British Airways is the latest airline to feel the heat from the US Department of Transportation over delayed customer flight refunds.
BA has been fined $1.1m for not providing ‘timely refunds to passengers’ for cancelled flights during the pandemic.
The DOJ said it logged about 1, 200 complaints about British Airways.
DOJ officials said BA instructed customers to contact it by phone.
Consumers were unable to get through by phone for several months, with the DOJ claiming the airline did not adequately maintain customer service levels.
It failed to upgrade them even though it knew it would be inundated with refund requests.
“There was also no way to submit a refund request through the carrier’s website during this period,” the justice department said.
From March to November 2020, BA allegedly posted misleading information which resulted in customers unwittingly claiming travel vouchers instead of flight refunds.
The airline claimed it ‘acted lawfully at all times.’
The fine is a ‘strong deterrent to future similar unlawful practices’ although it will only pay half.
BA is credited $550,000 towards the penalty as it has refunded $40 million to customers.
“To date, we have issued more than five million refunds since the start of the pandemic,” BA said.
