Delta Air Lines has reached a $27 million settlement with customers who had their flights canceled at the start of the pandemic and were denied refunds.
The settlement requires the airline to make cash payments with 7% interest to customers who had unused credit from their canceled flights and had requested refunds but received credit instead. Customers also have the option to keep the credit and receive the 7% interest payment in credit. The total amount available for refunds, including interest, is $27.3 million.
The settlement covers US citizens who had purchased non-refundable tickets for Delta flights scheduled to depart between March 1, 2020, and April 30, 2021. CNN reported that 14,000 members of the class had submitted their claims by the September 15 deadline.
The lawsuit alleged that Delta breached its contractual obligation to issue refunds for the canceled flights. It also claimed that the airline understaffed its call centers and made it difficult to request refunds online.
While Delta denied any liability or wrongdoing, it decided to settle the lawsuit to avoid the expense and inconvenience of continued litigation. US District Judge Eleanor L. Ross approved the settlement on Thursday.
In addition to the settlement amount, Delta will pay attorneys' fees, settlement administration costs, litigation costs, and a service award to the person who filed the lawsuit. Any residual funds from the settlement will be donated to charity, with Public Justice and United Way of Greater Atlanta receiving a portion.
One of the plaintiffs, Angela Dusko, stated in her lawsuit that she had spent $2,783 on four roundtrip tickets for her family's trip from Helena, Montana, to Cancun, Mexico. After Delta canceled their initial outbound flight, she requested a refund, which the airline initially refused. Only after filing the lawsuit did Delta grant her request.
A spokesperson for Delta stated that the airline had refunded over 11 million tickets totaling $6 billion since the beginning of 2020, with 20% of the refunds occurring in 2022. The settlement agreement does not require Delta to admit any failure to follow its contract or provide refunds as required by its contract.
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