Frontier must refund passengers over $200 million for canceled, changed flights during pandemic

Frontier Airlines, one of three carriers operating out of Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, must pay more than $200 million in refunds to passengers on changed or canceled flights during the pandemic, as well as $2.2 million in federal fines, according to actions taken Monday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In total, six airlines — Frontier is the only domestic carrier — will repay customers more than $600 million in refunds for flights delayed or canceled since March 2020, the DOT said. The airlines have also agreed to pay a combined $7.25 million in fines, officials said.

"At my urging, airlines have taken a number of steps to reduce cancellations to a point that is now at or near what it was before the pandemic," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters Monday. "But still, flights do get canceled. And when that happens we'll be here to make sure that a refund is available and that it's processed as promptly as possible. We've got people's backs when they experience a disruption."

Frontier, a Denver-based low-cost carrier which flies out of MacArthur  along with Southwest Airlines and Breeze Airways, must repay $222 million in refunds, federal officials said. 

And while the DOT assessed Frontier $2.2 million in fines, it's only responsible to pay $1 million, as the company previously received a $1.2 million credit for "goodwill refunds" made to customers beyond what was required by federal regulations, the company said.

In March 2020, Frontier changed its definition of a "significant" scheduled flight change, in which a refund would be issued — from three hours to any time during the flight's calendar day, said Blane Workie assistant general counsel for the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection. The rule was applied even if the tickets were purchased before the change, she said.

"So in essence, they were retroactively applying a more stringent rule to consumers," Workie said. "And I can certainly tell you that Frontier would not have provided these refunds to tens of thousands of passengers if DOT had not been involved … Before our involvement [customers] were being told that they could not receive refunds."

In a statement, Frontier said it issued more than $92 million in refunds, redeemed credits and vouchers to customers who voluntarily canceled their nonrefundable tickets during the pandemic.

"In addition, the company provided over $2.7 million in refunds by voluntarily applying a more generous definition of a significant delay than was in effect at the time for customers who booked and purchased their tickets between March 25 and Oct. 27, 2020," the company statement said. "These goodwill refunds of nearly $100 million demonstrate Frontier’s commitment to treating our customers with fairness and flexibility."

A spokeswoman for the Town of Islip, which operates MacArthur, declined to comment on the enforcement actions.

Since the start of the pandemic, the DOT said it's received a flood of complaints from air travelers about airlines that failed to provide timely refunds after their flights were canceled or significantly delayed.

Additional enforcement actions against other airlines are still pending, Buttigieg said.

The international carriers that were assessed fines and required to pay refunds Monday were Air-India, TAP Portugal, Aeromexico, El Al and Avianca.