Letter to the Hon. Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation - As July 4th Travel Approaches, Congressmen Cohen and Garcia and Senators Markey and Blumenthal Urge DOT to Pursue Airline Cash Refunds and Ensure Flight Credits Do Not Expire

Letter

Dear Secretary Buttigieg:

We write to urge the Department of Transportation (DOT) to protect air travelers from an unfair
business practice that has pervaded aviation during the coronavirus pandemic -- the denial of
cash refunds for cancelled flights and the issuance of flight credits that will soon expire. The
failure of airlines to promise that these credits will never expire has made it clear that action by
your Department is necessary. We accordingly request that the DOT use its consumer protection
authority to force airlines to do the right thing.1

At the outset, we reiterate our belief that airlines should offer a cash refund for all tickets
canceled during the coronavirus pandemic, whether the flight is canceled by the airline or
traveler. Many Americans proactively cancelled their flights to protect their health at the urging
of health officials, only to find themselves ineligible for refunds that would have been available
had they waited for airlines to cancel their flights for them. Americans need cash in their pockets
during this emergency, and it is unconscionable that airlines are largely refusing to return
customers' money on a technicality, even as the industry sits on more than $10 billion in unused
travel credits.2 This urgent problem is reflected in the 500 percent increase in passenger
complaints that the DOT has received during the pandemic, driven largely by refund-related
concerns.3

We believe the DOT must take strong action to address these complaints and ensure the return of
travelers' money. At a minimum, it is imperative that the DOT does not allow pandemic-related
flight credits to expire. These credits began to pile up when, due to health concerns, financial
difficulties, and closed borders, countless consumers began canceling flights in early 2020.
Rather than issue cash refunds, many airlines instead issued temporary flight credits that are now
beginning to expire--alongside hard-earned frequent flier miles.

Worse still, airline policies governing flight credits are needlessly complex, making it
unnecessarily difficult for consumers to redeem these flight credits before they expire. Across the airline industry, current policies governing refunds, flight credits, and frequent flier miles are
opaque and can differ considerably from company to company. For example, many airlines offer
multiple types of flight credits, all with different restrictions and expiration dates.4 This
patchwork of policies creates significant confusion for consumers, some of whom are
discovering their credits and frequent flier miles have already expired or will expire before they
feel safe traveling again.5 As a result, many consumers who were saving up their miles and
credits to visit friends and family are now at risk of losing them.

Additionally, conditions on flight credits can vary significantly from airline to airline and make
the redemption process exceedingly difficult even when flight credits have not expired.
6 For instance, some airlines allow travelers to use their flight credits across multiple trips until all the credits are depleted.7 However, on other airlines, if a traveler books a flight using flight credits and the new flight costs less than the original flight, the traveler loses the unused flight credits and the airlines pocket the residual value.8 Moreover, some airlines have stated that travelers cannot use certain types of flight credits to book flights operated by a partner airline even if it operated the original flight.9 Because travelers are struggling to navigate this patchwork of airline policies, we fear that countless consumers will be unable to redeem their flight credits or
will redeem them at a loss.

Although we acknowledge that many airlines will respond to individual travelers' concerns on a
case-by-case basis, more flexibility, fairness, and consistency must be the default. Consumers
should not have to jump through hoops or spend hours on hold before having their concerns
heard. Instead, all airlines and ticket sellers must make it easy for consumers to utilize flight
credits, redeem frequent flier miles, and obtain well-deserved refunds by default.

In order to protect travelers, we have attempted to work with the airlines to achieve a voluntary
solution to this pressing problem: simply removing expiration dates from any pandemic-related
travel credits. Lawmakers wrote to all the major domestic airlines last month, urging each
company to clarify its consumer policies, extend the validity of their flight credits indefinitely,
and offer cash refunds for all flights canceled during the coronavirus pandemic.10 Regrettably,
seven airlines accounting for more than 70 percent of the domestic market refused to individually
respond to this letter, choosing instead to have their trade association respond without providing any commitments to do better by the flying public.11 We consider the airlines' inadequate
response to this letter to constitute a refusal to voluntarily address this consumer crisis. As such,
we believe it is time for the DOT to intervene.

The DOT is uniquely empowered to act upon claims of anti-consumer conduct in the
transportation industry. As the Secretary of Transportation, you have the authority to "order [an]
air carrier . . . to stop" an "unfair or deceptive practice or an unfair method of competition in air
transportation or the sale of air transportation" after a hearing if it is in the public interest.12 We
cannot think of an airline business practice that could be more "unfair" than the industry's
behavior on refunds and credits during the pandemic, or a matter more in the "public interest"
than protecting travelers' hard-earned dollars.

Accordingly, we strongly urge you to require airlines to do right by the flying public. The
coronavirus pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for air travelers, and consumers
deserve cash refunds for tickets canceled during the pandemic. At a minimum, it is imperative
that all flight credits issued during the pandemic are made valid indefinitely by default and
frequent flier miles do not expire as a result of travelers having chosen not to fly during the
pandemic. We urge you to act swiftly to address these concerns, and we stand ready to work with
you to protect air travelers. There should be no expiration date for consumer protection.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

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