US DOT $Allegiant Air delays and cancellations: what the airline has committed to

Checked 22 Sep 2026·6 min read

4 of the 8 rows on Allegiant Air’s DOT dashboard entry read “Yes”: rebooking on Allegiant, a meal or meal voucher once a controllable wait reaches 3 hours, a hotel for an overnight stay and ground transport. Cash, a credit or voucher, frequent-flyer miles and rebooking on a partner airline all read “No”. Federal law requires no compensation for a US domestic delay; only involuntary bumping from an oversold flight is a paid federal right.

• US DOT $Refundno fixed cash for a delay; refund after a significant change

Key facts: Allegiant Air

Source: DOT Airline Cancellation and Delay Dashboard (last updated 11 Sep 2025) — transportation.gov; BTS Airline On-Time Statistics, June 2026 — transtats.bts.gov; EASA TCO list; CAA licence holders — easa.europa.eu, caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-22.

#US DOT $What has Allegiant committed to for controllable delays and cancellations?

Meals once a controllable wait reaches 3 hours, a hotel for an overnight stay, ground transport and rebooking on Allegiant read “Yes” on its DOT dashboard row; cash, a credit or voucher, frequent-flyer miles and partner-airline rebooking read “No”. Only Alaska, Hawaiian, JetBlue and Southwest are marked “Yes” for credit.

Source: DOT Airline Cancellation and Delay Dashboard (last updated 11 Sep 2025) — transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-22.

None of it is cash. None of it is a statutory right either: airlines “are required to adhere to the promises that they make in their customer service plan,” under 14 CFR 259.5, and DOT enforces the plan, not a law that fixes an amount. The dashboard fixes no dollar figure behind the meal and hotel rows, and no Allegiant document read for this page states one, so no amount is quoted here beyond the “Yes” itself.

Set against the other eight carriers on the same table, Allegiant shares its partner-rebooking “No” with Frontier and Southwest, and sits outside the four-carrier group marked “Yes” for a credit or voucher. Where it splits from Frontier is the hotel: Frontier’s hotel and ground-transport rows read “No”, Allegiant’s read “Yes”.

Ask Allegiant in writing which dashboard commitment it is applying to your disruption, and request the figure before you book your own room.

#How punctual was Allegiant in June 2026?

68.18% of Allegiant’s 12,663 US domestic arrivals landed on time in June 2026, against 73.1% across all 18 BTS-tracked carriers that month. Late-aircraft delay was the largest single cause, at 13.35% of arrivals; 0.54% of flights were canceled outright, and delay coded to Allegiant itself added 7.75%.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Airline On-Time Statistics and Delay Causes, June 2026 — transtats.bts.gov, checked 2026-09-22.

A punctuality figure is a reliability record, not a compensation trigger: nothing in it changes whether Allegiant owes you anything under the rows above. Both figures are US domestic only. Weather delay accounted for 2.39% of Allegiant’s arrivals and National Aviation System delay for 7.31%. BTS prorates these causes across a month; they do not decide whether your own disruption was within Allegiant’s control for the dashboard commitments.

Compare your own flight’s arrival against its published schedule, not against a monthly average across 12,663 flights.

#What do federal rules give you on an Allegiant flight?

No delay length brings federal cash compensation on a US domestic Allegiant flight. 4 other federal protections apply regardless of the dashboard: a refund right, bumping pay, a tarmac deadline and a complaint channel, each governed by its own rule.

DOT states that “for domestic itineraries airlines are not required to compensate passengers whose flights are delayed or canceled”, and Allegiant is no exception; read the US DOT rules in full. A refund becomes due when Allegiant cancels your flight or moves your departure 3 hours or more earlier (domestic) or your arrival 3 hours or more later, and you do not accept the alternative offered; the DOT refund rules set out every trigger. If Allegiant bumps you involuntarily from an oversold flight, 14 CFR 250.5 caps the payment at $2,150 for a domestic alternate landing 2 hours or more late, detailed at bumped flight compensation. On the tarmac, Allegiant must offer you the chance to leave the aircraft before a delay passes 3 hours domestic or 4 hours international, subject to safety, security and air traffic control exceptions, per the tarmac delay rule.

