Members of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee called on the U.S. Department of Transportation to strengthen consumer protections for airline refunds.
In a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), committee chair; Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) asked the DOT to step up in light of growing complaints surrounding customer refunds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As part of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s ongoing oversight of the U.S. airline industry, we are writing to request that the Department of Transportation (“DOT”) take further action to make the process for obtaining refunds more transparent and efficient for U.S. airline passengers, in response to the increase in passenger refund complaints during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the lawmakers wrote.
According to the Senators, the DOT received nearly 30,000 complaints about refunds from customers of U.S. airlines in 2020, a 4,634 percent increase over the previous year. Additionally, the Senators said, while complaints dropped in 2021, they were still nearly 1,000 percent higher than in 2019.
A report by the DOT found that “airlines had difficulty processing, in a timely manner, the significant volume of refund requests,” and that “many airlines were also initially reluctant to provide the required refunds,” the senators said.
The senators urged the DOT to take specific action to protect air travel consumers, including codifying refund policies for carriers and ticket agents when a flight is cancelled or significantly delayed, as well as clarifying consumer rights when they are unable to travel and cancel their tickets due to government restrictions or the declaration of a public health emergency.
The group also called on the DOT to require airlines to conspicuously disclose to passengers that consumers have to submit a written request to trigger the refund requirement, to set up user-friendly, easy-to-find refund portals, and to report to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics the value of the refunds and vouchers provided to consumers each month.