How to file a DOT complaint against an airline
A DOT complaint goes to the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, part of the US Department of Transportation, through an online form, by mail or by phone at 855-368-4200. DOT then directs the airline or ticket agent to respond to you, with a copy to DOT. It does not investigate every service complaint.
US Department of Transportation, through an online form, by mail or by phone at 855-368-4200. DOT then directs the airline or ticket agent to respond to you, with a copy to DOT. It does not investigate every service complaint.How to file a DOT complaint against an airline starts with a letter to the airline that names the rule.
#Should you contact the airline before filing with DOT?
30 days to acknowledge and 60 days to respond in writing: 14 CFR 259.7(c) sets both deadlines for complaints to airlines. The written complaint you send the airline is one. DOT’s complaint page tells you to contact the airline first, so write to the airline before you file with DOT.
Source: 14 CFR 259.7(c) — ecfr.gov; DOT, File a Consumer Complaint — transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
Filing with DOT is a separate step. The sources cited here do not say whether the 259.7(c) clock also runs on a complaint DOT forwards. Track the 60 days against your own letter to the airline, not the DOT filing.
An airline response within 60 days is not the same as a yes: a reply on day 59 that refuses your refund still meets the deadline. Name the rule in that first letter. A refund request rests on 14 CFR Part 260, a bumping payment on Part 250, and a tarmac or customer service problem on Part 259.
Send the airline your complaint in writing and keep a dated copy.
#How do you file a complaint online, by mail or by phone?
3 channels reach the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection: the online DOT complaint form, a letter to the Department’s address in Washington, DC, or a call to 855-368-4200, the number shown on the form page. Pick the channel that leaves you the clearest record of what you sent.
- Online: the OACP complaint form at secure.dot.gov/air-travel-complaint, which redirects to airconsumer.dot.gov/consumer/s/oacp-form.
- Mail: Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave SE, Washington, DC 20590.
- Phone: 855-368-4200, listed on the form page.
Source: DOT, File a Consumer Complaint; OACP complaint form — transportation.gov, airconsumer.dot.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
Both web addresses are official dot.gov pages; check the domain before typing booking details.
Prepare your account before you open the form. Put the airline, the flight number, the travel date and your booking confirmation code at the top. Add what you asked the airline for and the rule you cited. Then quote a line from its reply, with its date.
Keep the airline’s written reply with your notes. Screenshot the submitted form. For a letter, keep proof of mailing; for a call, note the date and time.
#What should a refund complaint include?
3 hours or more on a domestic flight and 6 hours or more on an international one are the refund lines under 14 CFR 260.2. A departure moved that far earlier, or an arrival that far later, is a significant change. State the change in hours and minutes.
Source: 14 CFR 260.2, 260.6 and 260.7 — ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
A cancellation also counts. So do a different origin or destination airport, more connection points, a downgrade to a lower class of service and certain connection or aircraft changes for a passenger with a disability.
Under 14 CFR 260.6(a), the airline owes a full refund of the fare, taxes and ancillary fees in 3 cases. It offered no alternative. You rejected the alternative. Or you did not respond, did not fly, and the flight departed. Accept the rebooking and the refund right ends; a travel credit replaces it only if you affirmatively accept one valid for at least 5 years.
A prompt refund means 7 business days for credit card purchases and 20 calendar days for cash, check, debit card and other payments.
Until 7 Jul 2027, DOT’s enforcement of the cancellation-refund requirements is paused where a flight is merely renumbered, the passenger is rebooked on it and there is no “significant change or delay”. The refund rules page has the details.
In a refund complaint, quote the original and new times and say plainly that you did not accept the alternative.
#What should a bumping, tarmac or dashboard complaint include?
$1,075 and $2,150 cap the payment for an involuntary bump from a nonstop flight departing the US on an aircraft of 30 or more seats. It is 200% or 400% of your one-way fare, set by how late the substitute flight arrives. Put the fare and both arrival times in your complaint.
Substitute flight arrives | Domestic | International, departing the US |
|---|---|---|
1 hour or less late | None | None |
More than 1 h, less than 2 h late | 200% of fare, max $1,075 | 200% of fare, max $1,075 |
2 h or more, less than 4 h late | 400% of fare, max $2,150 | 200% of fare, max $1,075 |
4 h or more late, or no substitute | 400% of fare, max $2,150 | 400% of fare, max $2,150 |
Source: 14 CFR 250.2 and 250.5(a)-(b) — ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
A substitute 3 hours late earns 400% domestically but 200% internationally; the bumped flight guide lists exceptions.
On the tarmac, 14 CFR 259.4 requires an opportunity to deplane before the delay exceeds 3 hours on a domestic flight or 4 hours on an international one at a US airport. Safety, security and air traffic control exceptions apply. Food and potable water are due no later than 2 hours after the tarmac delay starts.
The DOT dashboard lists commitments for significant flight disruptions within the airline’s control; cash compensation reads “No” for all 9 airlines in its table (page last updated 11 Sep 2025). DOT states: “Airlines are required to adhere to the promises that they make in their customer service plan, including commitments to care for customers in the event of controllable delays or cancellations. The Department will hold airlines accountable if they fail to do so.” From 10 Dec 2025 until further notice or the end of the cause-of-delay rulemaking, OACP does not treat cancellations or lengthy delays from unscheduled maintenance required by a non-deferrable airworthiness directive as “within airline control” for these commitments.
Copy the dashboard row your airline marks “Yes” from the commitments table into your complaint.
#What does DOT do with your complaint?
