The US Department of Transportation (DoT) announced on April 24 that the airline companies hereafter submitted to USA to a stricter one regulation regarding the refund and compensation of passengers in case of cancellation, modification or delay of the flight or loss of luggage.

Not only do these refunds have to be made automaticallybut the ministry has also defined exactly what constitutes a “significant change” to the flight: a change in arrival or departure time more than three hours for a domestic flight and over six hours for an international flight, departure or arrival at different airportmore intermediates stopsrelegation in relation to position for which the reservation has been made, etc.

Mammoth damages – $775 million – from Lufthansa

In this context, the DoT secured from three airlines, mainly from the German group Lufthansa, the refund of almost one billion dollars to passengers for cancellations or major modifications of flights due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ministry clarified in a statement that Lufthansa agreed to return $775 million and pay 1.1 million finewhile the Dutch KLM agreed to pay back $113.3 million and also pay a $1.1 million fine.

“Lufthansa has made all the payments it owed us. The delay in payment, which is penalized by the Ministry of Transport, is solely due to the historically unique level of compensation during the Covid pandemic,” a company representative told AFP, stressing that the amount of fine imposed “does not differ from the norm”.

Also, the South African Airways agreed to repay $15.2 million and pay a $300,000 fine.

“When a flight is canceled or heavily modified, you won’t be forced to fight the airline to get your money back,” Transport Secretary Pete Buttige said in the statement. was less than 1.2% in 2023 in the US, the lowest level in more than 10 years despite a record number of scheduled flights.