The US Division of Transportation (DoT) secured from three airways, primarily from the German group Lufthansa, the refund of virtually one billion {dollars} to passengers for cancellations or main modifications of flights as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.
Lufthansa agreed to repay $775 million and pay a high-quality of $1.1 million, whereas Dutch airline KLM agreed to repay $113.3 million and in addition pay a high-quality of $1.1 million, the ministry mentioned in a press release immediately.
“Lufthansa has made all funds owed to us. The delay in cost, which is penalized by the Ministry of Transport, is solely as a result of traditionally distinctive degree of compensation through the Covid pandemic,” a consultant of the corporate informed AFP, stressing that the quantity of the high-quality imposed “doesn’t differ from the norm ».
Additionally, South African Airways agreed to repay 15.2 million and pay a high-quality of $300,000.
“When a flight is canceled or closely modified, you will not be compelled to battle the airline to get your a refund,” Transport Secretary Pete Buttige mentioned in a press release. The flight cancellation charge was lower than 1.2% in 2023 within the US, the bottom degree in additional than 10 years regardless of a report variety of scheduled flights.
The ministry introduced on April 24 that airways will now be topic to a stricter regulation within the US on refunding and compensating passengers within the occasion of a flight cancellation, change or delay or misplaced baggage.
Not solely ought to these refunds be computerized, however the ministry has additionally outlined precisely what constitutes a “important change”: a change in arrival or departure time of greater than three hours for a home flight and greater than six hours for a global flight, departure or arrival at a unique airport, extra layovers, downgrading from a reserved seat, and so forth.
SOURCE: APE-ME
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