes little practical difference. The Air Carrier code already covers only events within the airline’s control, such as maintenance, crew scheduling or aircraft cleaning, and an FAA ground stop is not such an event.

The rule also faces a legal challenge. Passenger group FlyersRights asked the D.C. Circuit to review it in case No. 26-1303, as AeroCorner reported in October.