KLM Royal Dutch Airlines - Order 2024-5-27

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection has determined that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) routinely failed to provide timely refunds to passengers for flights to and from the United States that the carrier cancelled or significantly changed in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 (Section 41712) and 14 CFR Part 259. Since March 2020, the Department has received over 948 complaints regarding KLM’s handling of refund request after cancelling or significantly changing consumers’ flights to or from the U.S. In June 2020, KLM began offering refunds to all consumers holding non-refundable tickets on flights to and from the United States that were cancelled or significantly changed by the carrier. However, thousands of the refund requests took longer than a hundred days to process. This order directs KLM to cease and desist from future similar violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR Part 259 and assesses the carrier $1,100,000 in civil penalties.