Airline ordered to pay £222m to customers after ‘extreme’ delays to pandemic refunds

Frontier Airlines has been ordered to pay customers $222m (£187.8m), along with a $2.2m (£1.8m) penalty, after being slow to issue customer refunds during the pandemic.The Denver-based airline was one of six carriers instructed to pay a collective $600m by the US Department of Transportation (DOT), in a crackdown on airlines which have dragged their feet over refunds in recent years.Air India was ordered to pay customers $121.5m by the DOT, as well as receiving a $1.4m fine for its delays.According to an investigation, Air India took more than 100 days to process more than 900 refund applications – almost half of the 1,900 filed in total with the DOT.’Irrespective of Air India’s stated refund policy, in practice Air India did not provide timely refunds. As a result, consumers experienced significant harm from the extreme delay in receiving their refunds,’ said a statement from the DOT.On top of their refunds to customers, the airlines were fined a total of $7.5m in penalties for their slowness in repaying the fares.Also under fire was TAP Air Portugal, which was told to pay out $126.5m to customers, as well as receiving a $1.1m penalty. Next in line was Aeromexico ($13.6m in refunds and a $900,000 fine) and Israel’s flagship carrier El Al ($61.9m in refunds and a $900,000 fine). Colombian airline Avianca was told to pay $76.8m in refunds, as well as a $750,000 penalty.’When Americans buy a ticket on an airline, we expect to get to our destination safely, reliably, and affordably,’ said the US secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg.’Our job at DOT is to hold airlines accountable for these expectations-many of which are a matter of law and regulation.”This really shouldn’t be happening in the first place,’ he added. ‘It shouldn’t take an enforcement action from the US Department of Transportation to get airlines to pay refunds that they’re required to pay.’Mr Buttigieg has proposed new regulations that would force airlines to automatically refund customers if their cancellations or delays affect a journey time by more than three hours for domestic flights, or six hours for international flights.The Independent has approached the aforementioned airlines for comment.An Air India spokesperson said: “We very much regret that customers were inconvenienced and accept the fine. “Since Air India airline was privatised in January 2022, every effort has been made to clear all backlogged refunds, with more than 25,000 cases totalling USD 18.30 million successfully processed.”