Earlier today, the European Commission published some common sense recommendations here for airlines faced with an unprecedented number of refunds due to cancelled flights.
They reaffirmed that cash refunds must be offered, but suggested that offering a voucher that actually adds value would be a good option to get people to forgo a refund.
Some of the ideas offered include:
- Refund the voucher for cash when requested, or at least allow refunds to cash if the voucher is not used for 12 months.
- Allow the voucher to work on the same route as originally purchased without paying any price differences.
- Allow the voucher to be used on partner airlines.
- Allow the voucher to be transferred to another passenger
- Give a bonus value to the voucher over the cash amount.
- Give additional service enhancements or upgrades to the voucher.
- Email or mail the full voucher terms so that there’s a traceable record.
Those are some great ideas and I hope we see airlines implement them!
However, Airlines For Europe released this scathing response to the recommendations. Their member airlines include Air France/KLM, British Airways/Iberia, Lufthansa Group, and more.
The European airlines decry the recommendations as creating market distortions, as passengers won’t be sure what they will get. That’s nonsense as the vouchers would have to say in writing what they are getting.
Then the airlines say that they are astonished over having to issue over 9 billion Euros in reimbursements due to regulations requiring cash refunds for cancelled flights.
What the airlines really want is the right to not have to offer refunds, and especially not to have to offer timely refunds. They want their customers to provide a bailout, as customer funds don’t have strings attached like government bailouts that limit executive pay and stock buybacks.
Airlines have been delaying refunds in hopes of regulatory relief to allow them to steal funds from customers. They’re lashing out because the EU is still refusing to legalize that theft.
The European Commission is correct. If airlines don’t want to offer refunds they should come up with ways to incentivize vouchers and stop trying refuse refunds on flights that they cancelled. The rebuttals to this recommendation are just grasping at straws.
The airlines ask for strong leadership from the European Commission. Except, that’s exactly what the US DoT and the European Commission have provided throughout this crisis! Not getting the resolution you hoped for doesn’t indicate a lack of leadership…
The IATA behaved the same way after the DoT reaffirmed that refunds would be required for flights cancelled due to COVID-19:
We’re deeply disappointed by @USDOT ruling on issuance of vouchers for flight cancellations due to gov’t travel restrictions. This decision risks 750,000 #airline jobs, each of which supports 13 additional jobs in the wider US economy.
➡️ https://t.co/QmEoDtO8Ke pic.twitter.com/T97EkhcFlN
— IATA (@IATA) April 4, 2020
Sure, airlines are hurting. But so is nearly everyone else during this pandemic. Everyone has bills to pay and if a service isn’t provided, it needs to be refunded. That’s the law.
It’s not just Europe’s airlines. Many airlines across the globe are doing everything to avoid providing refunds.
ARC, which processes US ticket sales for online and traditional travel agents, created this page to keep track of which airlines are not allowing travel agents to process refunds. Any airlines that say “managing directly” are airlines that are inhibiting travel agents from processing refunds on cancelled flights.
Hopefully the US DoT’s latest guidance and the European Commission’s recommendations will put an end to it.
Airlines need to stop acting like a band of mafia criminals and start processing timely refunds for their customers.
HT: chff
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27 Comments On "Europe’s Airlines Decry The European Commission’s Refusal To Allow Them To Steal From Passengers"
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It is unbelievable that the airlines expect to hold money hostage for a service not provided. Your analysis is correct.
In general thank you for all the amazing articles and updates thru this crazy time
My pleasure!
“airlines need to stop acting like a band of mafia criminals and start processing timely refunds for their customers.” lol did you get that lines from all the netflix you have been watching recently?
Lol, no.
Mostly just watch old episodes of The Amazing Race and Mayday Air Disasters when I’m on the elliptical.
Ah.. the good ol days of air crash investigations (or mayday)… Somehow I always felt better prepared after watching them (even though thats probably not actualy true). Plus admiring the heroes that helped others, etc.
If you enjoy Mayday, you should read Admiral Cloudberg’s writeups of air disasters on Medium or reddit. They are really great!
Link to his page: https://www.reddit.com/r/AdmiralCloudberg/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_subreddit
INSANE. What about Ryanair? Had tix from England. They offer “non existent” refunds for canceled flights after 20 days. Submitted that form about 5 weeks ago thanks
Well written and right on the mark!!! Now we need a similar post about schools charging tuition!!!!!!
