U.S. Fines Airlines More Than $7 Million for Not Providing Refunds

The Transportation Department said on Monday that it had fined a half-dozen airlines a total of more than $7 million for failing to provide timely refunds to customers. The department’s intervention contributed to the airlines’ issuing more than $600 million in refunds, it said.

Frontier Airlines, a budget carrier based in Denver, was fined $2.2 million, more than any other company. It was the only U.S. airline penalized as part of Monday’s announcement and has issued $222 million in refunds, according to the department.

The refunds were meant to compensate passengers for flights that were canceled, significantly delayed or otherwise altered substantially, the department said.

“As people get ready to fly this holiday season, I want customers to know that the D.O.T. has their back,” the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, said on a call with reporters.

Air India was assessed the second-largest fine, of $1.4 million, and TAP Air Portugal was fined $1.1 million. The remaining three carriers — Aeromexico, El Al and Avianca — will each pay less than $1 million. Including the penalties announced on Monday, the department’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection has issued a record $8.1 million in fines in 2022.

In a statement, Frontier said it had issued about $100 million in what it described as “good-will refunds” that were not legally required. The airline will pay only $1 million of the $2.2 million fine because the Transportation Department credited it for providing refunds to passengers who canceled nonrefundable tickets early in the pandemic.

The announcement followed months of growing complaints from travelers about flight delays, cancellations and other problems. Airlines have enjoyed a booming business since this summer, as more people have shifted their spending from goods to travel and other services after two years of the pandemic. Many people have been so eager to travel that they have been willing to pay much higher ticket prices.

In recent months, the Transportation Security Administration has screened an average of more than two million people a day at airport checkpoints, or about 95 percent as many as it screened during a similar period in 2019.

The fines announced on Monday are part of a continuing effort by the Transportation Department to hold the industry to account. This summer, for example, it unveiled a consumer dashboard to encourage airlines to commit to providing free hotel stays and meals when travel is…