IAG had a €3.5bn liability for unflown flights – as the EU rejects requests to issue vouchers

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• Simon Cross says:

  4 Apr4 April 08:24

  There is a similar proposal from the German government in recent of tour operators.

  Does anyone know if this has also been rejected and cash refunds must be offered?

  I have two large amounts riding on this.

  • Simon Cross says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:42

    In respect of+

  • Rob says:

    4 Apr4 April 10:24

    No news yet AFAIK.

• Alex says:

  4 Apr4 April 08:27

  Glad they’ve done this. Problem with a voucher is they could just massively increase prices once this is all over and people with vouchers are trapped.

  Perhaps a voucher for an equivalent flight with some stipulations would be reasonable. Say book x days in advance and for some reasonable dates.

  • Fred Hopkins says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:42

    Idiot! Increased prices!!? Don’t be ridiculous. The airlines (those that survive) will be begging for custom – both leisure and business.

    • AJA says:

      4 Apr4 April 08:58

      Fred, I think your view is misguided. The airlines will do whatever they want to generate new bookings once restrictions are lifted. That may well be sales but it may not. People who need to travel will pay whatever fare is charged. The airlines also have a captive audience of thousands of customers who have vouchers they need to exchange for flights but these won’t generate new cash unless customers are forced to pay a fare difference. I suspect airlines are hoping a number of those vouchers will go unused but now it seems the airlines will still be on the hook for cash refunds. It’s very messy.

    • Alex says:

      4 Apr4 April 09:40

      Charming!
      Prices may increase if people are desperate to travel after this is over. Depends on how long this goes on for.

      • Alex says:

        4 Apr4 April 09:41

        And why would they be begging for custom if they have billions of vouchers out there?

    • sayling says:

      4 Apr4 April 10:22

      Blimey, Fred, are you okay?

      You seem very angry.

      • Sandra B says:

        4 Apr4 April 10:37

        +1 😂

  • Sam G says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:43

    I agree. For example I’ve got the return of an ex-EU that I want to cancel as when I do eventually come back to the UK I want to take a more direct route.

    Now if Qatar would agree to fly me to Europe at some point before 30th Sept for no fare difference, then I’d be perfectly happy to sit on that. Not like planes are going to be running around full of high fare passengers anyway

    To be fair to Easyjet they put their whole winter schedule on for £29.99 or less for most flights, so this would allow you to swap to something with nothing to pay in most circumstances

• Noggins says:

  4 Apr4 April 08:43

  I had an email from Easyjet CEO yesterday. Presumably many got the same note?! Within it he says
  ‘If your flight is cancelled as a result of this, I am sorry. Our customer service team will be in touch to let you know how to switch to a new flight, get a voucher or be reimbursed. We are currently dealing with an unprecedented number of calls and are working hard to try and process these as quickly as we can – however, with a number of our service centres directly affected by government restrictions, it may take longer than usual and so we thank you for your patience.’
  On the basis of a promise to be contacted I feel less pressure to keep trying to call to ask for the refund.

• Fred Hopkins says:

  4 Apr4 April 08:45

  Happy now Rob. You and your mob of alleged loyalty experts have contributed (in a small way given you’re not as important as you like to think you are) to airlines having to haemorrhage cash. I hope HfP fails too. You deserve it.

  • David Cohen says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:52

    What total rubbish!

    I am not giving any airline an interest free loan for not providing the services *I* paid for.

    People also have mortgages and other bills pay just like airlines – why are they more important?

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:58

    More hysteria.

  • Nick_C says:

    4 Apr4 April 09:21

    People need to push BA hard now for refunds

    If BA can afford to use its reserves to pay flight crew £80k a year to sit at home, they can afford to refund the money for flights they are not operating.

    If BA fails, another airline will take its place in due course

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      4 Apr4 April 09:45

      Are they sat at home for a year? I know perspective of time can be misleading but I could have sworn it has only been a couple of days.

      Oh, and they can partly afford it because part of the tab is picked up by the government. See previous comments about reduced costs.

