Biden will demand transparency from airlines for charges 0:37
(CNN) --
Airlines have paid more than $600 million in refunds to hundreds of thousands of passengers for canceled or changed flights since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the US Department of Transportation announced Monday. (DOT).
At the same time, federal regulators are cracking down on half a dozen airlines they say flouted rules determining when refunds are made.
This all comes at a time when airlines are struggling to keep up with rapidly increasing demand for air travel.
The department is also issuing $7.25 million in fines against six airlines for "extreme delays in delivering those refunds to passengers," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on a call with reporters.
This brings the total fines imposed in 2022 to $8.1 million, a record for civil penalties for the Department's consumer protection program.
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Ultra-low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines is the only US carrier facing refund-related penalties.
Foreign-based airlines face the most fines: Air India, TAP Portugal, Aeromexico, El Al and Avianca.
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"The Department's expectation is that when Americans buy a ticket on an airline, we expect to get to our destination safely, reliably, and affordably. And our job at DOT is to hold airlines accountable to these expectations, many of which which are a matter of law and regulation," Buttigieg said.
Last month, the DOT said that of the 7,243 consumer complaints it received about airlines in August, nearly one in five involved refunds.
The process for getting airlines to issue refunds varies by airline, according to Blane Workie, DOT assistant general counsel for the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, who spoke with Buttigieg on the call.
For example, Frontier changed its definition of "significant time change" in March 2020.
"In essence, they were retroactively applying a stricter rule to consumers, and I can certainly say that Frontier would not have provided these refunds to tens of thousands of passengers if DOT had not been involved," he said.
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As part of the process, DOT required Frontier to provide the required refunds or inform all those passengers how to obtain them if they needed to fill out forms.
Other airlines experienced extreme delays in delivering refunds, Workie said.
Most of the refund claims the department has received have been against foreign airlines, Workie said.
Asked if this would serve as a deterrent to airlines, Buttigieg said the "overall goal is to make sure passengers get their money back."
"It shouldn't take enforcement action by the US Department of Transportation to get airlines to pay the refunds they're required to pay. That's why I've asked the team to conduct an exercise to make sure the fines are calibrated to deter this in the future and save passengers a lot of time and save everyone," he said.
Buttigieg later noted that the department will continue to "raise the level of fines" until less behavior of this type is seen.
According to Workie, all refunds have been made or consumers should have been informed of the refund process.
However, the fines will be collected after the DOT orders are issued.
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There are more investigations underway, according to Buttigieg, who said "there may be more news in the form of fines."
However, Workie said there are no pending refund investigations against US airlines.
Buttigieg also pointed to the upcoming holiday travel season, saying it is expected to be "among the busiest" since 2019, in terms of travel days.
He touted other actions taken by the department, including a new airline consumer service dashboard to help people see what they're owed when a flight is canceled or delayed due to an airline issue.
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