DELLAS

Some people have been told 6-8 weeks as they are so overwhelmed at the moment.

united 1k flyer

This is a national airline can they not have a automated process for this?

irishguy28

What's a "national airline"?

Is United a "national airline"? How's their "automated process" for this working out? Have a look here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...g-refunds.html

Kgmm77

Has anyone sought to refund a Aer Club MasterCard free flight booking? Specifically whether:
1) the original voucher will be reinstated to be used again
2) if the voucher is put back to use again, whether the original expiry date applies

i presume the suggestion will be to change to a new date rather than refund, but I�m probably not going to have time for the trip given the amount of travel I�ll be squeezing into Q4.

Given the �free flight� was anything but free given taxes and charges (and that I�m due another �free flight� voucher soon) I suspect a credit note or refund and losing the voucher is the best I�ll get.

geosch

So I got the voucher today, took them five days to issue it (pretty good under current circumstances; they wrote it would take "up to 15 business days"). The voucher is valid for five years from the day of issue (the same is true for their purchasable gift vouchers), so way better than what most airlines are currently trying to satisfy their customers with.
Unfortunately EI did not add the 10% on top which they had announced in their initial email. Did anyone get the 10% bonus for flights that were cancelled by EI?
In my situation I think a voucher is better than cash refund, since the latter would go to the OTA the ticket has been purchased through, and I haven't heard back from them and I'm afraid that the OTA might file for bankruptcy before returning any money to customers.

united 1k flyer

wow bummer they didn�t add the 10%. I still have not gotten my voucher yet and it has been over a week. However I requested a change in the currency of the voucher so that might be why it�s taking longer.

warakorn

There is no loophole Aer Lingus is using.
Aer Lingus is simply breaking the law - in the hope that 99% of all pax won't sue them.
Most EU airlines are operating the same way these days.

ROKNA

If you ask for a refund on a cancelled flight you are being issued with a refund. If anyone is refused a refund in these circumstances they have a legal case.

Refunds are not being issued where a flight actually operates and a no show occurs, only taxes are refunded in that case

EI continues to operate flights on some routes. People in this circumstance feel ripped off but legally if the plane flies its the passengers problem if they cannot board due to an immigration or security issue. In this case a voucher for 10% more value than ticket is an option, even though there is no legal obligation to offer it.

EI is encouraging passengers to rebook to another date (change fee suspended) or cancel for a voucher + 10%. If you want to play chicken and hope a flight will become cancelled later on you stand the risk of getting effectively nothing.

user2018

The only problem I see with rebooking or getting voucher is "does Aerlingus still will be in business after all?" If not, paper voucher might at least help someone who is short on toilet paper at home.

geosch

Do you think it makes sense to get back to them on that issue? Did others get a 10% bonus?

36902BRF

Depends is that 10% of $400 or 10% of $14,000? For the former, to me, no way other than if there was a way to reach them (say via email/Twitter) with minimal time and effort. For the latter, I'd be on the phone now and wait six hours if needed. It all comes down to how you value your time and how much time it will take.

irishguy28

It is a legal requirement now in Ireland that all vouchers are valid for at least 5 years:
This is not Aer Lingus magnanimity; but a legal requirement they must observe when issuing vouchers.

While in some ways this is customer-friendly, in other ways it's not; with such a long period to use the voucher, it actively encourages many such recipients to file it away and forget all about it and therefore never to spend the voucher. Additionally, waiting for as long as 5 years to spend a voucher means that the spending power of that voucher will have markedly dropped. Prices tend to go only one way - up.

Kgmm77

Just to update my own post, for those who have flights cancelled that were booked using the BoI AerClub MasterCard �free flight� voucher, the voucher will be reinstated in your account after you receive your refund/travel voucher for the fees and charges paid. No idea whether the expiration will be extended (and being honest given the most value I could seem to extract from the reward flights was c�150, I�m not really bothered).

Concordino20

Any updates on success stories of received vouchers? 23 days and waiting, Iberia was about 10 days which I thought was quite good!

alserire

14 days waiting on one. A mere 5 on another.

God knows when we'll see them.