Airline refund automation that decides who is owed, why and by when, before the passenger asks
Every refund decided inside the DOT clock, each with its rule and its proof.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Airline Refund Automation is software that decides and issues the airline automatic refunds the DOT requires, on time and with the reason, for refund teams. Eight agents turn every cancellation, significant schedule change, delayed bag and missing add-on into a verdict slip per passenger: owed or not, the Part 260 rule, the amount, and the days left on the DOT clock. A refund analyst reviews the slips, decides the hard cases and approves each batch with a reason code.
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Airline refund automation matters because, since October 28, 2024, the DOT automatic refund rule (14 CFR Part 260) makes every airline flying to, from or within the United States refund on its own when it cancels or significantly changes a flight and the passenger does not travel or accept an alternative. Card refunds are due in 7 business days, other forms of payment in 20 calendar days, back to the original form of payment, with every tax and fee and no processing fee. Checked bag fees are owed when a bag is 12 hours late on a domestic trip, or 15 or 30 hours on an international one, and paid add-ons are owed when they are not delivered.
Most refund desks still handle involuntary refunds from a request queue. The trigger lands in four systems: the operations log, the schedule-change queue, bag tracing and the onboard service log. Analysts check delays against the 3-hour and 6-hour lines by hand, add back taxes and bag fees or forget them, miss that a travel agency is merchant of record and the ticket gets refunded twice, count the 7 business days through a federal holiday, and find failed card refunds after the deadline. When DOT or a card issuer asks for proof, the team rebuilds it from logs.
Estimated split for one significantly changed domestic flight of about 180 passengers: working by hand from requests, and reviewing what the agents prepared.
Eight agents find who is owed, decide it twice, price it and watch the clock; an analyst approves each batch.
Corvane Airways flight CV 1550, Chicago O'Hare to Seattle on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, arrived 3 hours 22 minutes late after a hydraulic fault forced an aircraft swap. 41 passengers did not travel. It is Thursday, October 15, 08:40 CT, and the 10:00 CT payment run is an hour away. Here is how the refund team works with the agents in the working solution.
Leah's Today screen says the agents checked 4,210 passengers and fees since 18:00 CT: 1,274 owed, 2,892 not owed and 44 for a person, with $398,215.70 in refunds owed. On the DOT clock, 1,402 refunds are open and none is late. Needs you lists five items before the 10:00 CT run, first the CV 1550 batch: 38 refunds, $11,966.31, due Thu, Oct 22.
Second Checker: “Re-derived all 4,210 slips on its own; agreed on 4,166. The 44 others are with you.”
The flight opens as a funnel: 178 checked, 129 flew, 8 took CV 1554, 38 owed and 3 for a person. Marisol Vance's slip reads Owed, $286.40 to the Visa ending 4471, under Part 260 for declining a significantly changed flight, with 5 of 7 business days left. Four evidence cells show the delay, what she did (tapped “I won't travel — refund me” at 07:04 CT), the amount (fare $252.19, tax $18.91, fees $15.30, no processing fee) and where it goes back.
Entitlement Judge: owed · 99%. Second Checker: agrees, re-derived on its own.
Every number on the slip carries a citation. Leah opens the first one and reads the operations record for CV 1550: scheduled off-block 07:15 CT, actual 10:41 CT; scheduled arrival 09:35 PT, actual 12:57 PT; arrival delay 3 h 22 min, after the swap from N317CV to N322CV. The passage the agents relied on is highlighted.
“Read by the agents from the system of record … the highlighted passage is the one relied on.”
Beside the slips sits the conversation with the agents. Leah types “Add Hannah's unused Wi-Fi pass.” The Fare Calculator replies that Hannah Brennan's slip already has her $39.00 seat and $35.00 bag, and that it found a $19.99 Wi-Fi pass she bought for CV 1550 on Oct 12 and never used. One button adds it; the change is logged with her slip.
“Add it to her refund? Nothing changes until you say yes.”
Three CV 1550 slips were not decided by the agents. Rafael Duarte boarded at 08:31 and left the aircraft at 08:50, during the delay. The Entitlement Judge says owed at 88%: boarding is not taking the flight, and the coupon is open. The Second Checker says owed at 94%: he chose not to travel on the changed flight. The Judge is below the 90% line, so Leah decides: Owed — refund $229.75, with reason DEC-01.
“Your decision is final for this slip, logged with your name and both agents' views.”
