Britain’s aviation regulator has asked the airlines to take immediate steps to refund passengers whose flights were cancelled. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has criticised British Airways, easyJet, Ryanair and other carriers for delays in paying back air fares. Jet2 is the only UK airline to be praised for “providing refunds promptly”, along with the US carriers American Airlines and United.
Under European air passengers’ rights rules, airlines are supposed to refund travellers in cash and in full within a week of the departure date of the flight. But carriers have hit back, insisting they have done their best in extraordinary circumstances. Richard Moriarty, chief executive of the CAA, said: “Although we have taken into account the serious operational challenges many airlines have faced, we have been clear that customers cannot be let down in this way, and that airlines must pay refunds as soon as possible.
“There is still work to do. We have required commitments from airlines as they continue the job of paying customer refunds. Should any airline fall short of the commitments they have made, we will not hesitate to take any further action where required.”
Virgin Atlantic is heavily criticised for the extreme delay in paying refunds. The report says: “Initially the airline was taking up to 60 days to process refund requests. However, the airline’s performance became significantly worse and it provided a commitment to consumers that the maximum wait would be 120 days.” The airline has now committed to processing all claims made in August within 80 days, all claims made in September within 60 days and all claims made in October within 30 days.
