European airlines agree to speedier cancellation refunds
Frankfurt Airport - Photo Africaspotter
(BRUSSELS) - 16 major airlines committed Thursday to better information and timely refunds for passengers whose flights are cancelled, following dialogue with the EU Commission and national consumer authorities.
This is a response in particular to airlines actions in the early phase of the pandemic, when some airlines pushed vouchers on passengers. In so doing, they were, according to the Commission, acting against EU consumer protection rules.
The EU executive says most of these airlines have agreed to refund the vouchers. It called on authorities to ensure that the remaining airlines also offer a money refund for the vouchers.
Transport Commissioner Adina Valean welcomed the fact that the bulk of the reimbursement backlog has been cleared and "that all airlines concerned have committed to solve remaining issues". This is important in restoring passengers' confidence. "The recovery of the air transport sector depends on this. This is why we are also currently assessing regulatory options to reinforce passenger protection against future crisis, as foreseen in our Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy," she added.
Following the dialogues, these are the commitments made by the airlines:
- remaining reimbursement backlogs have been cleared in the vast majority of cases and passengers will be refunded within 7 days as required under EU law;
- passengers will be informed more clearly about their passenger rights in the event of a flight cancellation by an airline;
- airlines will give equal prominence on their websites, e-mails and other communication to passengers to the different options the passenger has in the event of a flight cancellation by the airline: rerouting, refund in money and – if offered by the airline – refund in a voucher;
- airlines will, in their communication to passengers, clearly distinguish flight cancellations by the airline (and the passenger's ensuing statutory rights) from flight cancellations by the passenger (and possible contractual rights that the passenger may have in those cases under the airline's terms and conditions of carriage);
- passengers can be given vouchers only if they expressly choose them. Most airlines agreed that unused vouchers that the passengers at the early stages of the pandemic had to accept, can be reimbursed in money if the passenger so wishes;
- passengers who booked their flight through an intermediary and have difficulties getting reimbursement from the intermediary can turn to the airline and request to be refunded directly. Airlines are expected to inform passengers about this possibility and any conditions for requesting a direct refund on their websites.
The airlines involved in the dialogue were: Aegean Airlines, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Easyjet, Eurowings, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, Norwegian, Ryanair, TAP, Vueling and Wizz Air.
Flights booked as part of a package were not concerned by this action.
Regulation (EC) 261/2004 on air passenger rights