Sign-off shows what will happen before anything moves: 35 refunds back to the cards used, due Thu, Oct 22 under the 7-business-day rule, and 3 to PayPal or bank transfer, due Mon, Nov 2 under the 20-day rule. The 3 cases for a person are kept out. Leah ticks that she reviewed the slips and the evidence, chooses APR-01 “Agents agree; rule and evidence checked” and approves 38 refunds. They are staged for the 10:00 CT run and each passenger gets the plain-words notice REF-CONF-02.
Nothing is paid until a person approves; any batch over $50,000, like CV 908 at $71,904.50, also needs Grace Lindholm, the Controller.
On the DOT clock, refund RF-26-77310 for Garrett Moss, $412.86 on CV 1418 MSP–ORD, came back at 07:52 CT: the Amex ending 1008 expired 09/26. It is due Mon, Oct 19. The Payment Router proposes mailing a check today by overnight courier, which arrives Fri, Oct 16, and shows the other choices with their risk. A person approves the fix.
Wait for the issuer to send a replacement card number: “Risk: may pass Oct 19.”
The same rule covers fees. The Trigger Watcher matched 214 Mishandled Baggage Reports to their delivery scans: Corinne Wells's bag on CV 2290 MIA–ORD reached her 14 h 10 min after arrival, past the 12-hour domestic line, so her $35.00 bag fee goes back to the card she used. In all, 167 bag fees are owed ($5,845.00) and 86 add-on fees ($2,952.00): Wi-Fi on CV 96 and seats lost on CV 1771.
A partly delivered Wi-Fi pass is not decided by an agent: those 4 go to a person.
The Notice Writer read all 6 message templates, 25,982 messages since Sep 2, and found that RB-DOM-04 offers a travel credit worth 110% of the fare before telling passengers they can have their money back. It drafted version 8 with the refund right first, in plain words. Of the 412 passengers who got version 7, 407 were refunded or flew; 5 took a credit and are offered cash. Danielle approves template changes.
Proposed version 8: “You can have your money back: if you don't want to travel, reply “refund” and we refund you in full to the card you paid with, within 7 business days.”
Card dispute CB-26-11904 from August Wells, $318.22 on canceled flight CV 2318 ATL–ORD, claims canceled service. The record shows the refund was already issued Oct 15 at 06:00 CT. The proof pack is ready: refund RF-26-76844, the approval of the CV 2318 batch by Andre Pike at 05:12 CT, and the cancellation record, each cited. A person sends the proof.
The Compliance Reporter never sends anything to a regulator or a card issuer without a person.
The same refunds, seen by four of the people at Corvane Airways who carry them: what a request queue looked like, and what working with the agents looks like now.
Eight agents find who is owed, decide it twice, price it and watch the clock; an analyst approves each batch.
Picks up cancellations, long delays, schedule changes, airport changes, added connections, downgrades, delayed bags and add-ons not delivered, records which line each crossed and cites the record.
Decides each passenger owed or not owed, under which paragraph of Part 260, from what they did: flew, accepted an alternative, declined or did not answer.
Re-derives every slip from the same sources without seeing the Judge's answer, and sends both readings to a person with the question in one sentence when they differ.
Prices each refund: the unused fare, every government tax and carrier fee, and every prepaid add-on not used.
Sends each refund back the way it was paid, splits refunds by tender, proposes the agency refund when an agency is merchant of record, stages approved refunds for the next payment run and re-routes returned payments.
Sets each refund's due date, 7 business days for cards with federal holidays excluded or 20 calendar days otherwise, alerts the analyst at 2 business days and the operations manager at 1.
Reads every message template, flags any that offer a credit or voucher before telling the passenger of the right to a refund, drafts the fix and writes plain-words refund notices.
Builds the monthly on-time report by form of payment, assembles the DOT evidence pack and answers card disputes with proof from the audit trail and the refund ledger.
Approves each batch; Controller countersigns over $50,000. The agents propose; a named person decides.
The conversation with the agents sits beside every screen. Ask about a slip, or tell the agents what to do. Each answer comes from the agent that did the work, with its sources, and nothing changes until you approve.
Why is Marisol Vance owed?
Marisol Vance is owed $286.40. CV 1550 arrived 3 h 22 min late, past the 3-hour line for a domestic trip, and at 07:04 CT she told us “I won't travel — refund me.” The refund is the full fare, tax and fees, back to her Visa ending 4471, due Thu, Oct 22, with 5 business days left. The Second Checker reached the same answer on its own.
Is anyone paid twice?
No one in this batch is paid twice: every slip was checked against earlier refunds, agency refunds and card disputes. The one risk is Theo Lindqvist, whose agency is merchant of record, which is why he is with you and not in the batch.
Who is not owed, and why?
