HiHo

I had a flight canceled by BA and was promised I could fly later in the year. Fine. Only for up to the value of my ticket. Again fine I wasn't expecting a free upgrade. The price of the same flight has doubled. Not fine it's a con. Checked with Lufthansa their prices remain the same. Check the prices with your airline! I hope you are flying with a more reputable organisation than I was.

Pongo

I had family flights cancelled for Easter with BA. The blurb on www said you could have a refund or voucher, however on the web you couldn’t actually have the refund only the voucher. I spent 40 minutes ’holding’ on the phone to them, once I got connected it was fairly straightforward to get the refund which was back on the card in 3 days.

spouse of scouse

Never accept a voucher if the airline cancels the flight, for this exact reason. UK airlines are obliged by law to give a refund if requested, if it's the airline itself that cancels the flight, but they make it as hard as possible to apply for that refund and very easy to accept a flight voucher or travel credit.

After weeks of EasyJet emailing me, not to expressly cancel my flights but to waffle about 'uncertainty' and offer a voucher or credit (obviously waiting for me to panic and accept whatever they offered), they finally emailed the flight cancellations, about 3 days before each one was due to leave/return to the UK. Even then the voucher/credit options were clear while I had to search and click through 3 more pages before I found the refund information.

The first refund form I filled in was 35 days ago, I did get a confirmation of my refund request which stated they 'aimed' to process all refunds within 28 days. Nothing yet.

Next time I book a flight I'm going to tell the airline that I'll do my best to pay for it within 28 days With a few outstanding exceptions airline companies have been very obstructive and underhanded about offering refunds

chawkins99

I was booked on a cruise for May 9th. Carnival cancelled it on March 30th.

They offered a future cruise credit plus $600 on-board credit or a full refund. I chose the refund as there was no knowing when we could rebook or if the prices would increase.

We finally got our refund on May 18th.

scot47

Airlines worry that they will go bust. Some will.

Pulaski

It is quite possible that some airlines that have issued vouchers may not survive, and the voucher would then likely be worthless.

nonthaburi

I was actually ahead of the curve and cancelled early. Because of that I ended up paying 100 SAR per ticket on four tickets cancellation fee. No big deal, and nothing to what getting stuck in the UK would have cost me. The only thing is that if I'd waited a few days I'd have got the refund with no fees. I'm a gold member with the airline and like to think I could have argued my case to get the fee waived but I never bothered in the end. Just couldn't face the hassle. Anyway I was so glad about the huge bullet I'd just dodged. Took 4 weeks to get the money back.

Standanista

Qatar Airways, MEA, EasyJet: still waiting for lockdown refunds from all three, 2.5 months later.

HiHo

Thank you all, for your support and advice. Having checked out some market pricing, I find that some airlines are more responsible than others. I have explained to British Airways Customer Services the reason for withdrawing my support and demanding a refund. Given the scale of the problem I copied CEDR in the event British Airways don't refund my ticket the ball is already rolling for the complaint.

carcajou

I have had big problems like that with British Airways in the past. Additionally, one time about 15 years ago, they mistakenly sent one of my suitcases to the Heathrow incinerator. They told me "we thought it was rubbish." I said "Do you always put your rubbish in suitcases?" I try to avoid them whenever possible.