The Transportation Department said on Monday that it had fined a half-dozen airlines a total of more than $7 million for failing to provide timely refunds to customers. The department’s intervention contributed to the airlines’ issuing more than $600 million in refunds, it said.

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“Airlines that brazenly skirt the rules deserve to be fined, but this latest round of enforcement from the U.S. D.O.T. comes almost three years too late and leaves out the most egregious U.S. offenders,” said William J. McGee, a senior fellow for aviation at the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonprofit that promotes antitrust legislation. Mr. McGee said the nation’s largest airlines deserved punishment over other missteps, including widespread operational meltdowns this summer.

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