U.S. Department of Transportation announced enforcement action against six airlines, resulting in refunds and civil penalties due to canceled or significantly changed flights.
In a Nov. 14 news release, DOT announced "historic enforcement actions" against the six airlines as part of the department's ongoing efforts to ensure Americans get the refunds they are owed by airlines. The airlines paid more than $600 million in refunds and more than $7.25 million in penalities for "extreme delays in providing refunds."
"When a flight gets canceled, passengers seeking refunds should be paid back promptly," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in the news release. "Whenever that doesn’t happen, we will act to hold airlines accountable on behalf of American travelers and get passengers their money back. A flight cancellation is frustrating enough, and you shouldn't also have to haggle or wait months to get your refund."
The refunds follow "a flood of complaints" DOT has received from air travelers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic about getting timely refunds for flights canceled or significantly changed, the news release said.
The fines were assessed and the refunds have been paid by Frontier, which paid $222 million in refunds and a $2.2 million penalty; Air India, which paid $121.5 million in refunds and a $1.4 million penalty; TAP Portugal, which paid $126.5 million in refunds and a $1.1 million penalty; Aeromexico, which paid $13.6 million in refunds and a $900,000 penalty; El Al, which paid $61.9 million in refunds and a $900,000 penalty; and Avianca, which paid $76.8 million in refunds and a $750,000 penalty, the release reported.
These fines bring the department’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection to its highest amount ever issued in a single year at $8.1 million in civil penalties for 2022, the release reported.
The refunds and penalties resulted from a number of steps DOT has been taking to protect consumers, according to the news release. Last summer, DOT also rolled out a new airline customer service dashboard that allows consumers see what they might be owed should a flight be cancelled or delayed over an airline issue.
DOT also has proposed a rule on Airline Ticket Refunds that, if adopted, would require airlines let customers know about their refund rights and provide refunds or non-expiring vouchers or travel credits for people unable to travel because they have COVID-19 or other communicable diseases, the release reported.
Other proposed DOT rules would ensure customers have information about certain fees before purchasing their airline tickets and that they receive refunds for services they paid for, such as onboard Wi-Fi, that were not subsequently provided, according to the release.
