United Flight Delays & Cancellations: What You Need to Know!

Did your United flight get canceled or delayed by more than 3 hours? If so, you are going to want to understand United’s policy for handling these situations.

Flight delays and cancellations are an unfortunate part of traveling, especially if you are flying during the winter blizzard or summer thunderstorm season. While any unexpected schedule changes can be very frustrating, don’t let it discourage you from traveling.  Just make sure you know the rules and your rights when one of these situations occurs.

If you are flying United Airlines, and your flight gets canceled or significantly delayed, here are the key things to know about United’s flight delay and cancellation policy, as well as the protections you have from the U.S. Department of Transportation (and European Regulation EU 261).

United Flight Cancellations: What should you do if your United Flight is cancelled?

If your flight is canceled, the first thing you need to figure out is whether the cause of cancellation is within the airline’s control.    A controllable flight cancellation or delay is essentially a delay or cancellation that has been caused by the airline. 

When the situation is “Controllable”, airlines have made commitments, enforceable by the Department of Transportation (“DOT”), on how they will take care of the customer.

Controllable vs. Non-Controllable Delays & Cancellations

Controllable Delays are caused by things the airline has control over such as maintenance and mechanical issues, lack of available equipment, software malfunctions, cabin cleaning, flight crew schedules, fueling, baggage loading, etc.

Non-Controllable Delays are caused from things that are outside of the airlines control such as weather, air traffic congestion, terrorism, emergency diversion, etc.

United’s Policy for Controllable Cancellations:

If your flight is canceled for a controllable reason, United has pledged to do the following:

• Rebook you on another United flight at no extra cost.
• Rebook you on a partner airline or another airline with which it has an agreement at no extra cost.
• Provide you with a meal or meal cash/voucher when cancellation results in you having to wait for 3 hours or more for a new flight.
• Provide complimentary hotel accommodations for any passenger affected by an overnight cancellation.
• Provide complimentary ground transportation to and from the hotel for any passenger affected by an overnight cancellation.

How to rebook a delayed or canceled flight on United

You’re eligible to rebook on United when your flight is delayed longer than 60 minutes.

You can call the United customer service line (800-864-8331) or wait in line at the airport, but it’s normally faster to make the change on the United website or app.

United Flight Cancellation Compensation

The U.S. DOT has fewer protections for passengers than other parts of the world. If you are flying in the United States, airlines are not required to provide additional compensation when flights are delayed or canceled.  You will be eligible for a refund but not additional compensation.

Compensation is only required by U.S. law when passengers are “bumped” from an oversold flight.

However, If you are flying within or leaving from Europe, there are stricter regulations and you can get compensation for delays and cancellations.

Refund of Ticket Price

If your flight is canceled and you choose not to take another flight option provided by United, you are entitled to a refund for the unused ticket – even for non-refundable tickets.  This refund includes the ticket price plus any baggage fees you paid, as well as any extras you purchased, such as a seat assignment or pet fee.  

Your compensation for a canceled flight is limited to the costs associated with your ticket only. United Airlines is not required to reimburse you for any consequential costs affected by the canceled flight, such as a prepaid hotel room or rental car, a cruise, concert, or other tickets, or lost wages.

United Flight Delays: What should you do if your United Flight is delayed?

Just as with a flight cancellation, there are no requirements to provide additional compensation, so you will first need to understand what has caused the delay and is it controllable by the airline.

United is committed to making customers aware of known delays and cancellations. The Flight Status section on United’s website or the phone app are typically the best places to get an updated status of your flight.

United’s Policy for Controllable Delays:

If your flight is significantly delayed for a controllable reason, United has pledged to do the following:

• Rebook you on another United flight at no extra cost.
• Rebook you on a partner airline or another airline with which it has an agreement at no extra cost.
• Provide you with a meal or meal cash/voucher when cancellation results in you having to wait for 3 hours or more for a new flight.
• Provide complimentary hotel accommodations for any passenger affected by an overnight delay.
• Provide complimentary ground transportation to and from the hotel for any passenger affected by an overnight delay.

Tarmac Delays

The DOT’s tarmac delay rule requires that flights (departing from a U.S. airport) are required to allow passengers to get off the plane if the delay is longer than three hours (for domestic flights) or four hours (for international flights).