      • Lady London says:

        4 Apr4 April 16:26

        …”part of the tab is picked up by Government”.

        We all know this means us picking up the tab, as taxpayers. I am happy to help preserve employment for the good of our country.

        But other than that, I think we’ve done enough for BA, havent we?

        Give people back the money they’re entitled to, BA!

    • insider says:

      4 Apr4 April 13:16

      pretty sure they are not paying flight crew 80%, that’s cabin crew and some other ground based staff. Flight crew took a 50% cut in April and May I believe

      • Rob says:

        4 Apr4 April 13:36

        Pilots took 4 weeks unpaid leave, HOWEVER there is a catch – if BA did a better deal with crew, the pilots deal is nul and void. You can expect the pilots to get 80% now.

        • Dubious says:

          5 Apr5 April 06:13

          But is it 80% of bare pay only, i.e. cabin crew don’t get their duty allowances that make up a bit proportion of their income?

        • Rob says:

          5 Apr5 April 09:15

          Crew get 80% of allowances too.

  • Jake says:

    4 Apr4 April 09:26

    Isn’t Rob only advising on the laws, regulations and their associated updates.

    At no point does he say what you have to do, but only provides consumer advise.

    The closest he goes is to say it’s a positive move for passengers – which is it as many people will need cash at this difficult time above a voucher.

    Furthermore, highlighting to the public what they are legally entitled to cannot be linked to airline failure.

    If you run an airline, these are the sort of risks you take. No one forces IAG or VA to operate, but they choose to do so to make profit (which they have recently). This profit making enterprise however comes with legal requirements and risks – all should be accounted for as part of a well run business. If any airline (or other large business for that matter) can not afford to meet its legal requirements then it is not the consumers fault if it goes bust.

    Furthermore at this time there are many people who will need the cash more than an airline. I recognise that airlines are massive employers (and no one wants to see job losses) but it will be much easier for the airlines to negotiate with the government and large financiers compared to an individual who can’t afford their bills this month because, in part, their money is tied up with BA/VA.

    The cash to the individual has more value right now than to an airline

    • Genghis says:

      4 Apr4 April 10:28

      Also bear in mind airlines get the cash in before they actually earn the revenue. Most businesses aren’t so fortunate.

  • SammyJ says:

    4 Apr4 April 10:48

    The trouble is the restrictions on the vouchers, very short usage timescales. We’re already booked up for the next year, so a voucher that needs to be used for flights flown within 12 months (or less in many cases) wouldn’t be usable. Especially with some airlines that are less versatile in terms of route.
    If they extended the time limit, say it must be spent within 24 months, I’d happily accept it.

    • Lady London says:

      4 Apr4 April 15:53

      Plus BA may well be charging much, much more money for the same flights next year.

      How far do you think your voucher refund of a bargain flight you found us going to go, at that time?

  • Lady London says:

    4 Apr4 April 15:51

    Hey Fred, can I ask where you are coming from on this? Are you a BA pensioner?

    • Rob says:

      4 Apr4 April 18:19

      He’s clearly not a BA employee, because anyone getting paid 80% of their salary – so more than 100% of their usual net salary once commuting etc costs are removed – to sit around all day and do literally nothing (you cannot even check your work email, or your furlough is invalidated) would presumably be very cheerful 🙂

      On the other hand, I will be earning a negative amount for a few months since I doubt our income will cover the salaries of the team. Which means the £2,400 that British Airways owes me in taxes will come in handy ….

      • Crafty says:

        5 Apr5 April 20:47

        Not if they can’t pay their rent and bills, Rob.

        • Rob says:

          5 Apr5 April 22:40

          If you’re a BA employee and getting 80% of your salary – with zero commuting costs and all the other costs you run up during a typical working day – you will probably be getting more net cash per month than you had before.

• Happy Tim says:

  4 Apr4 April 09:11

  Will IAG’s insurance company try to weasel their way out claiming a “Force Majeit?”

