Refund/Voucher for Reward Booking via Avios.com
 

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of the refund/voucher process for EI Reward Bookings made through Avios..com? As the booking is technically through an Agent and ticketed on BA stock (125-) it could be like any other travel agent, but I was wondering if the process is any smoother considering it's to all intents and purposes an in-house TA.

• Are Avios refunded promptly?
  
• Is a voucher/refund option available for the Fees/Charges part?

I have flights booked for France in June, and while the flight is still available for booking it's highly unlikely that it'll go ahead given recent reports. Right now I'd happily take the voucher + 10%.

The voucher applies only to EI ticketed and sold, so if you didn't by via aerlingus.com or over the phone you cannot get the 10% voucher

Talk to Avios...

Im in the same position, i have an EI flight booked on avios.com but it is impossible to speak to anyone at present. When i call the number on the email it goes straight to voicemail and no one returns the call.

Hmmm, that's what I'd be afraid of, but I prefer to already know (most of) my options before I engage with a TA.

I rang Avios today and had no trouble getting through. My flight to FAO is booked for 1 Aug. I was advised that if EI cancels flight I will receive all monies paid and the Avios points returned to my account. As flight is not officially cancelled yet if I was to cancel it I would pay the equivalent of GBP35 per ticket. I’m going to wait.

Word of warning: I cancelled 4 flights last year and I noted that the exchange rate to EUR was diabolical and basically was receiving about EUR 15 less in total than the spot rate. I complained and I was paid the correct amount.

I'm in the same boat too have flights booked to Malaga in early June via Avios.com and I would like a refund and my points back.

I contacted Avios vis the online chat and got told the following "If your booking is still confirmed to go ahead, normal terms and conditions apply. You can cancel bookings up to 48 hours before your first flight for a fee of €42.50 per person, all other monies and Avios would be refunded. Should the airline cancel your flights, a full refund would be given."

Basically you need to wait for Aer Lingus to cancel the flight otherwise you'll be out of pocket if you cancel pre-emptively.

Have you tried the online chat, I used it often and recently too, get through fairly quickly and they are efficient at dealing with queries and issues in my experience.

Hadn't tried the chat, but good to know they are responsive. To be fair I assumed that like other organisations at the moment they'd be swamped and it wouldn't be quick.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Seems like the best option is to wait until EI make a move.

just to add, i did the online chat and it was excellent. Connected to an agent in about 1 minute, and cancellation processed in less than 5 mins. Told it will take maximum 1-2 weeks for refund onto my card

I checked my account there and actually did get back the Avios I used to part pay for a trip. Seemed to take about four weeks from cancellation.

Still no sign of vouchers though......

Refunded money back on my credit card already, less than 24 hours after cancelling, and Avios are back in my account also.
Very pleased with this service, especially given how some FF programmes (EK) are taking 3-4 months to issue refunds.

At this stage I'm wondering why I didn't go for the refund. No vouchers after nearly seven weeks.

Agreed. Anyone else dealing this weird situation? A friend has an AerClub Avios.com booking for a United flight DUB-IAD in August. United has cancelled the route through the summer already- the underlying United PNR shows the booking as cancelled. But the Aer Lingus/Avios booking still shows the flight and shows nothing wrong with the reservation. Called Avios and they agreed that the United flight did not show up in their system as bookable, but no errors had been thrown yet for the reservation. They did say the same thing others have said- when they show the flight as cancelled, can get a full refund of points and cash. Wondering if there is a way to "help" their system see the underlying cancellation.

The irony is that EI has a flight on the same route that leaves 20 minutes earlier. For now it is still on the schedule for the summer- EI says they will restart this service on May 26. My suspicion is that they will end up cutting it- I assume they will only likely serve JFK, BOS and ORD for the foreseeable future.

Are you sure about this? A UA flight booking using EI Avios? Dont think this is possible even if the UA flight is a codeshare with EI

Quite sure. Am looking at the reservation right now. You can't do it with BA Avios- which was why he had to book it using EI Avios, even though the fees are about $40/person higher. What was really odd was that the flight wasn't available as a saver award on United.com, but was available as a saver award on avios.com. I don't know how that is possible from an inventory perspective, but it was. I don't know how many routes they offer this possibility- this is on DUB-IAD, UA127, codeshared as EI6995.

Example: look at October 29, 2020 on avios.com, search DUB-IAD. You can see both the UA and EI operated flights on that day available as award tickets. And to add to my comment about the odd differences between united.com and avios.com, united.com shows 2 econ saver awards available on that United-operated flight. Avios.com shows 9+ econ saver awards.

EI has an agreement with UA which allows this, only for EI accounts

You can earn avios on UA if sold by EI with a Aer Club number on the booking

Has anyone had notification from Avios of an Aer Lingus flight being cancelled?

If so, how long before the departure date was it officially cancelled?

Have a flight to AGP booked on 12th June and I haven't heard anything, it is no longer available online (1st available day to book is now 1st July).

I had a DUB-BRS for August which was showing cancelled in the GDS but no notification from Avios so I had to call them and ask them to check it out, which they did, and then offered to refund.

I contacted Avios this morning about a flight I have DUB-NCE this June. EI have zero'd out availability on aerlingus.com until July 20th, but the flights haven't been marked as cancelled yet. Guess this feeds into the wider issue of cancelling and cash vs. refunds.

Avios advised to contact them no later than 48 hrs before the flight. Hopefully EI will cancel before then as it's standard cancellation terms until then.

I contacted Avios about my 12th June AGP flight via the online chat earlier on today and they confirmed it is now cancelled so they processed the refund & return of points.

Just keep on trying them every week, to see if the cancellation has posted.

Thanks for that piece of news. My flight was at the end of June so it sounds like it should be cancelled in the next 2 weeks.

Similar to above- friend had a mid-August Avios.com booking on United codeshare that was cancelled. Called last week and Avios immediately agreed to a refund. Quoted up to 6 weeks for refund to fully post, should be faster, but CSR wanted to hedge her bets.

Edited to add: Refund posted in about 5 days!

Which route was this on?

DUB-IAD.

United has cancelled it through October.

To round out the thread and the question I originally asked, I received an e-mail on Tuesday finally advising that Aer Lingus had cancelled the booking, a little under 2 weeks out from the journey. All I had to do was reply to the e-mail saying I wanted a refund. Fast forward to Friday and the cash and Avios components of the booking have been refunded. So some kudos to the team at Avios for turning around the refund quickly when the airlines are dragging their feet.

FWIW, EI had updated the PNR on their side the week before, but it took Avios a few days to reflect that back into their system.

I'm about to book some EI flights fully with Aer Club Avios (and only a $12 tax/fee). No discounted amount, etc. I don't really understand these terms on their website. If I need to cancel, are the points just redeposited and I forfeit the tax/fee like with BA? I've never booked with EI before so not sure how this works. The flight is DUB-FCO.

Is anyone able to chime in on this? Bought a DUB-EDI flight for June 2023, but my plans might be changing and wondering if I can get all the avios back and just lose the taxes like with BA.

Thanks!