Airlines Required to Pay Refunds to Stranded Passengers

With my favorite airline, Southwest, in the news for a complete meltdown in the face of the Christmas blizzard, it is good to be reminded how much the other airlines suck.  We have two stories.  

First, Judge Jesse Furman approved a class-action settlement in which British Airways agreed to pay 100% refunds to over 26,000 class members whose flights were canceled due to COVID.  The settlement also included $1.26 million in attorneys’ fees.  According to TopClassActions,

The settlement benefits consumers who purchased a ticket for a British Airways flight that was canceled between March 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2021, where the customer did not cancel the flight or fail to show up, the customer did not receive a refund or rebooking and the customer received a voucher from British Airways that they have not used.

Second, on November 14th, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that airlines were required to refund $600 million to customers due to COVID cancellations.  In addition, six airlines had to pay fines of $7.25 million for their failure to provide timely refunds.  To nobody’s surprise, Frontier Airlines led the way.