Colorado’s attorney general asked the U.S. Department of Transportation on Tuesday to investigate complaints that Frontier Airlines did not refund the cost of flights canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak and made it virtually impossible for men and women to apply vouchers for various other flights while in the pandemic.
In a letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Attorney General Phil Weiser said his office had received approximately hundred complaints from Colorado and twenty nine various other states about the Denver-based very low price carrier since March, over any other business.
People 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 thanks also when cancellations are because of to situations beyond airlines’ management. Individuals that received vouchers for using on succeeding flights after voluntarily canceling their travel plans had been unable to redeem them. Some were rejected by the airline’s website and were unable to extend the 90-day time limit for making use of them or had been confined to using the vouchers on simply one flight, he published. Still others who sought help with the airline’s customer care line had been written on hold for many hours and were disconnected regularly, he said.
Weiser believed that the Department of Transportation was at the most effective spot to take a look at the complaints and said it has to issue fines of up to $2,500 per violation when appropriate.
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Companies cannot be allowed to make the most of customers during this time and should be held responsible for unfair and deceptive conduct, he mentioned in a declaration.
Frontier said it’s stayed in detailed compliance with department rules as well as regulations regarding flight changes, refunds and cancellations.
Throughout the pandemic, Frontier Airlines has acted in faith which is fine to take care of our passengers fairly and compassionately, the business said in a statement.
Complaints about getting refunds from airlines surged this spring. In May, Chao requested airlines to be as flexible and considerate as possible to the demands of passengers who face financial hardship.
In the department’s May air travel customer report, the most recent offered, Frontier had the third-highest price of general complaints, trailing Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines. The report counts just complaints from buyers which go through the difficulty of filing a complaint with the office, not individuals who just grumble to an airline.