• J says:

  4 Apr4 April 09:16

  The law is the law and consumers are entitled to a full refund. A voucher is obviously not equal to a cash refund – and its shows the arrogance and greed of most of the airlines that they’re trying to palm people off with a voucher, if they want people to take a voucher offer some extra % value incentive. I have a load of BA flights in May I expect some of which to get cancelled – as I fly BA at least once a month I shouldn’t have any trouble using a voucher but cash is king, why on earth would I accept a voucher. Germany have also proposed this change – I think it’s very sneaky to retrospectively change consumer law. But since Lufthansa is taking state aid I can see why they’d suggest this.

  • Definitas says:

    4 Apr4 April 10:35

    We have had 2 cruises cancelled and been offered a choice between a voucher for 125% of the value or a straight cash refund from Royal Caribbean (Celebrity). IAG could take a leaf out of their book. Of course consideration should be given to longer term company viability

    • Spursdebs says:

      4 Apr4 April 11:08

      Snap! Same for me 2 cruises cancelled I was going to cash out but have decided to be positive and I’m about to try for 3rd time lucky. But not till January 2022. FCC aren’t 25% off next cruise but is worked out on what you have previously paid. My “ discount” is £652 or double that if my cousin comes on next booking. They aren’t transferable to another person unfortunately I’ve tried that. I know my original money is safe as Trailfinders hold in client trust account and worse case scenario I could do a section 75.

  • Definitas says:

    4 Apr4 April 10:43

    We have had 2 cruises cancelled and been offered a choice between a voucher for 125% of the value or a straight cash refund from Royal Caribbean (Celebrity). IAG could take a leaf out of their book. Of course consideration should be given to longer term company viability when accepting vouchers

  • Lady London says:

    4 Apr4 April 20:04

    Perhaps a charitable view could be that the attempt to force vouchers that may become worth far less than customers paid airlines for flights that did not happen – instead of the cash refund customers are entitled to – could perhaps not be airlines’ greed and arrogance.

    Perhaps we could say airlines are panicking faced with a situation that is completely new and they are doing the best they can, just making bad decisions.

• Colin MacKinnon says:

  4 Apr4 April 09:18

  Have a flight on May 1 to LGW and back from LCY after the weekend.

  BA still selling tickets!

  But since LCY is closed and LGW ops have been shut down, you’d think they might have contacted me to shift to the LHR flights still operating.

  Or even just to cancel!

  Not that I want to go, just waiting for the cancellation email to get the cash. Which for me is important – food on my table better than food on BA’s.

  • J says:

    4 Apr4 April 09:25

    Same I have some Berlin/LCY flights in May I can’t see happening and not been cancelled, don’t know why they haven’t just rebooked to LHR/TXL.

  • insider says:

    4 Apr4 April 13:21

    i imagine they are under immense pressure to sort out the schedule in rolling 2 or 3 week increments. The May flights are far enough to worry about next week. As long as they don’t go into their 14 day window for EU261 they will be ok. Considering most people will now be working from home, the teams will be trying to work out which flights are still flying and then move people where they can. You flight will be cancelled soon if they are not able to do that, just be patient – it’s a very manual process

    • Lady London says:

      4 Apr4 April 15:59

      14 day window is irrelevant for ec261 in current environment. Compo not claimable for any flight in these overall circumstances currently.

      All other rights such as right to a refund or reroute, or duty if care, apply regardless of if change made in more than, or less than, @14 days

• Tom says:

  4 Apr4 April 09:31

  On Thursday this week I received an SMS from BA notifying me that my flight to SCL on 25th April was cancelled. I called You First straight away, my call was answered without any holding whatsoever and the gentleman was more than happy to arrange a refund, no questions asked.
  My companion voucher and Avios have recredited already. Does anyone have a realistic time frame for how long it’s taking the poor staff at BA to process the cash refund?

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    4 Apr4 April 09:49

    My refunds credited my Amex after 2 days on all 3 of my bookings cancelled thus far.

  • MHughes says:

    4 Apr4 April 11:15

    My refunds appeared on Amex in less than a week, I am really pleased. I am still waiting my money to be refunded from Virgin though….

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