Frontier Airlines could experience federal probe more than alleged refusal to refund canceled flights

Colorado’s attorney general requested the U.S. Department of Transportation on Tuesday to investigate complaints which Frontier Airlines didn’t refund the price of flights canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak and made it practically impossible for individuals to apply vouchers for other flights during the pandemic.

In a letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Attorney General Phil Weiser mentioned his office had received approximately hundred complaints coming from Colorado and 29 other states regarding the Denver based low price carrier since March, more than any company.

Individuals said that Frontier refused to issue them a refund when flights were canceled due to the pandemic, which Weiser said violated department regulations that refunds are actually due even when cancellations are because of to circumstances beyond airlines’ control. Other people who received vouchers for using on succeeding flights after voluntarily canceling the travel plans of theirs have been not able to redeem them. Some were rejected by the airline’s website and were unable to extend the 90-day time limit for using them or even ended up being confined to utilizing the vouchers on just one flight, he published. Still others who sought help with the airline’s customer care line had been written on hold for hours and were disconnected regularly, he said.

Weiser believed that the Department of Transportation was at the most effective place to investigate the complaints and said it has to issue fines of as much as $2,500 a violation when appropriate.

Chronic problem? DOT warns airlines? once again? to issue refunds for canceled flights after receiving 25,000 complaints

Businesses cannot be permitted to make the most of consumers during this time and must be held accountable for unfair and deceptive conduct, he said in a declaration.

Frontier said it has remained in full compliance with division rules as well as regulations regarding flight changes, cancellations and refunds.

Throughout the pandemic, Frontier Airlines has acted to faith that is fine to look after the passengers of ours compassionately and fairly, the business said in a statement.

Claims about obtaining refunds from airlines surged this spring. In May, Chao asked airlines to be as considerate and flexible as you can to the needs of passengers which face financial difficulty.

In the department’s May air traveling customer report, the most recent available, Frontier had the third highest price of overall issues, trailing Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines. The report counts only complaints from customers who go through the difficulty of filing a criticism with the office, not those who just grumble to an airline.