DOT’s complaint page (last updated 1 Aug 2025) makes 2 points. DOT directs the airline or ticket agent to respond to you with a copy to DOT, and it runs targeted or sample reviews instead of investigating every service complaint. Civil-rights complaints are the exception to that limit.
Source: DOT, File a Consumer Complaint — transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
The reply comes from the airline, not from DOT. A direction to respond is not a decision on your claim.
One passenger report, posted on r/Flights in September 2026 about an involuntary downgrade, reads: “I filed a DOT complaint. Air China responded after DOT forwarded it and formally confirmed the $2,676 calculation, but they are still saying the fare difference is $0.” In the same post, $2,676 is Air China’s historical Economy reference fare; its fare-difference figure stayed at $0.
China responded after DOT forwarded it and formally confirmed the In a November 2024 passenger-forum comment on r/americanairlines, citing “recent threads”, one user wrote of American that “they’ll happily wait around for the DOT to rule on it or whatever, months or years later”. Each is a single forum post, not a DOT or airline timescale. Neither shows which airlines or rules DOT’s process covers, and no DOT processing time appears in the sources cited here.
If the airline’s reply misstates a rule, answer in writing and quote the 14 CFR section.
#What can DOT not do for an individual passenger?
For domestic itineraries, DOT’s Fly Rights page (last updated 26 Sep 2025) says airlines are not required to compensate passengers whose flights are delayed or canceled. A DOT complaint cannot create that payment. Compensation is required by law on domestic trips only when you are bumped from an oversold flight.
Source: DOT, Fly Rights — transportation.gov; Federal Register 2025-20042 (90 FR 51230) — federalregister.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
DOT withdrew its 11 Dec 2024 rulemaking notice on cash compensation, rebooking and amenities as of 17 Nov 2025.
Anything you are owed comes from the airline: a refund under 14 CFR Part 260, denied boarding compensation under Part 250, or a dashboard commitment. On international trips, DOT says you may be able to recover reimbursement under Article 19 of the Montreal Convention for expenses from a delayed or canceled flight, by claiming with the airline. See delayed and canceled flight rights.
If the airline refuses a refund the rules require, cite 14 CFR 260.6(a) in your reply and your DOT complaint.
#How do complaints feed the monthly Air Travel Consumer Report?
August 2026 is the latest Air Travel Consumer Report on DOT’s list, with June 2026 and January to June 2026 data. The Office of Aviation Consumer Protection publishes the report every month; it covers flight delays, mishandled baggage and wheelchairs, oversales, complaints, animal incidents and TSA reports.
Source: DOT, Air Travel Consumer Reports (page last updated 12 Aug 2026) — transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
Complaints sit next to delays and baggage in the same monthly release, while oversales figures come only quarterly. On 15 Sep 2026, no edition after August 2026 was listed.
Delay data is changing. A DOT rule effective 19 Oct 2026 adds a reporting category for 10 statutory events excluded from the “Air Carrier” cause code; the Federal Register published it on 3 Sep 2026 as document 2026-18040. See also the US airline delay rankings.
Open the latest report on transportation.gov and read its complaints section before you file.
#What if your flight departed the EU or the UK?
€250 to €600 under EU261 and £220 to £520 under UK261 are the compensation amounts for flights departing an EU or UK airport, on any airline, including a US airline’s flight home. You claim those from the airline under EU261 or UK261.
EU or 
UK airport, on any airline, including a Source: Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, arts. 3(1) and 7(1) — eur-lex.europa.eu; UK261 arts. 3(1) and 7(1) — legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
EU261 covers a flight from the US into the EU only when a Community carrier operates it, so an American Airlines arrival into the EU is outside it. UK261 covers a flight into the UK on a UK or Community carrier, and into the EU on a UK carrier. Neither inbound rule applies if you already received benefits or compensation and assistance in the country you left.
American Airlines arrival into the For a refusal, see what to do when an airline refuses compensation and transatlantic flight compensation. The hubs cover UK261, EU261, Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations and US DOT rules. Check your route in the which-law-covers-my-flight guide first.
Canada’s Air Passenger Protection RegulationsGeneral information, not legal advice. For your specific case, contact the DOT Office of Aviation Consumer Protection or a consumer protection attorney.
#Sources
- DOT, File a Consumer Complaint - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- DOT, OACP complaint form - secure.dot.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- 14 CFR 259.7, Response to consumer problems - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- 14 CFR 259.4, Tarmac delays - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- 14 CFR 259.5, Customer service plan - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- 14 CFR 260.2, Definitions - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- 14 CFR 260.6, Refunds - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- 14 CFR Part 260 (260.6(c), 260.7) - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- 14 CFR 250.2, Applicability - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- 14 CFR 250.5, Amount of denied boarding compensation - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- DOT, Fly Rights - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- DOT, Airline Cancellation and Delay Dashboard - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- DOT, Air Travel Consumer Reports - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- Federal Register 2025-20042, Airline Passenger Rights; Withdrawal (90 FR 51230) - federalregister.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- Federal Register 2025-22415, Customer Service Commitments: Unscheduled Maintenance (90 FR 57138) - federalregister.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- Federal Register 2026-13675, Airline Refunds and Other Consumer Protections (91 FR 41556) - federalregister.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- Federal Register 2026-18040, Cause of Airline Delay and Cancellation Categories (91 FR 56588) - federalregister.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, arts. 3 and 7 - eur-lex.europa.eu, checked 2026-09-15.
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it forms part of UK law, art. 3 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as it forms part of UK law, art. 7 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-15.