Which rules apply to your Allegiant flight

Source: 14 CFR 250, 259, 260 — ecfr.gov; EU261 art. 3(1) — eur-lex.europa.eu; UK261 art. 3(1) — legislation.gov.uk; EASA TCO list — easa.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-22.

In practice only the first row reaches an Allegiant passenger: every protection on this page comes from US federal rules and Allegiant’s dashboard commitments.

None of these four depends on who caused your disruption; the dashboard commitments above apply only to disruptions within Allegiant’s control.

#Where do you escalate a refused Allegiant claim?

30 days to acknowledge your complaint, 60 days to answer it in writing: those are Allegiant’s deadlines under 14 CFR 259.7(c) once you file one. Miss either deadline, or refuse a refund 14 CFR 260 requires, and the next step is a DOT complaint.

Source: 14 CFR 259.7(c) — ecfr.gov; DOT, File a consumer complaint — transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-22.

Write to Allegiant first, naming the flight number, the date and the specific rule or dashboard row you rely on. DOT expects that step before it opens a file. From there, the OACP complaint form or the phone line on the same page routes your case; DOT directs Allegiant to respond to you, copying itself, and reviews only a sample of the complaints it receives.

#If Allegiant rejects your claim

Name the specific rule the refusal breaks, the way you would with any airline that refuses a claim. A refund withheld after a cancellation you did not accept is 14 CFR 260.6(a); unpaid bumping money is 14 CFR 250.5. A hotel or meal promised on the dashboard is neither: it rests on the customer service plan DOT holds Allegiant to, never on a federal cash right.

Not your situation? Flights to, from and within Canada run on the Air Passenger Protection Regulations. A trip starting in Europe belongs to EU261 or UK261; see which law covers my flight. Every US carrier is covered from the US DOT hub.

Closest cards on the same DOT gap: Frontier Airlines shares the no-partner-rebooking mark; Breeze Airways is not on the dashboard at all; Spirit Airlines ceased operations on 2 May 2026. Keep a copy of everything you send to Allegiant.

General information, not legal advice. For your specific case, contact the DOT Office of Aviation Consumer Protection or a lawyer.

#Sources

• US Department of Transportation, Fly Rights - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-22.
• US Department of Transportation, Airline Cancellation and Delay Dashboard (last updated 11 Sep 2025) - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-22.
• US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Airline On-Time Statistics and Delay Causes (June 2026) - transtats.bts.gov, checked 2026-09-22.
• 14 CFR Part 250 (oversales and denied boarding compensation) - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-22.
• 14 CFR Part 259 (tarmac delays, customer service plans, complaints) - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-22.
• 14 CFR Part 260 (refunds) - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-22.
• US Department of Transportation, File a consumer complaint - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-22.
• EASA, Authorised Third Country Operators (last updated 22/09/2026) - easa.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-22.
• Civil Aviation Authority, Airline licence holders - caa.co.uk, checked 2026-09-22.

#FAQ

Does Allegiant pay for a hotel if my flight is canceled?

Yes, for an overnight stay caused by a cancellation within Allegiant's control: its DOT dashboard row (last updated 11 Sep 2025) marks hotel and ground transport 'Yes', alongside a meal or meal voucher once the wait reaches 3 hours. The dashboard fixes no dollar figure, and no Allegiant document read for this page states one.

Will Allegiant rebook me on another airline?

No. Allegiant's DOT dashboard row marks partner-airline rebooking 'No', one of 3 carriers with that mark, alongside Frontier and Southwest. The same row marks rebooking on Allegiant 'Yes', so the commitment is a seat on a later Allegiant flight, with no fallback to another airline under it.

Does Allegiant give travel credit for delays?

No. Credit or voucher reads 'No' on Allegiant's DOT dashboard row for a controllable wait of 3 hours or more, unlike Alaska, Hawaiian, JetBlue and Southwest, which all mark it 'Yes'. Allegiant's commitments cover rebooking on Allegiant, a meal, a hotel for an overnight stay and ground transport.

How often were Allegiant flights on time in June 2026?

68.18% of Allegiant's 12,663 US domestic arrivals landed on time in June 2026, against 73.1% for all 18 BTS-tracked carriers that month. Late-aircraft delay was the largest single cause, at 13.35% of arrivals, and 0.54% of flights were canceled outright.