From October 1, airlines must refund money to customers for cancelled flights within seven days. After conducting research and holding discussions with KLM, Transavia, TUI, Vueling, and Corendon, the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ITL) has announced that its period of leniency for refunds will be ending.
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, an unprecedented number of flights have been cancelled, leaving many airline customers impatiently waiting for a refund. This will soon be changing, as a seven-day mandatory refund period will apply to flights cancelled after October 1. For flights cancelled on or before October 1, a refund period of 60 days applies.
The pandemic has brought serious financial trouble for airlines and the ILT temporarily changed its policies to be more flexible about reimbursement rules. However, due to the multitude of customer complaints —1,300 between March and September — they launched an investigation.
People had complained that they received a voucher rather than a refund, and were also unhappy about the extensive waiting times for repayment. Thus, the ILT is returning to the enforcement of its original seven-day refund policy.
Have you had to wait on a refund for a cancelled flight? Tell us about your experience in the comments below!
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Me, my wife and out 2 children under 4 years old bought return tickets from Johansburg to Schiphol airport ,Netherlands.
We flew from RSA in January and our return tickets were for May ,2020 and we did not manage to use them due to cancelled flights , we contacted KLM for a refund or voucher but nothing up to today ,we keep bring told stories and its really disappointing considering that for the past 7 years we have flown with KLM at least twice a year on long flights.
Booked multiple tickets for Lufthansa in Feb 2020 for flights in April, May and July. All flights cancelled. No refund so far. Absolutely no customer service available on phone or email. On twitter, standard response to just wait.
Have applied for cancellation, written several emails, tweeted a few times. It is a black hole!