DOT orders Frontier and other carriers to pay travelers over $600 million in refunds, proposes change in consumer protection laws — Aviation Weekly

The U.S. Department of Transportation said on Monday that it had ordered airlines to refund travelers whose flights were canceled or significantly changed by the airlines.

Among these is Frontier; they were ordered to pay around $220 million in refunds and were fined $2.2 million in fines for the delay in paying out funds to customers. Frontier is not the only airline; the DOT also fined Air India $1.4 million, TAP Portugal $1.1 million, Aeromexico $900,000, El Al $900,000, and Colombian Avianca $750,000. Those airlines paid travelers a combined $400 million in refunds. This is not the first time this has happened; last year, the DOT also fined Air Canada $4.5 million in refund delays; it is important to note, out of these fines, more than half goes to travelers.