And then one from the schools about the parents not paying tuition 😉
They can try! Seriously though- they’re all getting PPP! Then double dipping on us!! It’s crazy! And no ones even talking about it!!
People ARE talking about it… just discreetly. It definitely is a legitimate question, especially with PPP coming in, and parents definitely are seeking and deserve answers. I think what most schools will tell you is they are bracing for huge financial aid requests for next year because people are hurting, and PPP won’t hold them over until then. So they can’t offer refunds to everybody across the board, since not everyone needs it. But hopefully most of them will have a mechanism in place where if you are struggling now you can speak to the school on your own and they will most probably accommodate you.
Schools still have to pay their teachers.. if parents have no money to pay than i’m assuming the school won’t kick them out if they want to make a payment plan or something along those lines. The teachers deserve to get paid as there is a lot more work than it seems to prepare for a 45 min zoom or some that do shorter individual phone calls with each kid.. Seminary’s on the other hand is another story. They should at least give back a portion as they could prob cover their expenses with 33% of tuition.
You’re right that the teachers have a harder job now, but we pay for what we’re getting! And right now we’re getting precious little! C’mon, the kids aren’t really learning too much and we have to be breathing down their backs to get them to pay attention. How much is that worth?! AND THEY COULD BE PUT ON UNEMPLOYMENT!!! They could be paid only partially and get the rest from our generous government and end up with more money than they usually get!!! Why are they not doing that? Cuz they want PPP for themselves!
This is so ignorant
most of the schools in Lakewood cant put teachers on unemployment
#1 they are working
#2 as religious institutions they are either on a reimbursable plan (they pay out of pocket when a teacher goes on unemployment) or they are a “church” type and have none at all
#1 They’re not working full time. They’re eligible for partial benefits plus the $600.
#2 Under the current regulations I believe the 2 scenarios above would get unemployment, but if there’s someone out there more knowledgeable than #fake cpa that can hive more input on that I’d appreciate it!
Oh really?? So if you paid 10k to an airline for flights and they sent peanuts and soda cans for each passenger would you guys justify the airline by saying they’re bracing for tough times ahead and that have to pay some employees?! BAD!
Tuition is a yearly fee. They allow it to be paid over time. An airline sold you a product and they are now not giving you the product. A school is still offering to give you the product by keeping up with your child and helping them progress with their academics as much as possible. If you want to end your relationship with the school i’m sure they would let you stop payments or receive a refund. In that case you may not have a school to send your kids to next year. There may be schools that won’t be able to open because of lack of tuition coming in and ongoing expenses accumulating (Insurance, utilities, etc.) That will be a bigger issue! If a person doesn’t have money than there is nothing to do but I beleive it is 100% justified for schools to charge tuition.
P.S I am not a parent of a child in school nor am I a member of a school. Unbiased opinion 🙂
Dan, how long do you think it will take for the US Airlines to at least acknowledge the latest directive issued by the DOT regarding the 2 hour or more rule?
KLM and Saudi owe me for some a few European flights…
This is all just an add-on of the usual airline policies. The airlines this is no different then not letting you change the name on a ticket, kicking people off flights for overselling tickets, etc.
Punch the airlines in the nose till they get the picture.
Also, always take the cash because they’ll devalue the miles or raise prices to negate the voucher bonus.
Well said Dan, I am facing similar issues with Canada based Westjet refusing for to give a cash refund for a covid related cancelled flight. I filed a DoT complaint. I also disputed the charge with Chase.
will i win a dispute in such a case?
If I have an ELAL flight from Tlv-krakow that they canceled am I entitled to a refund?
I am still waiting for Norwegian Air shuttle to refund the cost of my tickets from Europe to the USA. They canceled the flight. I am concerned I will not get my money back from them. The moral of the story is that I will NEVER fly them again!
There’s a good chance Norwegian will go bankrupt, so no one will ever fly them again.
Dan, you say “Any airlines that say ‘managing directly’ are airlines that are inhibiting travel agents from processing refunds on cancelled flights.” I had flights to Israel for Pesach on LOT, which is listed as “managing directly.” I got them with Chase UR points. When I called Chase to request a refund, they put me on hold to look something up, then said I would be getting my points back but it would take a while. I’m guessing they looked up how LOT was handling refunds, and determined that they (Chase) would be able to submit for and get a refund. What’s your take on this?