During the coronavirus shutdown, flyers are up in arms about the British Airways cancellation policy.
The current British Airways cancellation policy has left thousands of travelers fighting for cash refunds due to cancelled flights.
One such family from South Shields, Gordon and Margaret Minto, received vouchers from the airline following a cancelled flight to the United States. Their flight had been canceled due to the coronavirus and now seek a British Airways refund.
The airline asserts that the Mintos had accepted the vouchers, further claiming that British Airways will “always provide a refund if a customer is eligible.” The Mintos, however, have a different story claiming “We were stunned… we looked at each other and said, ‘we haven’t asked for a voucher.’ We haven’t received one either.”
The Mintos’ plight is one of a number of stories of vacationers who are now in the midst of an impasse with the airline.
Other travelers claim that they had inadvertently filled out a form after looking for ways to arrange a British Airways refund request. At one point, links on the British Airways website read “change booking” and “cancel booking,” with a disclaimer below that advised that “There’s no extra cost for any changes and we offer a refund if you cancel your booking.”
Customers who clicked on the “cancel booking” link were then taken to an application form to apply for a voucher, as opposed to a “British Airways cancellation policy refund” refund as originally expected.
Although customers were redirected to an application form, a number of them stated that they had not noticed it. One passenger advised that he was misled into clicking on the link and mistakenly filled out the form.
British Airways Refund Rights
According to EU law, passengers are within their rights to request a full cash refund within seven days following a canceled flight. That being said, airlines still have the opportunity to offer travelers the chance to rebook their flights or to accept travel vouchers if this is what the customer prefers.
The Mintos had spent several thousand pounds on airline tickets to Las Vegas and always wanted a British Airways refund, however communicating this to the airlines was next to impossible.
British Airways Refund Policy
British Airways once provided a space on its website where travelers could request a refund for canceled flights. This option, however, was removed following the outbreak of COVID-19 following thousands of canceled flights.
British Airways goes on to claim that this was due to the system’s inability to handle the surge in traffic and passengers were requested to contact the airline via telephone. The problem however, was that no one could get through to the customer service representatives due to the high volume of calls.
According to British Airways, the voucher process is clearly worded. But they cannot explain the reason why a section of the website seemingly offered a refund but directed people to a voucher application page instead.
The British Civil Aviation Authority advises travelers to open a complaint with the airline if they feel misled. If, however, they are not satisfied with the feedback, they can seek compensation through approved alternative dispute resolution services. If you are still seeking to recover your funds, contact MyChargeBack today for a free consultation. We are an American financial services firm with a global reach. Working with over 800 banks worldwide, we have assisted clients on every continent recover millions of dollars in assets that they thought they lost for good.
