Doesn’t always work this way in the real world .

You may want to know what that not all airlines are honoring the EU 261 rules. The law is one thing. In practice it is often quite different. Many airlines are disregarding it altogether. I, for one, like many, have thousands held up with no practical recourse.

Head over to the Lufthansa or AF/KL forums if you have any doubts on this.

With no small claims courts and all legal avenues suspended for the moment, a whole lot of people are pounding on sand.

Do you have any contest charge options with your credit/debit card company?

Not better to exchange with a voucher? In such case can be used with more flexibility, unless you're 100% sure the new date will not change you may face with additional change fees. At least these were my thoughts yesterday when I request a change vs voucher as I have no idea when I will be able to travel next.

Not here in France. Amex is refusing to open disputes when vouchers are offered.

How frustrating. You didn't buy an airline gift card -- you bought an itinerary. They can't fly you on that itinerary now. Not their fault, but you're not getting anything like what you bought. They can't refuse to return your money by offering to fly you on a different itinerary, some later time.

It's a little bit easier requesting covid19 refunds on Easyjet website. Too bad, I can't post direct link to refund request form, but you can google "Easyjet Covid-19 Help Hub". In my case, I selected "I booked directly with easyjet - In the next 14 days - Was your flight cancelled? - Yes - Other options -View my other options - refund application form."

April 5: Got the money back in a provisional credit from Chase.

May 2: Got a letter from Chase indicating that everything is now officially resolved in my favor.

Bravo! May 8 is the last date for easyJet to challenge my charge dispute. I doubt they will, but if they do, a bunch of newspaper travel reporters are going to hear about it. The Points Guy as well.

Yeah, what I found interesting in my case (and you should find encouraging in yours), is that the letter from Chase with the official resolution was less than 30 days from my chargeback. In contrast, for a more garden-variety (less potentially contentious) chargeback started in late February (annoying double-billing from Hyatt not scrubbed at desk as promised), it was closer to six weeks before I got the official "free-and-clear" letter from Chase.

Can anyone tell me please at what stage do EasyJet cancel your flight? I am due to fly on 6th June and want a refund as opposed to a voucher so understand that I must wait for them to cancel. I can see from doing a dummy booking that all flights to Bordeaux are ‘sold out’ on the website or ‘not available‘ if you look on the app from this day on but that they are then available from 1st July. I have had the email offering the voucher and even adding a bonus £10 on top but that would be my decision and one they obviously want me to take. One of my party cannot now travel anyway (I booked for three pax.) Thank you.

Some time ago easyJet stated their policy was to have a rolling schedule of cancellations seven days in advance of the flight and you can expect to hear from them at T-7. I did 2½ weeks ago, immediately applied for a refund on line and got the acknowledgement the next day. "...we will try our best to complete your request within 28 days following submission" but really don't expect anything for 90 days/next year/ever.

As an update to my message posted in this thread a few weeks ago, Easyjet tried contesting my chargeback claim that I filed after they cancelled my flights, but after I sent Amex heaps of evidence, the case was closed and I've got my refund worth £200. Took me a month to get it sorted but well worth the effort than chasing Easyjet for a cash refund.

It's quite telling when the airline tries to persuade its customer that refund will take several months (because of lower staffing levels + big load of refund requests) -> but when it comes to contesting a chargeback, the airlines are very quick to jump and provide their evidence.

Indeed, that lays it bare. They see that they cancelled their own flight and thus the customer is legally entitled to a full refund, and yet they have an employee take the time to file a baseless challenge to the chargeback. So far I haven't heard anything from Chase, and it's been more than 30 days. But if easyJet tries this with me, I'll be quick to alert travel journalists.

UK small claims permits (it always has, so not limited to the pandemic) telephonic hearings. If by some chance Chase does deny your chargeback dispute (very unlikely), file a SCC action.

Our Easyjet flight to Menorca was cancelled 10 days ago and I duly completed the refund form.
Call me cynical, but does this also cover the return flight which was cancelled a week later?

It should cover the return if it was a return itinerary (not a separate record locator). If you don't have your refund already, easyJet is in violation of EU law. I suggest disputing the charge with your credit card issuer, if that's how you paid for the ticket.

Hi all, our flights to Portugal were cancelled a couple of weeks ago. We requested vouchers, as we figure we will go somewhere at some point. I got an email a few days later with my booking details, and stating “Refund of £***.** to Credit Shell” I have no idea what that means, is there a voucher to follow does anyone know? Needles to say, I have been unable to get through to EasyJet on the phone.

many thanks

Yes, that is what I would expect - we shall see!

We were cancelled May 21, with refund requested. The refund confirmation email said they are trying to get refunds done within 28 days. We'll see how long it takes. I personally don't want to over react and go the credit card company unless it takes more than a month or so.

In our case, our flights were not booked return, each leg was separate. So we are now waiting for our return to be cancelled, which it will be as its on June 13, but Easyjet is shut down till June 15.

I'm happy to report that today Chase resolved my disputed easyJet charge in my favor. I submitted it on April 8. Either the time passed with no objection from easyJet, or easyJet expressly consented to the chargeback.

I continue to recommend disputing these charges with airlines when they cancel your flights. First, request a refund. Alas, some airlines are making that a challenge. If that's not an option on the website, send an email to customer service. Wait seven days (the EU deadline for refund). If no refund, dispute the charge with your credit card issuer.

Glad to hear it resolved successfully. Will follow your lead here. Have requested refunds through Easyet for the first batch of cancelled flights a few days ago. Have another batch of flights that will likely be cancelled in the next few days. 100% sure they will cancel out as Easyjet announced they are restarting June 15, but my remaining flights are for June 13, and they will still be grounded.. So will wait, and let them cancel, then do refund requests.

