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https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-travel-complaints-soared-the-dot-stood-by-11625058087

THE MIDDLE SEAT

Travelers Are Complaining About Airlines, but They’re

Mostly Screaming Into a Void
When airlines resisted issuing required refunds during the pandemic, the Transportation
Department mainly issued nothing more than warnings—critics say its problems have continued
with a new administration

By

Scott McCartney
Updated June 30, 2021 2:42 pm ET

Listen to Article  (7 minutes)

Most years the U.S. Transportation Department receives about 15,000 complaints about
air travel.

Last year? 102,550.

The torrent stemmed from one particular problem: airlines refusing to give refunds they
owed to consumers for flights airlines canceled. That violates U.S. law.
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The Middle Seat

Scott McCartney looks at the ups and downs of airline travel.

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The DOT, under Republican and Democratic administrations, has done very little to help
frustrated consumers so far, just one stark example of continued lack of government grit
when it comes to consumer issues in air travel.

A coronavirus vaccine was developed and deployed quicker than the DOT could enforce its
own rules. Only recently has the department moved to penalize
Air Canada,
about which
U.S. consumers have filed more than 6,300 complaints since the pandemic started, for its
failure to pay out refunds owed.

Before the $25.5 million Air Canada fine, DOT had only warned airlines that they were
violating U.S. rules and it might take action if they didn’t offer refunds.

Air Canada is the only airline the U.S. Transportation Department has fined so far over denying
refunds from U.S. flights the carrier canceled.
PHOTO: SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

“The problem got too big for the DOT to ignore,” says
John Breyault,
vice president at the
National Consumers League, a consumer advocacy group.
Airline lobbying has countered passenger advocacy efforts for years and the DOT, like
many federal agencies, suffers from a shortage of staff to handle consumer-protection
issues. The agency lacks a consumer advocate, even though one is required by Congress.

The DOT says it has been understaffed when it comes to handling complaints since the
start of the pandemic. It says it has authorized overtime and increased staffing through
temporary hiring and reassignments to reduce the backlog of complaints.

To be sure, lots of airlines in the U.S. and abroad refunded tickets worth many billions of
dollars for customers during the pandemic. Some have friendlier rules on vouchers and
credits than others.

Yet many carriers still haven’t offered refunds, and it’s unclear if the DOT will hold them
accountable. In addition, consumer advocates say passengers should be entitled to an
option of a refund when they canceled—before the airline canceled—because the
president and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shut down travel, leaving
them no choice but not to go.

The Transportation Department says it is still investigating other airlines. It declined an

interview request for this story, instead offering a written response to questions. It says it
is “committed to ensuring that airline passengers are treated fairly.”

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The agency says it has taken longer than normal to process consumer complaints given
the record volume, but it is “continuing to assist thousands of consumers in obtaining
refunds.”

Many airlines delayed pulling flights from schedules and pressured passengers into
voluntarily accepting credits. Some operated flights for cargo even though borders were
closed and denied customers refunds, since planes actually took off.

An earlier Middle Seat tally of credits at just the four biggest U.S. airlines found $10 billion
in unused travel credits on their books at the end of 2020, according to federal filings.
Air Canada claimed it only had to offer vouchers, not refunds, to U.S. consumers because
the Canadian government gave its OK to waiving ticket rules for the pandemic. But U.S.
regulations govern U.S. travel, no matter where the airline is from, and the U.S. rules don’t
cut airlines a break from refund requirements for emergencies like a pandemic. Even after
the 2001 terrorist attacks, consumers were entitled to refunds for canceled flights.
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In April, the Canadian government agreed to an airline bailout and Air Canada announced
it would offer refunds. The airline said it estimated there were about $1.6 billion in U.S.
dollars in vouchers that fliers could now cash in for refunds, but because consumers must
request the refund, the airline expected the amount redeemed to be “substantially less.”
The deadline for applying for a refund is July 12.

DOT filed a complaint in federal court on June 15 seeking penalties against Air Canada for
“extreme delays” in providing refunds to consumers. “Air Canada’s new refund policy
does not change the fact that Air Canada committed thousands of violations of U.S. law
prior to that time,” the DOT said in its filing.

An Air Canada spokesman says the airline believes the DOT’s position is “without merit.”

Complaints about refunds were up 5,609% in 2020 compared with 2019. Consumers filed
nearly 46,000 complaints about foreign airlines’ handling of refunds, and nearly 30,000
about U.S. carriers.

TAP Air Portugal has drawn more than 6,000 complaints to the DOT, almost as many as
Air Canada.
Frontier Airlines
has had more than 4,000 complaints. Israel’s El Al,
Germany’s
Lufthansa,
Colombia’s
Avianca
and Mexico’s Volaris have more than 2,000
each.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has focused on infrastructure, not airline issues, even
though complaints poured into his agency over airlines denying refunds during the pandemic.
PHOTO: ROD LAMKEY/CNP/ZUMA PRESS

United
changed its refund rules several times and got more complaints than any other
carrier—10,749 in the most recent 15 months reported by DOT. But DOT says United
ultimately changed to refund rules that complied with regulations, so it was dropping any
formal action against United.

The DOT’s lack of action on other consumer protection issues, from family seating to
evacuation standards to requiring refunds on seat and baggage fees when services aren’t
delivered, has been an issue predating the Trump administration. Congress has found
rare bipartisan agreement on several airline-service issues and ordered DOT to act, with
few results.

“DOT needs to do better and do more,” says Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut
Democrat who chairs the consumer protection subcommittee of the Senate Commerce,
Science and Transportation Committee. “Until you make some of these companies pay a
price, there’s no deterrent to violate the law.…To put it simply, they need to put some
teeth behind good intentions.”

Filing a complaint with DOT (here’s a link to the form) is a good thing for consumers to do
because airlines do have to respond—and often DOT complaints get more attention inside
airlines.

Another reason to complain through the DOT: Passengers can’t use traditional consumer-
protection routes. Airlines are exempt from state-level oversight, so you can’t go to your
state’s attorney general consumer protection office or state court. Besides the DOT, all you
can do is complain directly to the company, blast the airline on social media and hope that
gets attention or take the airline to small-claims court.

“The DOT is the only consumer protection agency there is for airline consumers. That’s all
we got,” Mr. Breyault says.

In terms of refunds, he thinks airlines have an obligation to help consumers after they
took billions in bailout dollars. But he also doesn’t expect consumers will see refunds for
canceled flights at reluctant airlines soon, nor does he expect DOT to aggressively pursue
policy violators.

“That’s the sad reality when you have an agency that has a lot of responsibility and is not
as staffed up with resources needed to actually provide effective oversight,” he says.

Write to Scott McCartney at middleseat@wsj.com

MORE FROM THE MIDDLE SEAT

•Where to Find Rare Business-Class and First-Class Deals

June 23, 2021

•Why Airlines Let Sick Passengers on Flights

June 21, 2021

•Heavier Passengers Mean New Safety Limits for Airlines

June 9, 2021

•How to Avoid the Biggest Summer Travel Headaches

May 26, 2021

•The U.S. Travel Surge Isn’t Coming—It’s Here

May 19, 2021

Appeared in the July 1, 2021, print edition as 'Passenger Complaints Take Off.'

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