Airlines refund over 500,000 vouchers for cancelled flights in COVID-19 pandemic

The Commission and national consumer authorities have just received the confirmation from 16 major European airlines,  that they reimbursed over 500,000 flight vouchers that they had imposed on consumers for cancelled flights during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the result of the dialogue that the Commission and the Consumer Protection Network (CPC Network) conducted in 2021 to address the consequences of the massive and unprecedented flight cancellations which happened in the early stages of the pandemic.

As part of the 2021 dialogue, the airlines committed to measures to bring their practices in line with EU consumer and passenger rights law. The commitments include: clearing reimbursement backlogs and reimbursing passengers timely; better informing consumers of their cancellation-related rights; and offering consumers to exchange vouchers for money in all cases where vouchers had been imposed on consumers previously.

You can complain to a non-EU airline, when it operates on behalf of an EU airline

The airlines’ reports on the implementation of the commitments show that airlines cleared the bulk of their reimbursement backlogs and adapted their websites, e-mail and other communication to better inform consumers of their rights when a flight is cancelled. Airlines also contacted more than 2.5 million consumers holding unused vouchers that had been pushed on them and more than 500,000 of those consumers decided to get their money back.

In addition, in light of the current situation, with many travellers impacted by delays and cancellations of flights, these commitments made during the pandemic by airlines remain relevant and applicable. The Commission will therefore continue to closely monitor the situation to ensure that it is dealt with in strict compliance with consumer and passenger rights.

CJEU rules that airlines must pay compensation if a flight is brought forward by more than one hour

As a follow-up to the dialogue with the airlines, the CPC Network recently launched a dialogue on the practices of four major European airline intermediaries: eDreams ODIGEO, Etraveli, Kiwi.com and Otravo. It addresses mainly the following issues: information on consumers’ cancellation-related rights; reimbursements following flight cancellations; and intermediaries’ customer service.

In parallel, as announced in its New Consumer Agenda of November 2020 and building on a report issued in 2021, the Commission is currently carrying out a review of the Package Travel Directive, as well as of the Passenger rights rules, taking into account the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 crisis. The Commission intends to present its proposals in 2023.

More information: Press release – European Commission