Press Release  AG Healey Calls on Congress to Require Airlines to Pay Refunds to Consumers Who Cancel Their Flights During the Pandemic

Boston — Attorney General Maura Healey today announced her office joined a multistate coalition in urging Congress to put conditions on any future bailout of the airlines including paying refunds to consumers who cancel their flights because of the COVID-19 pandemic and giving state attorneys general the authority to hold airlines accountable for harming consumers.

In a letter sent to leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate yesterday, 40 attorneys general called on Congress to couple important consumer protection requirements with any new federal aid provided to the American airline industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis.

“The COVID-19 pandemic derailed travel plans for millions of people across the globe and left families unsure of how to get their money back from airlines,” said AG Healey. “If Congress is going to bailout the airline industry for a second time, it should require refunds for the consumers who are not able to travel during a public health crisis.”

The AG’s Office has received thousands of travel-related complaints since the COVID-19 pandemic forced consumers to cancel trips and vacations and ground the airline industry to a halt. The attorneys general write in today’s letter that while the CARES Act provided for strong taxpayer protections when it allocated federal relief for the airline industry, not all airlines are treating consumers fairly. In fact, consumers have continued to complain to state attorneys general that airlines have failed to refund them in a timely manner or provide them with a way to redeem vouchers and credits when flights were cancelled or significantly delayed. These failures by the airline industry have led to consumers losing thousands of dollars, the attorneys general contend.

In the letter, the attorneys general call on Congress to include several important consumer protection provisions with any additional federal relief provided to airline carriers, including:

• Requiring carriers that receive federal financial relief to provide full refunds to customers who voluntarily cancel their flight reservations for reasons related to COVID-19.
• Strengthening existing laws requiring that refunds for flight cancellations be remitted in full and according to federal law and preventing delays in issuance of refunds or expirations that effectively cancel the value reimbursed.
• Moving authority for investigation of consumer complaints concerning airlines from the U.S. Department of Transportation to a consumer protection agency such as the U.S. Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission.
• Authorizing state attorneys general to enforce federal airline consumer protections, thereby broadening consumer violation enforcement beyond a single federal agency. If enforcement authority is not granted to state attorneys general, requiring the federal enforcement authority to make its consumer complaint process more transparent, robust and easy to navigate.

Since the start of the pandemic, the AG’s Office has prioritized mediating travel-related complaints for Massachusetts families. In May 2020, the AG’s Office secured $1.4 million in additional refunds in a settlement with the travel company EF for thousands of customers whose trips were cancelled due to the pandemic and in June 2020, sued the online travel agency BookIt for pocketing thousands of dollars from consumers for trips the company knew would never happen because of the pandemic. Anyone who is still trying to resolve issues related to a trip that got cancelled due to the pandemic should file a complaint online.

Joining AG Healey in signing onto today’s letter are the attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

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