Exceptions to the time limits are allowed only for safety, security, or air traffic control-related reasons.  You should not exit the airplane unless told by the airline that you can do so safely.

• During a lengthy tarmac delay, airlines are required to provide:
  • Drinking water and a snack, such as a granola bar, no later than two hours after the start of the tarmac delay.
  • Working toilets.
  • Comfortable cabin temperatures.
  • Adequate medical attention, if needed.

Airlines do not have to serve passengers full meals during a tarmac delay, even if the tarmac delay lasts for a lengthy period of time. 

United Flight Delay Compensation

As stated earlier, when flying within or from the United States, there are no federal laws requiring airlines to provide passengers with additional compensation when their flights are delayed. 

Each airline has its own policies about what it will do for delayed passengers.

United will allow you to rebook on another flight when your flight is delayed for 60 minutes or longer.

However, if you are flying to/from or within Europe there is legislation called EU Regulation 261. This regulation provides rules and a compensation structure for passengers who experience travel issues like denied boarding, overbooking, cancellations or flight delays.

United Flight Delays when traveling to/from Europe

In Europe, passengers are entitled to a claim (under the law) if a delay or cancellation was within the airline’s control and results in passengers being delayed to their destination by more than three hours.

If you are on a flight to/from/within the European Union (“EU”), regulation 261 applies in the following situations, only one of which will apply when flying United, since it is not a European based airline.

• Your flight is within the EU and operated by an EU or non-EU airline.
• Your flight arrives in the EU from outside the EU and is operated by an EU airline.
• Your flight departs from the EU to a non-EU country operated by an EU or a non-EU airline, such as United Airlines.

EU Regulation 261 will not apply if you flight arrives in the EU and is operated by a non-EU airline. It only applies when a U.S. airline is leaving the European Union.

Even though United is not a European airline, they must follow European laws when they depart from a European airport. That means passengers flying on a United flight out of a European airport are protected by regulation EU 261.

How to File a United Flight Delay Compensation Claim

If your United flight departing from Europe is delayed, you could be owed up to $650 per person in compensation from United, in addition to a refund of the ticket cost.

If this sounds confusing and you need some help understanding your rights and your potential refund amount, AirHelp is a company that specializes in helping you get the compensation you are entitled to.

It’s always best to first check with the airline directly, but if they are not helpful, you can use a claim company like AirHelp to help resolve the claim. Check out their compensation per airline page so you can find out what you’re owed.

How to check United flight status

You can check the status of any United flight via the Flight Status and Notification section of the United website. Here you can search by flight number or if you don’t have the flight number, you can search by the route.

Four ways to avoid flight delays and cancellations

There’s no way to totally avoid flight cancellations and delays, however there are a couple of things you can do to improve your odds.  

1. Fly out in the morning

Don’t fly in the late afternoon or evening. Book the first flight out in the morning.   Morning flights have the best chance of getting out as the plane is already at the airport, so the risk of an inbound delay is eliminated.

2. Book a non-stop flight

The logic here is straightforward. Having a single non-stop flight means you only risk having one flight delayed. If you have a connecting flight, you now have two flights to worry about, and your odds of having a delay have just doubled.

3. Fly a reliable airline

Any airline runs the risk of a flight delay, but it seems to happen to some more than others. Here is a list of the most reliable (U.S. based) airlines in terms of delays and cancellations.

 4. Fly out of a dependable airport

There are some airports that are known for flight delays and cancellations. If you are flying into or out of one of these airports there is a higher chance you will have a delay (listed alphabetically, not by performance).

1. Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI)
2. Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
3. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
4. Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
5. Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD)
6. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
7. Denver International Airport (DEN)
8. Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS)
9. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
10. LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
11. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
12. Orlando International Airport (MCO)
13. Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
14. Reagan International Airport (DCA)
15. San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

In Summary

Flight delays and cancellations are inevitable, you can’t totally avoid them, but there are things you can do to reduce your chances of experiencing them.  And if you do encounter a significant delay or cancellation, it’s always good to know the rules and the rights provided to you by both the airline and the DOT.  Hopefully this article helps!