Airlines Face Pressure To Refund Customers After Bailout By Taxpayers
It was supposed to be her babymoon, a sun-soaked Caribbean cruise with her husband to flee Chicago’s winter and celebrate the twins she’s expected to deliver in June.
But as the United States became the epicenter of the novel coronavirus pandemic last month, the cruise line canceled the trip. And when Brittney, a 31-year-old data analyst in Chicago, tried to sort out the flights she had booked in advance, Frontier Airlines insisted she had already canceled her return ticket in exchange for credit that only lasted 90 days.
She was livid. She hadn’t canceled the flight. It took hours to get through to someone on customer service. When she finally reached an agent, they hung up on her.
“We’re in a pandemic, and there’s no end in sight,” said Brittney, who asked to withhold her last name because she works in the travel industry and fears risking future job opportunities. “There’s no telling when I’ll be able to get on a flight again.”
Airlines are facing mounting pressure to give customers cash refunds for canceled flights a week after Congress approved $50 billion to bail out passenger carriers struggling amid the pandemic-induced economic downturn.
So far, nearly every major airline in the United States is waiving change fees to rebook flights and providing credit for future trips. But, for the record 6.6 million Americans who filed jobless claims in just the past week, an unused plane ticket is often worth more as hundreds or potentially thousands of dollars in cash than it is as a gift certificate for an eventual vacation.
Vacations are nearly impossible right now as the U.S. coronavirus death toll surges, travel restrictions expand and experts warn that social distancing measures could remain in place for months to come. Already, airlines have slashed flight schedules into the summer by up to 80%.
“I don’t even know if it’ll be safe to make a decision within 90 days on where I want to fly,” Brittney said. She...
