Just weeks after the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that airline companies are required to refund passengers whose flights were canceled during the coronavirus pandemic, passengers are filing class actions against the major airline companies.
Delta Air Lines is the latest carrier to be hit with a class-action lawsuit over refunds for refusing to provide a refund for flights it canceled.
The suit was in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division by Delta customer Elliot Daniels. According to the lawsuit, Delta is accused of engaging in “unfair, deceptive and unjust conduct” by “refusing to issuer refunds to passengers for coronavirus related flight cancellations.”
Daniels booked four roundtrip tickets for more than $3,000 for travel from Washington Dulles to Cairo, Egypt in April 2020. According to the lawsuit, Delta canceled Daniels’ flights twice, once for the initial departure date and once after he rebooked the flights to an earlier date.
While some travelers have been able to get refunds, others have had difficulty getting their money back.
Similar lawsuits have been filed against United Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Transportation says told airline companies that “a passenger is entitled to a refund if the airline canceled a flight, regardless of the reason,” if the passenger chooses not to be rebooked.
The DOT also warned companies that they are obligated to give prompt refunds to passengers for canceled or significantly delayed flights.
Delta allegedly rejected Daniels’ requests for a refund and informed him he was limited to a voucher for travel to occur within one year of his original booking date as reported in Travel Pulse.
“At the time of his ticket purchase, Plaintiff understood that he would be entitled to a refund if his flight was canceled […]. The plaintiff seeks a refund because he does not know when or if he will be able to use a travel voucher.”
