ROCHESTER, N.Y. – On Tuesday afternoon, days after the IT outage that caused worldwide chaos, hundreds of thousands of Delta customers were still going nowhere fast. Some of those Delta customers have reached out to me with questions about their rights. And my research indicates your compensation largely depends on one word. That word is “controllable.”

If the delay or cancellation of your flight was within the airline’s control, you get compensation. But if the conditions that caused the delay were beyond the airline’s control, you’re out of luck.

So, was Delta’s four-day debacle a controllable event, meaning was it within the airline’s control? The Department of Transportation says yes. The airlines have a contractual relationship with CrowdStrike, and CrowdStrike’s software update caused the chaos. That means if you had a delay or cancellation, the airline has to compensate you for what it promised the Department of Transportation it would provide in various circumstances.

To find out what you’re owed, you can go to the DOT’s Airline Cancellation and Delay Dashboard.  It lists the compensation each airline provides during controllable delays and cancelations.

I got an email from a viewer who was supposed to fly out of Rochester on Delta early Saturday morning.  She wrote, “At 11:30 p.m. Friday, an email came that the flights were canceled; however, we were asleep and didn’t get the info until 3:30 a.m. Saturday. There was no way to get a Delta agent on the phone, and we couldn’t access any flight info on the website and couldn’t rebook. We were able to book a flight through another carrier.”

She wanted to know if the airline owed her a refund. I checked that dashboard and it’s clear. The airline canceled the flight, and it was within its control. So, our viewer is due a refund. I chatted with an airline expert about less clear situations. How about other compensation for long delays or cancellations in which you’re able to rebook with the airline?

Deanna Dewberry: “If I rebook with the same airline but there’s been a significant delay like overnight for example, are you entitled to vouchers or flight credits of any kind?”

Sean Cudahy/Aviation reporter, The Points Guy: “Typically if there’s a disruption of any kind to your flight, so a delay to your flight of at least three hours or a cancellation that causes you to spend a lot more time than expected at the airport, even if you do end up taking a later flight, typically the airline is going to be held to the guarantees that they spelled out in that federal dashboard – things like meal vouchers and providing overnight accommodations if you are stuck, as well ground transportation to and from the hotel.”

Now if the delay is not controllable, like a weather delay, we, as passengers, are out of luck. If you and the airline are at odds about whether the delay was within the airline’s control, you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

If you’re a Delta customer requesting a refund, you can do so online by clicking here.