If you had a trip abroad booked this past year, only to find your airline cancelled your flight due to Covid, you're not alone. Millions of people in the UK are facing the same frustration. But the good news is, you have options!
In this post, we’ll cover some tactics you can use to get a refund on your cancelled flight.
Things to try first
Contact your travel agent
It sounds obvious, but the first port of call is to contact the travel agent by whatever channel of communication they will repond to.
Most online travel agents have a chat feature on their site. Otherwise, if like many of us, you crave some human interaction (or you fear getting passed to a chatbot), you can always call them! If you want to try this route, here are the direct links to support chat for many UK travel agents:
Opodo (Phone only: 0207 660 8892)
eDreams (Phone only: 0871 277 0178)
If you hit a brick wall through their site, you can try tweeting at your travel agent. There's nothing like public shaming to get them responding!
One thing to keep in mind is that many travel agents charge an admin fee even when your flight is cancelled. You may end up getting back an amount that is significantly less than the amount you paid for the ticket.
Contact the airline directly
If you booked directly on the airline's website, then you'll likely have an easier time getting back your money. Unlike travel agents, airlines are heavily regulated. EU consumer protection laws still apply right now, even though the UK has left. The EU rights for passengers mean the airline has an obligation to give you your money back or face the wrath of the regulators.
Some airlines like Ryanair and easyJet are so keen to make things easy on everybody, they've created their own online forms just for Covid cancelled flight refunds.
If your airline doesn't have a form, you can contact them by phone to request your refund. Keep in mind though, everyone is doing the same thing so you may have a bit of a mission getting through. Just like with travel agents, another way to contact your airline is through Twitter and Facebook. This can prove pretty effective as airlines take their social media presence seriously, and respond to customer posts through their customer service team.
Even if you booked through a travel agent, going straight to the airline will sometimes work and is worth a try. The worst thing that happens is the airline directs you back to the travel agent...
What if the airline has paid the travel agent back but hasn’t refunded you?
If your airline claims that it has already paid the travel agent, but you've not seen any money back then it can be pretty frustrating. But you have options.
In Part 2, we'll cover your 'escalation' options if none of your attempts have worked.
text in boldIf you’re sick of waiting and want a solicitor to start legal action on your behalf against the airline or travel agent, launch your legal action here.