137 are not owed: 129 flew on CV 1550 and 8 accepted CV 1554 at 11:05 CT. Taking the flight or accepting an alternative ends the refund right. Each still has a slip, so you can see the reason.
Which flights crossed the 6-hour line?
Six international flights: CV 908 ORD–LHR (retimed 7 h 10 min), CV 815 ORD–GRU (9 h 30 min), CV 96 ORD–FRA (6 h 55 min late), CV 77 ORD–NRT (6 h 40 min), CV 640 ORD–YYZ (6 h 20 min late) and CV 58 ORD–MEX (6 h 15 min). CV 908 is the only one still waiting for you.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
The Part 260 lines, the refund clocks and the approval thresholds the agents work to. Each rule cites its text, and every change is logged with a reason.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Significant change, domestic | 3 h | Arrival or departure moved 3 hours or more |
| Significant change, international | 6 h | Arrival or departure moved 6 hours or more |
| Also a significant change | On | Different airport, added connection, downgrade, accessibility loss |
| Prompt refund, card · other forms | 7 business days · 20 calendar days | Federal holidays excluded from business days; calendar 2026–2027 |
| Bag fee lines | 12 / 15 / 30 h | Domestic · international flight of 12 h or less · international flight over 12 h |
| Processing fee on a required refund | None | Never kept |
| No-response policy | 24 h | No answer in 24 hours, or before departure, is treated as declining |
| Both agents must agree at or above | 90% confidence | Below the line, or any disagreement, goes to a person |
| Second approver for batches over | $50,000 · the Controller | Payment runs at 06:00, 10:00 and 16:00 CT; batch approval always needs a reason code |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (14 CFR Part 260, final rule April 24, 2024, in effect October 28, 2024; US DOT enforcement actions of November 2022 — more than $600 million in refunds and $7.25 million in penalties against six airlines; 49 U.S.C. 46301 as amended by the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 — up to $75,000 per violation; US DOT Air Travel Consumer Report data as published for January–June 2026 — refunds 29% of complaint cases). Corvane Airways, its flights and the people named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Airline Refund Automation is software that decides and issues the airline automatic refunds the DOT requires, on time and with the reason, for refund teams. Eight agents turn every cancellation, significant schedule change, delayed bag and missing add-on into a verdict slip per passenger: owed or not, the Part 260 rule, the amount, and the days left on the DOT clock. A refund analyst reviews the slips, decides the hard cases and approves each batch with a reason code.
Since October 28, 2024, 14 CFR Part 260 requires airlines to refund automatically when they cancel or significantly change a flight and the passenger does not travel or accept an alternative: within 7 business days for card purchases and 20 calendar days otherwise, to the original form of payment, with every tax and fee and no processing fee. In the working solution, a significant change is set at 3 hours domestic and 6 hours international, plus a different airport, an added connection, a downgrade or an accessibility loss.
The Clock Keeper gives each refund its own due date: 7 business days for card refunds, with federal holidays excluded, or 20 calendar days for other forms of payment. In the sample data it skipped Columbus Day, Monday, October 12. It alerts at 2 business days, and the Payment Router proposes a fix for a returned payment before the date.
Yes. The Trigger Watcher matches each Mishandled Baggage Report to its delivery scan and the 12-hour domestic, 15-hour or 30-hour international line, and reads onboard logs for Wi-Fi and seats not delivered. The Fare Calculator returns each bag fee and ancillary fee in full to the card used; partly delivered services go to a person.
When a travel agency is merchant of record, the Payment Router proposes the agency refund so the passenger is not paid twice, and the case goes to a person. Split payments are refunded per tender, each in its original form. A voucher or credit is never used unless the passenger chose it.
Yes. Each paid refund keeps its sources, its approval and its payment reference, so a refund chargeback for a refund already paid is answered with a proof pack, and the DOT evidence pack and monthly on-time report build from the record. A person sends them; the agents never send anything to DOT or a card issuer.
People stay in control. The agents read every system read only and stage refunds, but nothing is released until an analyst approves the batch with a reason code, and batches over $50,000 also need the Controller's countersignature. Any slip below 90% confidence, or where the two agents disagree, is decided by a person.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents: your Customer Service Plan, refund rules, message templates and the systems behind reservations, departure control, ticketing, payments, bags and onboard service. It goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own disruptions first.
Every disrupted passenger rebooked and told before reaching the counter.
1-min demoEU261 Claims ManagementEach claim paid or refused on the flight’s own record, with evidence a court accepts.
1-min demoAirline Complaint ManagementEvery complaint answered inside its DOT clock, with the trip facts cited.
1-min demoWe'll run Airline Refund Automation on your own flights, tickets and payments, against the DOT automatic refund rule.