US slaps Frontier Airlines and five foreign carriers with $7.25 million in fines

The US Department of Transportation says it forced six airlines to refund passengers $622million for canceled or delayed flights and fined them $7.25million not doing so within the time frame required by US law.

The recent action against Frontier, Air India, TAP Portugal, Aeromexico, El Al Israel Airlines and Avianca is part of ongoing work to ensure Americans receive refunds they are owed by airlines, the DOT said on Monday.

The department told DailyMail.com that the full $622million in refunds has already been paid out to consumers and that its actions 'induced' airlines to 'pay those refunds faster'. 

Frontier Airlines was required to pay $222million in refunds and will pay a $2.2 million penalty

When the pandemic began the Frontier policy was to treat any flight more than three hours late as 'significantly delayed' but they changed the definition to avoid refunding consumers properly, the DOT claimed

In addition to the refunds, mass fines have been issued in the wake of delays and cancelations that affected flights during the pandemic and had many travelers wait months or even years for refunds - or not paid at all.

The department said it received 'a flood of complaints' since the pandemic began.

The DOT has enforced that the various airlines make payments to those that complained and said that those airlines have now 'collectively paid more than half a billion dollars to people who were owed a refund.'

It has also said that the $7.25million in fines, which will be collected in increments, will be paid directly to the US Treasury.  

In its orders to the various, mostly international, airlines, the DOT outlines how some avoided paying the required refunds. 

Budget airline Frontier - which was penalized most severely - was accused by the department of engaging in an 'unfair and deceptive practice' to avoid paying out.

It was criticized for having a website that went down for 15 days in 2020, preventing passengers from applying for refunds.

It was also said in the department's order that the airline attempted to retroactively redefine what counts as 'significantly delayed' to avoid having to give out refunds.

'When a flight gets canceled, passengers seeking refunds should be paid back promptly,' said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

'A flight cancellation is frustrating enough, and you shouldn't also have to haggle or wait months to get your refund,' he added.

Tata Group-owned Air India paid $121.5million in required refunds and has been handed a $1.4 million fine

El Al Israel Airlines paid $61.9million in required refunds and will pay a $900,000 penalty

Frontier spokesperson Jennifer de la Cruz said it issued $92million in refunds and provided credits and vouchers to customers who voluntarily canceled non-refundable tickets during the pandemic and were not entitled to refunds.

She said that the refunds and credits 'demonstrate Frontier's commitment to treating our customers with fairness.'

Blane Workie, Assistant General Counsel for the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection signed the orders to airlines

In its statement the DOT clarified that it was unlawful for an airline to refuse a refund and provide a voucher in its place.

Blane Workie, Assistant General Counsel for the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection who signed the orders, said that when the pandemic began the Frontier policy was to treat any flight more than three hours late as 'significantly delayed'. 

Workie said in late 2020 Frontier decided it would not consider a passenger to be 'significantly delayed' as long as they traveled on the same day as the scheduled flight. 

She said the change affected tens of thousands of passengers.

Israeli airline El Al told the DOT it 'prioritized refunds for US passengers' but said it had been unable to meet requirements due to its own financial difficulties. 

Similarly, Colombian airline Avianca said its failure to pay was because it 'had to process approximately seven-years' worth of refund requests in one year with reduced staffing.'

In the consent order issued by the DOT to Air India the airline was ordered to 'cease and desist' from violating regulations that dictate they cannot take more than 100 days to issue refunds

State-owned TAP Portugal paid $126.5million in required refunds and will pay a $1.1 million penalty

Tata Group-owned Air India - which paid $121.5 million in required refunds and has been handed a $1.4 million fine - was ordered to 'cease and desist' from violating regulations that dictate they cannot take more than 100 days to issue refunds. 

In 2020 and 2021 Aeromexico decided that its refunds would be processed 12 months after receipt, the DOT said. That resulted in thousands of US passengers not getting timely refunds.

Aeromexico told the DOT that at the time 'it faced the possibility that it would need to cease operations' and that it therefore 'made the difficult decision to limit how passengers holding non-refundable tickets could recover the value of those tickets.'

Portuguese state-owned airline TAP said it faced 'an avalanche of refund requests and its call center was quickly overwhelmed.'

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (pictured in April 2021) told reporters on Monday that other airlines are being investigated and more fines may be issued

In 2020 and 2021 Aeromexico decided that its refunds would be processed 12 months after receipt, the DOT said

The US DOT said it is now investigating other airlines.

'We have more enforcement actions and investigations underway and there may be more news to come by way of fines,' Buttigieg said during a call on Monday with reporters. 

The department said it will also be taking other steps to protect airline consumers. It said that it has proposed a rule to refund passengers for certain services, like WiFi, when they are paid for but not actually provided.