Senators Ask U.S. Airlines to Provide Cash Refunds for Unused Tickets

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Two U.S. senators want airlines to end restrictions such as expiration dates on flight credits, or start to issue refunds to passengers for cancelled flights, regardless of whether it’s the airline or passenger that requests the cancellation.

Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to ten U.S. airlines on Monday that was viewed by Frequent Business Traveler in which they asked them to “commit to providing a cash refund for all tickets that are cancelled during the coronavirus pandemic.”

The two lawmakers wrote in the letter that people need the money that would be refunded back in order to pay “for food, housing, and prescriptions during this emergency.”

The airlines included in the letter are Alaska Airlines, Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines.

In 2020, nearly 90% of the 102,550 complaints the Department of Transportation received were about refunds.

Last year, Senators Markey and Blumenthal along with several other lawmakers introduced a bill in Congress to force such refunds.

The Cash Refunds for Coronavirus Cancellations Act of 2020would have required airlines to offer full cash refunds for all cancelled tickets during the coronavirus pandemic. The bill would have required a refund regardless of whether a carrier cancelled a flight or a passenger cancelled a ticket.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)