Deutsche Lufthansa AG, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and South African Airways will refund a combined $903 million to passengers who had flights changed or canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic and pay a combined $2.2 million in penalties for "extreme delays" in processing the requests, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Monday.

$903M Refund for COVID-19 Flight Changes

Under a trio of consent orders, Lufthansa agreed to pay $775 million in passenger refunds plus a $1.1 million penalty; KLM agreed to pay $113 million in refunds and a $1.1 million penalty; and South African Airways will pay $15.2 million in refunds and a $30,000 penalty. The civil penalties are to be paid to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the DOT said.

The DOT's Office of Aviation Consumer Protection said in its consent order against Lufthansa that since March 2020, the department has received more than 2,500 complaints regarding Lufthansa's handling of refund requests after canceling or significantly changing consumers' flights to or from the United States. The airline has received tens of thousands of additional complaints, claims, and refund requests, the DOT said.

"During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of the refund requests took longer than 100 days to process," it added.

Meanwhile, the DOT said it received roughly 950 complaints regarding KLM's handling of refund requests during that time period. KLM also took more than 100 days to process thousands of refund requests, according to the consent order.

As for South African Airways, the DOT said it received more than 400 complaints. The airline took more than 100 days to process many refunds, but was "unable to provide the department information regarding the exact length of time it took to process the thousands of refund complaints or requests," according to the consent order.

"SAA has acknowledged that it did not begin to process the majority of its backlog of outstanding refund requests it received throughout the pandemic for flights canceled or significantly changed by the carrier until approximately May 2021," the DOT said.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement Monday that when flights are canceled or significantly changed, "you shouldn't have to fight with the airline to get [your] money back."

"We're holding airlines accountable when they fail to give passengers the refunds they're owed," Buttigieg said.

The airlines didn't immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday.

The DOT said it has ensured the refund of nearly $4 billion owed to airline passengers during President Joe Biden's administration.

In 2022, the DOT's Office of Aviation Consumer Protection said it had launched six enforcement actions that resulted in Colorado-based Frontier Airlines and five foreign air carriers being ordered to collectively refund more than half a billion dollars to customers whose flights were canceled or significantly changed. On top of that, the six carriers were ordered to pay a total of $7.25 million in civil penalties for what the DOT described as their "extreme delays in providing refunds."

And last year, the DOT unveiled stricter, more explicit rules requiring airlines to compensate customers — beyond just refunds — for major flight delays and cancellations.