Frontier Airlines Class Action Seeks Ticket Refunds

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Frontier Airlines by a passenger who claims that the airline cancelled her flight due to the coronavirus pandemic, but has not provided refunds.

Plaintiff Melissa Young says that, in March 2020, she purchased tickets directly from Frontier Airlines for a round trip ticket between Myrtle Beach, S.C. to Long Island, N.Y. She claims that her flight was supposed to depart for New York on May 19, 2020 and she was going to return to South Carolina on May 24, 2020.

The plaintiff maintains that she was going to fly with her husband and son and paid $254 for both flights. The flight was reportedly cancelled on March 19, 2020 due to the coronavirus.

Was your flight cancelled by Frontier Airlines due to the coronavirus? Were you provided a refund? Get legal help. 

Young claims that an email was sent to passengers by Frontier but did not provide an option to obtain a cash refund. 

Instead, the plaintiff alleges that Frontier only offered her the option to change her flight or receive a travel voucher. Young states that she called Frontier to request a cash refund and she was informed that she would receive one.

However, the refund never came and, after two weeks, she called Frontier asking about her money. Allegedly, she was told that she was never offered a cash refund and she could only receive a travel voucher.

Young notes that, when she purchased her tickets, she was under the notion that she would receive a cash refund if her flight was cancelled. Had she been aware that she would not get a refund if her flight was cancelled, she would not have booked her flight through Frontier and would have chosen another airline, the plaintiff states in the Frontier Airlines class action lawsuit.

The plaintiff reports that Frontier Airlines is a low-cost airline and is among the largest in the United States. Young notes that, like many other airlines, Frontier’s business was interrupted due to government-mandated restrictions on travel as a result of the coronavirus.

Based on these interruptions, Frontier announced in April 2020 that it was cutting more than 90 percent of flight capacity nationwide in April. Frontier Airlines reportedly expects to be in the position to gradually build flight capacity up to as much as 35 percent in May, the plaintiff states.

However, despite the understandable justification for cancelling flights, Young argues that Frontier Airlines should provide refunds to consumers for cancelled flights.

The plaintiff notes that the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) recently issued an Enforcement Notice related to the coronavirus stating that airlines are obligated to provide a refund to passengers for flights where a carrier cancels a flight or makes a significant schedule change.

“The obligation of airlines to provide refunds, including the ticket price and any optional fee charged for services a passenger is unable to use, does not cease when the flight disruptions are outside of the carrier’s control,” the Frontier Airlines class action lawsuit goes on to say.

The DOT’s Enforcement Notice makes it clear that offering vouchers for future travel is not an adequate substitute for an airline’s obligation to provide refunds for canceled flights, Young maintains.

As a result of not providing refunds to their passengers for cancelled flights, numerous complaints have been filed online with the website tripadvisor.com, the plaintiff alleges. Young argues that these refunds show Frontier’s behavior is widespread and consistent.

Young says that, as a direct cause of the defendant’s actions, she and putative Class Members have suffered damages in the amount of the payments made for each time they purchased a ticket for a flight that was cancelled by Frontier.

“Plaintiff and members of the Class and Subclass have an ownership right to the monies paid for the tickets for cancelled flights sold by Defendant, as well as for the consequential damages resulting therefrom,” the plaintiff claims.

In addition, the plaintiff maintains that the defendants knew that they would not reimburse customers for cancelled flights, but continued to make false representations about refunds. 

“As a result of Defendant’s willful and malicious conduct, punitive damages are warranted,” the Frontier Airlines class action lawsuit concludes.

Common legal questions of law and fact in the Frontier Airlines class action lawsuit include: 1) Whether the defendant failed to refund purchasers of cancelled flights; 2) Whether Frontier falsely represented that customers whose flights were cancelled would receive cash refunds; 3) Whether the airline is liable to the plaintiff and Class Members for unjust enrichment; and 4) Whether the plaintiff and Class Members are entitled to damages or other relief.

Prospective Class Members include: “All persons in the United States who purchased tickets for travel on a Frontier flight scheduled to operate to, from, or within the United States whose flights were cancelled or were subject to a significant schedule change and not refunded.”

The plaintiff is represented by Scott A. Kamber and Michael Aschenbrener of KamberLaw LLC, and Yeremey Krivoshey, Andrew J. Obergfell, and Max S. Roberts of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The Frontier Airlines Refund Class Action Lawsuit is Melissa Young v. Frontier Airlines Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-01153, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

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