siw

Mods, please merge this thread if I have posted in the wrong place.

I have a ticket for 4 people in the first week of April that I bought many, many months ago for a domestic Thailand flight return (DMK-CNX-DMK). I had given up on it due to the pandemic and accepted it has lost due to the trip to Thailand being cancelled and there FD have made customer service impossible be only using AVA. Just this minute I got an email from FD saying one of the flights is cancelled at that I can rebook or get a credit account (i.e. voucher). I know that FD are impossible to communicate with nowadays since it is all using AVA. I'll have to go for the voucher but just wanted to check with the FT community if it is possible (and how to) get a cash refund? FD did not allow payment with my AMEX credit card and I have to use my bank debit card so I cannot do an AMEX chargeback.

Thanks

escape4

I was coming here on FT today to ask exactly the same question as you. Is a credit the only option, or can we have a cash refund? If it's cash refund, is it only taxes and baggage fees, or it's the entire amount? In AVA when you want to select "refund" it gives you a vague statement that it's according to "conditions".

plunet

It can help in these situations to look at your legal rights.

First, what do the conditions of carriage say? Are you according to the contract entitled to a cash refund if flights are cancelled. If not, none of the below applies. Be careful as there are 3 different AirAsia operating companies.

Second, note that budget airlines are point to point operations. With traditional airlines you can buy a return ticket and they treat that as one journey out and back, budget airlines generally consider a return as two single tickets, and if one flight is impacted there is no link to the second ticket, they are separate contracts.

If you are unable to get AVA to do anything useful (try to ask her for a refund based on section X of the conditions of carriage). You have to give the retailer a chance to provide the remedy you request and hopefully get some evidence they did not comply and broke their contract.

If there's no joy with AVA, How did you pay for this flight? Is a credit/debit card chargeback a possibility for the flight that had been cancelled., You would usually need to demonstrate to your card issuer breach of contract and some evidence that the retailer has not given you a refund when asked as per the contract.

You may also just cut your losses and give up assuming you don't have travel insurance to claim on.

The airlines are all in a bad position and issuing vouchers is a way to eliminate giving up more cash that they need at the moment. However any voucher policy cannot override the contract that you and the airline agreed to when you bought the ticket.

Good luck.

siw

That is a good point about LCC treating outbound and return flights separately even though it was purchased as a return ticket and has one booking code. So far FD has only cancelled one of the two flights. So can I get a voucher for both? This is very comfusing and FD make if worse by only using AVA.

I also bought the Value Pack and Baggage Delay & On-time Guarantee Insurance with FD. In hindsight both are a waste of money, but I will not be buying any more FD tickets after this. I assume that is lost and the voucher only covers the ticket cost.

escape4

I hope not. I would request a full refund.

LondonElite

I think you may need to accept that this is money you won’t see again. A voucher may be your best option.

escape4

Voucher can be done for sure. I think cash refund is an option if they cancelled a flight, but we have to wait in the queue online to chat with somebody for this .... I tried but gave up after half an hour. I will try another day to see if it works before I fall back on the voucher alternative.

LondonElite

Budget airlines are often difficult to deal with when it comes to refunds. I wish the OP luck.

rbAA

Hopefully, you used your bank debit card as a credit card charge so it can be disputed. I've done this recently, as I had Air Asia, NOK, and Thai Lion flights all intra-Thailand and all canceled I did go to an Air Asia booth near my apartment and was offered a refund of the taxes and fees, but this was before it was cancelled and the stay in place order came out, and of course, the booth is closed now.. Using AVA on Air Asia is impossible, NOK even more difficult, and Thai Lion about the same. The bank gave me immediate credit on the account (of course, I used a US credit card,) after waiting on hold for 1.5 hours, but worth it. Doubt the airlines will respond and if they do, what can they say about the cancellations. Put it on them to pursue the money.

siw

I am not going to waste time with trying to get a cash refund from FD. That is why they closed the telephone lines and switched to AVA. So that customers cannot contact them. I just hope (but do not expect) the voucher will include the cost of the add-ons I bought - but that is a longshot.

I did not use my bank card as a credit card. I am in the UK and booked with FD from here, so my options for payment where very limited. Lesson learnt - will not book with FD again expect to use the voucher.

siw

Found on the FD AVA option to talk in a live chat to get a refund since I was emailed to say the flights are cancelled. Got to the following webpage. Still now after waiting for over 3 hours (at UK evening time). In the small print it says they are extra busy now (of course) and it could take about 15 minutes to speak with an agent; 3 hours is quite a bit over 15 minutes. Anyone had success getting through to FD?

escape4

I have tried a few times and I am stuck on this screen as well.

Jaimito Cartero

That one agent is likely quite busy.

escape4

I think that agent has not slept in days

siw

Try again now (UK morning time) maybe the office in Thailand/Malaysia will be open. This time the screen says estimated time is 1hr 3min 51sec. Let's see. I hope these claims are allowed after the intended departure date, which was to be Monday 6th April.

Do you know if this AVA live chat only works with certain browers? I use Mozilla Firefox on my Windows 10 laptop. I'm not an IT expert so maybe this is a daft question.