American Airlines · American Airlines Terms of Use · View original document ↗

Flight Irregularities and Force Majeure

Medium severity Medium confidence Explicitdocumentlanguage Unique · 0 of 343 platforms
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Recent governance activity American Airlines recorded 3 documented changes in the last 30 days.
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Document Record

What it is

The agreement states that American Airlines is not liable for special or consequential damages resulting from delays, cancellations, or disruptions caused by events beyond its control, including weather, government actions, and air traffic control decisions.

This analysis describes what American Airlines's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology

ConductAtlas Analysis

Why it matters (compliance & governance perspective)

This provision limits American's contractual obligations during irregular operations caused by external factors, which are among the most common sources of passenger disruption. The practical scope of this limitation depends on route type and applicable regulatory frameworks, including DOT customer service plan requirements and EU Regulation 261/2004 for EU-departing flights.

Interpretive note: The scope of the force majeure definition as applied to specific disruption events may vary in practice; EU Regulation 261/2004's extraordinary circumstances standard operates independently and may produce different outcomes for EU-departing flights.

Recent Activity

This document changed recently

Medium Jun 6, 2026

The updated Terms of Use no longer include explicit statements about how American Airlines uses performance cookies to analyze site usage and track popular pages, or how functional cookies remember your preferences like language and region settings. Previously, the terms disclosed that cookies are essential to site operation and cannot be rejected. The removal of these disclosures means users visiting the American Airlines website will not find this granular explanation of cookie purposes in the terms themselves, though cookie collection may continue through other disclosure mechanisms such as a separate privacy policy or cookie banner.

View change record →

Clause Stability Mostly Stable

1
Change
1
Month Monitored
May 21, 2026
First Seen
May 22, 2026
Last Seen
This clause type exists across 912 other provisions on other platforms.
This clause has changed once in 1 month of monitoring.

Change history

added Jun 6, 2026

This new provision extends the consequential damages exemption specifically to force majeure events, further limiting passenger recovery for service failures.

View full change record →

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

Under this clause, American Airlines excludes liability for consequential damages arising from delays or cancellations attributable to force majeure events, including weather and government actions. Passengers on EU-departing flights retain independent rights under EU Regulation 261/2004, which includes extraordinary circumstances carve-outs that may differ in scope from the CoC's force majeure definition.

How other platforms handle this

ConvertKit Medium

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Kit shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenues, whether incurred directly or indirectly, or any loss of data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting ...

Windsurf Medium

We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any Personal Information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technolo...

Grammarly Medium

THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND 'AS AVAILABLE' WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. GRAMMARLY DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UN...

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Monitoring

American Airlines has changed this document before.

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▸ View Original Clause Language DOCUMENT RECORD
"
American is not responsible for any special, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from flight delays, cancellations, or other service failures caused by events beyond American's control, including but not limited to weather, acts of government, air traffic control decisions, or other force majeure events.

— Excerpt from American Airlines's American Airlines Terms of Use

ConductAtlas Analysis

Institutional analysis (Compliance & governance intelligence)

(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Force majeure provisions in airline contracts of carriage are standard and generally consistent with DOT regulatory practice in the U.S. domestic context. However, DOT's customer service plan requirements under 14 CFR Part 259 require airlines to commit to specific passenger care obligations during controllable delays, independent of the CoC's force majeure clause. EU Regulation 261/2004 defines extraordinary circumstances narrowly and places the burden of proof on the carrier; American Airlines flights departing EU airports are subject to this independent regulatory framework. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The CoC's force majeure definition is broader than the EU Regulation 261/2004 extraordinary circumstances standard, creating a gap in consumer entitlements for EU-departing passengers that the airline's CoC alone does not resolve. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU and UK passengers on American Airlines flights departing those jurisdictions have independent statutory rights that are not displaced by the CoC's force majeure provisions. Domestic U.S. passengers are subject to the CoC terms as stated, subject to DOT customer service plan commitments. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Corporate travel agreements should specify what rebooking, meal, and accommodation assistance American will provide during force majeure delays, as the CoC itself does not enumerate those commitments in detail. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should map the CoC's force majeure provisions against American's DOT-filed customer service plan commitments to identify any gaps in disclosed passenger care obligations during irregular operations.

Full compliance analysis

Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.

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Applicable agencies

  • FTC
    The FTC has authority over unfair or deceptive consumer practices in airline service disclosures, including the scope of force majeure liability limitations communicated to consumers
    File a complaint →

Applicable regulations

FTC Act Section 5
United States Federal

Provision details

Document information
Document
American Airlines Terms of Use
Entity
American Airlines
Document last updated
May 5, 2026
Tracking information
First tracked
May 21, 2026
Last verified
May 21, 2026
Record ID
CA-P-012966
Document ID
CA-D-00632
Evidence Provenance
Source URL
Wayback Machine
Content hash (SHA-256)
6457e63937227a5e7f6c6a4081c57e892564cd15c43b2faaaf8058239b0d508f
Analysis generated
May 21, 2026 03:26 UTC
Methodology
Evidence
✓ Snapshot stored   ✓ Hash verified
Citation Record
Entity: American Airlines
Document: American Airlines Terms of Use
Record ID: CA-P-012966
Captured: 2026-05-21 03:26:09 UTC
SHA-256: 6457e63937227a5e…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/american-airlines/american-airlines-terms-of-use/flight-irregularities-and-force-majeure/
Accessed: June 8, 2026
Permanent archival reference. Stable identifier suitable for legal filings, compliance documentation, and research citation.
Classification
Severity
Medium
Categories

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does American Airlines's Flight Irregularities and Force Majeure clause do?

This provision limits American's contractual obligations during irregular operations caused by external factors, which are among the most common sources of passenger disruption. The practical scope of this limitation depends on route type and applicable regulatory frameworks, including DOT customer service plan requirements and EU Regulation 261/2004 for EU-departing flights.

How does this clause affect you?

Under this clause, American Airlines excludes liability for consequential damages arising from delays or cancellations attributable to force majeure events, including weather and government actions. Passengers on EU-departing flights retain independent rights under EU Regulation 261/2004, which includes extraordinary circumstances carve-outs that may differ in scope from the CoC's force majeure definition.

Is ConductAtlas affiliated with American Airlines?

No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by American Airlines.