Flight canceled? Here's how to get your refund.

Navigating the tricky world of flight cancellations can be tricky, especially when it comes to getting a refund. Brian Kelly, founder of The Points Guy, joins Wealth! to advise you on how to get your money back in these situations.

Kelly makes a crucial point: Passengers have a legal right to a refund if their flight is canceled. This right is mandated by the Department of Transportation. He strongly advises against accepting airline vouchers, and urges travelers to insist on receiving the full refund they are entitled to.

For travelers who find themselves stranded due to cancellations, Kelly says, “if you’re stranded, the airport will rebook you.”

For more expert insights and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth!

This post was written by Angel Smith

Video Transcript

Let’s say your flight has just been cancelled.

How to get a guaranteed refund?

So it is the Ministry of Transport that requires it.

So it may take some time, but you are entitled to a refund and do not accept a voucher or anything less.

You can always file a claim which requires the airline to respond and in most cases you will eventually get your refund.

Now if you get stuck the airline should rebook you but often they won’t do this with partners.

So this is where people get stuck for days in airports.

You don’t have to travel only with this airline.

You’ll get your refund if you have the funds available or if your frequent flyer miles allow you to rebook with another carrier and then file a claim with your credit card company for the difference.

Due to the disruption, most of these travel credit cards have built-in trip cancellation coverage.

You just have to know it.

But did you know that you are entitled to a full cash refund if your flight is cancelled for any reason by the airline?

Finally, while we have you, Brian, I want to say that shoes, as they are colloquially called, and summer go hand in hand.

You have tourists, you have visitors from different parts of the world, Barcelona.

They have a little problem with that.

However, it seems that this is exactly what is happening there.

And, I mean, do they seem comfortable with the idea of tourists continuing to flock to the destination?

You know what?

I wish they were in New York right now because I need someone to spray me with a water gun to cool me down wherever I go.

But you know, the protesters there are against, they are fundamentally against, against tourism and against what the locals are doing in many countries.

And I was in Portugal earlier this year.

A similar feeling is acceptable. Tourism is great.

But when it’s too much, when the prices exceed the residents, when people can’t afford to rent apartments because they’re all on Airbnb for tourists.

This is where local communities get upset.

This is what we see in Barcelona, where protesters are spraying people on Las Ramblas, their popular tourist thoroughfare, in an attempt to prove their point.

They have a very left-wing government that has promised to crack down on rental properties and make housing more affordable for people.

But it is a message to tourists.

Don’t always go to the most populated places, for example, outside of Barcelona there are so many beautiful little coastal towns, cara cases.

So don’t limit yourself to tourist centers, diversify a little and spread your tourist dollars outside of these megacities.

All right.

I went to Barcelona last year before the super soakers arrived and the shipment was able to get to the port, uh Brian Kelly, the founder of Points Guy.

Thank you very much for taking the time.

Thank you for.