I was told that I could change the flight for free but when I tried to change to a Geneva flight I was informed that it was only possible to change to a transatlantic flight.” “I contacted Aer Lingus to change my booking. However, due to the pandemic we are not able to travel,” she says. “I booked a transatlantic flight with Aer Lingus a number of months ago. We then heard from a third Aer Lingus customer by the name of Adrienne. And as we have already said, once you have accepted the vouchers you have closed off the refund avenue. It can take quite a while for the vouchers to be processed – months, even. However, given the scale of the crisis that hit the airline industry delays – and sometimes long ones – were inevitable. It deals with such matters on its dedicated website, flightrights.ie.
Technically airlines are required to refund passengers within seven days of the flight cancellation and people who do not receive a refund within this timescale can submit a complaint to the airline and then to the national enforcement body, which in Ireland is the Commission for Aviation Regulation.
When I asked on the web chat for a copy of the terms and conditions of my flight the agent sent me incorrect details Am I within my rights to get a refund at this stage instead of a voucher?” She says she is looking to rebook for this Christmas “but they have already put the flights up by an extra €300, if this goes on much longer we won’t be able to afford them. I contacted them in February and they said they would put me on the list! I understand they are swamped but how long do you know does this usually take?" "My issue is I still haven't heard from them. "I applied for a voucher last November for flights which were for New York last Christmas," she says. We also heard from Suzanne Galloway, who had a different query in connection with Aer Lingus vouchers. Once a passenger accepts the refund in the form of a voucher then, at least in the eyes of the Commission for Aviation Regulation, the air carrier has fulfilled its obligation to refund the passenger once it issues the voucher. Because in the first instance he accepted the voucher it means Aer Lingus is not compelled to issue a cash refund. This is where our reader runs into difficulty. Under the provisions of regulation EU 261/2004, when a passenger chooses a refund, this can be processed in cash or in vouchers, “but it is up to the consumer to accept the voucher or not”. But it is still obliged to respect the other basic air passenger rights – even under extraordinary circumstances, such as Covid-19 – including reimbursement. If a consumer has booked a flight directly with an airline, or via a third party such as a booking engine or travel operator, and the flight was cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions, the airline is no longer required to pay compensation. Aer Lingus stated that we had been issued with a voucher therefore our docket had been closed.” Numerous phone calls and emails were exchanged requesting a cash refund from early August onwards with the same outcome. Ward says that when the seriousness of the pandemic became apparent and “not having received any further correspondence from Aer Lingus, I began requesting a cash refund from them as global and personal circumstances changed. I have continued to email on behalf of the group with the same responses We got notification from Aer Lingus on April 28th that one single voucher would be issued to the group shortly.”Īll of the group want a cash refund. At this point we completed a refund form online on the Aer Lingus website and accepted the option of a voucher because we thought that the pandemic would be short-lived and we would be able to travel in September. “We were due to fly on May 30th but our flights were cancelled in early April by Aer Lingus due to restrictions imposed by the Government. He made a group booking with Aer Lingus for six adults, a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old for a trip to Lanzarote last May and has now spent the guts of a year trying to get a refund of €3,700. "I am writing to you on behalf of a group of three families," starts a mail we got from Darragh Ward. Some hard lessons are being learned, particularly when it comes to vouchers. A year on and the impact of the early days of the pandemic is still being felt by Pricewatch readers, particularly when it comes to travel.
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