Democrat Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal demand major US airlines to change the validity of unused flight credits. The senators criticized seven US airlines for having an expiry on their customers’ flight credits. The two senators called out airlines for refusing to “offer any commitment to expand cash refund policies or eliminate expiration dates for pandemic-related flight credits”.
Despite the recent spike in domestic travel, many are still not confident enough to fly. The lawmakers expounded that the amount of flight credits is worth more than $10 billion. The senators said that they “are still refusing to return consumers hard-earned money, more than a year after the pandemic”.
According to Airlines for America, a trade group that represents American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and others, said that US airlines issued cash refunds worth $12.84 billion in 2020.
Nicholas Calio, the group’s chief executive said that US airlines are committed to issuing refunds according to federal laws and regulations. He also said that the cash refunds made last year represented 20% of airlines’ total revenues in 2020.
Though there’s a spike in the number of bookings, the redemption of vouchers currently accounts for 10% to 15% of monthly ticket sales of different airlines. And in the coming months, travel experts believe that there will be more people traveling. As more people get vaccinated, airlines can also expect more travelers who will claim their credits.
Removing the expiry on travel credits might be the right move for airlines but they are currently in a tricky situation. Though domestic flights are up, airlines are still struggling to recover financially. If you’ll look at today’s average number of passengers daily, it’s still below 2019’s numbers.
And also, international flights might take some time to recover as officials are still taking a conservative approach when it comes to allowing non-essential flights to the US. The majority of countries worldwide are still on the US State Department’s “Do Not Travel” list. Some experts even believe that business flights will not come back any time soon.
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