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Frontier Airways and 5 overseas carriers have agreed to collectively refund greater than $600 million to vacationers whose journeys have been canceled or considerably delayed because the begin of the COVID pandemic, the Department of Transport (DOT) mentioned on Monday.
In an announcement forward of the busy vacation journey season, the division additionally mentioned it is fining these airways $7.25 million for “excessive delays” in offering these refunds.
Extremely low-cost provider Frontier, the one U.S. airline to face fines, is refunding $222 million and paying a $2.2 million civil penalty, the DOT mentioned.
TAP Portugal will refund $126.5 million; Air India pays $121.5 million; Aeromexico pays $13.6 million; Israel’s El Al pays $61.9 million; and Colombia’s Avianca pays $76.8 million.
The 5 airways also face fines between $750,000 and $1.4 million.
![A Frontier airlines plane is seen](https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/2149258/frontier-airlines-plane-seen.jpg?w=790&f=67d46341666665eedeef233a5f1d4863)
Daniel Slim/AFP through Getty Photos
“When a flight will get canceled, passengers in search of refunds needs to be paid again promptly,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg mentioned.
“At any time when that does not occur, we are going to act to carry airways accountable on behalf of American vacationers and get passengers their a refund. A flight cancellation is irritating sufficient, and also you should not additionally must haggle or wait months to get your refund.”
Airways are required beneath federal regulation to refund prospects when a flight is canceled or considerably delayed they usually do not want to settle for provides of vouchers or credit score for future journey.
Request Refunds
The $600 million has already been paid to shoppers, a DOT spokesperson advised Newsweek on Tuesday.
“Nonetheless, there could also be extra cash owed to shoppers,” the spokesperson mentioned.
“If shoppers haven’t acquired a required refund or been knowledgeable by the six airways on easy methods to acquire the refund owed to them then they need to file a criticism with us at www.transportation.gov/airconsumer.”
Clients can even request refunds from Frontier by filling out a type on the airline’s web site here.
They’ll request refunds on TAP Portugal’s web page here, on Air India’s web site here, on Aeromexico’s web site here, on El Al’s web site here and on Avianca’s web site here.
Frontier spokesperson Jennifer de la Cruz advised Newsweek that the airline additionally issued $92 million in “goodwill refunds” and redeemed credit and vouchers, together with to individuals with non-refundable tickets who canceled on their very own and weren’t entitled to a refund beneath federal regulation.
“As well as, the corporate offered over $2.7 million in refunds by voluntarily making use of a extra beneficiant definition of a major delay than was in impact on the time for purchasers who booked and bought their tickets between March 25 and Oct 27, 2020,” de la Cruz mentioned. “These goodwill refunds of almost $100 million display Frontier’s dedication to treating our prospects with equity and suppleness.”
Frontier and the Division of Transport have been contacted for additional remark.
Earlier this 12 months, the DOT launched a brand new airline customer support dashboard to assist shoppers see what they’re owed when a flight is canceled or delayed due to an airline situation.
The division has additionally proposed stricter guidelines on when airways must compensate passengers for canceled or delayed flights.
Replace 11/15/22, 9:10 a.m. ET: This text has been up to date with remark from the Division of Transport.
Replace 11/15/22, 10 a.m. ET: This text has been up to date with remark from Jennifer de la Cruz.
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