If after a couple of weeks I see nothing, will engage Chase.

All of my Norwegian refunds came through in about 18-21 days, so that ended successfully.

I requested my refund on 24/04. It's still not been paid, despite the 28 day comment.

I'm going to do a chargeback with Amex.

Have also just passed 28 days since refund request and filed a chargeback - nice and easy with Amex as per usual.

"Please do not contact us regarding a previous request unless it has been more than 90 days since you made your original submission."
-- easyJet

Remember folks, -- no contacting them again until 90 days are up!

I jest. Yes, of course file the charge disputes with Amex. I don't think anyone should wait more than seven days after having submitted the refund request. easyJet is not acting in good faith.

I also gave EZY 28 days before filing a chargeback. My local Amex says it may take up to 5 weeks to resolve it, let's see who moves first - EZY or AX.

Good that I had screenshots, etc to attach.

PS - we were NEVER contacted by EZY about the cancelled flights.

If they have 2,000 times the usual number of refunds to make and the workforce is halved due to Covid, don't you think it's reasonable to allow them a bit longer than 7 days?

90 is maybe pushing it a bit especially as they've now had a couple of months to address the resource issue, but it seems obvious it's going to be impossible to meet the usual timescales.

There doesn't seem to be any IT problem for airlines when you select the voucher option. That they can handle straight away. I can't see how processing a refund is any more technically challenging than a voucher. This is a financial challenge, not an administrative resources one.

According to one airline boss interviewed on UK TV recently, all refunds require manual involvement and resources are severely limited. There may be a financial challenge for some, but the manpower one is what's limiting processing of refunds.

Well, if they still use rulers and pencils, yes. AirBnB managed to refund in 2 hours (!)

Given the very high handed approach of EZY, the fact that you could claim refund only by calling during the whole month of April (and them not answering the calls) I see absolutely no sympathy towards EZY. Of course they want to delay refunds as long as they can, it's free cashflow for them but I am interested in my cashflow.

I gave them in total 6 weeks after the cancellation. When they made online refund option available (but still well hidden) I gave them the benefit of doubt and waited 28 days before initiating the chargeback. Today I got the chargeback approved by Amex. (for the record - Amex stated in their letter to me, that EZY hasn't replied to their inquiry)

My dispute seems to already be closed in my favour, two days later.

I just checked mine, and found the status had changed to "Awaiting Customer Information - please provide supporting evidence". They'd not contacted me to let me know the status had changed.

I'm not sure what really to provide, so I just sent a print of the refund email, and a print of the EC261 regulations :D

Let's see...

I call BS on that airline boss. Over the years, I've had to cancel scores of refundable air tickets. The refunds have been processed almost instantly, and I doubt very much that there was anything manual about it. Why in the world could this not be automated? I could probably write the code myself, and I haven't written code in over three decades.

Mine still closed, but my one against Ryanair from over a month ago is still open but I haven't been asked to submit anything. It is only for around £24 so no huge deal.

I think that's reasonable It's the "7 days or I'll see you in court" responses that I think are OTT.

As if none of his tens of thousands of employees and ex employees wouldn't have contradicted him to the press if it was lies. :rolleyes:

If you're working in IT at an airline right now, why exactly would you say to a reporter that it's actually quite easy, technically, to process refunds? The only reason I can think of is that you hate your job and like being summoned to the HR department.

Do reporters never use anonymous sources? Or ex employees as already mentioned?

Here they asked for the original booking, proof of cancellation and proof of having tried to solve the issue with the merchant directly (which is not a requirement according to local law, but be it)

I'm gonna give EZ a couple of weeks to get their act together. Their whole 28 day (up to 90 day) thing is clearly a panic reaction dating from the beginning of this whole Covid hysteria when every travel company was shellshocked, and their workforces were decimated and productivity crippled. As each of these companies have started to adjust, things seem to be moving more smoothly from a refund perspective. They all seem to be working through their queues in whatever order their internal processes and systems are organized around.

AirBNB got SLAMMED for March and most of April by literally everyone, until they adjusted and started refunding quickly. I got mine in about 5 days, but tons of people are still not refunded. Norwegian tried pushing "vouchers" from the beginning, but eventually did refunds based on extreme pressure. It took me 3 weeks to get fully refunded from Norwegian after cancellation, but they did the right thing eventually. Jetblue forced vouchers, as did United. I was OK with Jetblue and no OK with United, but the flights were cancelled and I'll likely use both those airlines again.

My initial EZ refunds were submitted 8 days ago (day of cancellation of early June flights), and I still have a couple more flights I expect to be cancelled in the next 24-48 hours. I'll give them their 28 days, but not more. They've had our money for 5 months, and we're fortunate that another few weeks won't matter.

I don't think that anyone did anything maliciously here, and the hyper negative tone around all these companies "lying" "stealing" etc isn't really valuable or even rational. Everyone is frustrated here, not just us (those pesky customers). The travel company employees are exasperated and also scared of being let go, and in many cases have in fact been either furloughed or outright sacked. This includes the management layers that tried to arbitrage customer monies (ie the 28-90 day wait) to avoid being fired or the company collapsing. And in most cases, they still got fired and the companies became insolvent.

The whole thing is a mess. So many of us who are "experienced" travelers are exhausted by the airlines behavior over the years, even though we tolerate it so we can get where we're going. So it makes these arbitrage efforts seem like sleazy games, when in fact, the airlines are trying to survive. So our instinct is to think they are being malevolent, but in fact, its just a panicked and clumsy reaction to the chaos of Covid.

That's my feeling. It was obvious flights wouldn't be going anywhere for about 6 weeks before my flight. After they cancelled I gave them 28 days before doing the chargeback.