New Delhi, 15th November 2022: Tata group owned, Air India has been ordered by the US to pay an amount of $121.5 million in refunds and $1.4 million in penalties for extreme delays in giving refunds to passengers due to flight cancellations or changes, mostly during the pandemic.
According to the US Department of Transportation, Air India is one of the six airlines that have agreed to pay back a total of more than $600 million.
On Monday (November 14), the US Department of Transportation said that the department’s policy for airlines to legally refund tickets in the event of flight cancellation or change, conflicts with Air India’s “refund on request” policy.
Before the national airline was purchased by the Tatas, there were instances where Air India was asked to pay the refund and agreed to pay the penalty.
An official examination revealed that Air India processed more than half of the 1,900 refund complaints submitted to the Department of Transportation for flights that the carrier cancelled or materially modified in more than 100 days.
The US department of Transportation said, “Regardless of its claimed return policy, Air India didn’t actually issue refunds on schedule. Customers suffered severe harm as a result of the lengthy wait in receiving their reimbursements.”
The other airlines that received fines in addition to Air India are Frontier, TAP Portugal, Aero Mexico, EI AI, and Avianca.
According to the Department of Transportation, Air India was told to refund $121.5 million to its customers and pay a fine of $1.4 million.