Deadline for Airborne Refund Is Days Away

Sept. 1, 2008 — -- If you have ever purchased the product "Airborne," you could have money coming.

Airborne has settled a class action lawsuit and government charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission. Both accused the company of deceptive marketing.

Airborne built its business with ads that described it as a "miracle cold buster" that was "created by a school teacher."

But the FTC says there is no credible proof that the effervescent tables can prevent or cure the common cold and has barred the company from making such claims in the future.

Airborne agreed to pay $30 million to reimburse consumers. Customers who bought Airborne Effervescent Health Formula, Airborne On-the-Go, Airborne Power Pixies, Airborne Nighttime, Airborne Jr., Airborne Gummis, and Airborne Seasonal Relief between May 1, 2001 and Nov. 29, 2007 are eligible.

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If you have your receipts, you can get your money back for all the Airborne you've ever purchased. Without receipts, you can still get a refund for up to six items, a total of $63.

"We want to get the word out to everyone who qualifies for these refunds," said Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. The deadline to apply is Sept. 15.

ABC News' "Good Morning America" was the first to question Airborne's dramatic claims. The company said it had commissioned a "double-blind, placebo-controlled study" of Airborne's effectiveness.

But when we tracked down the company that conducted the study, it turned out to be two guys in Key West, Fla., who started up a company just to do the Airborne study. One of the men claimed to have a degree from Indiana University, but the school told us he never graduated.

An early press release boasted Airborne would "get rid of most colds in 1 hour."

We asked Airborne CEO Elise Donohue about that and other claims in a 2006 interview and she said, "I would never sit here and tell you that Airborne is a cure for the common cold."