US fines airlines $2.5m for delaying COVID-19 refunds to travellers
Al Jazeera
Civil penalties are for significant delays in providing nearly $1bn in refunds owed to passengers.
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) says it has imposed a total of $2.5m in civil penalties against Lufthansa, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and South African Airways.
The civil penalties, the department said on Monday, are for significant delays in providing more than $900m in refunds owed to passengers due to flights disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic after thousands of airline customers were forced to wait months.
KLM and Lufthansa were each hit with $1.1m in penalties, and both carriers were credited $550,000 for refunds for nonrefundable tickets on US flights, Reuters reported.
South African Airways was ordered to pay $300,000.
In 2022, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the US government had completed 10 airline investigations into delayed pandemic passenger refunds and 10 more were pending.
