MHLHR

After several months of fighting SAS over a flight cancelled due to the SAS pilot strike, they have now ruled that they will not refund the cost of the flight. Why? Because when the strike occurred their website only allowed one to change the date - not get a refund - and they did not accept calls for weeks (as thousands of customers were calling them). As a traveler, for the ticket not to be cancelled on the planned date, it was changed. And I then called the service center after the strike was over for some time.

They accept that by law they were required to refund, but because one "accepted" the only option available (to change) they will not refund. In other words, I had the option between letting the ticket lapse (no refund) or changing on the website to a date I did not need (no refund). How is that complying with the law?

With such service levels, they deserve to go the same way as other competitors of similar quality such as Thomas Cook and Monarch.

Do others have a similar experience?

fassy

Not sure I‘m following. They said „Either we cancel the ticket or we change it“ and then you accept to change it? Don’t see anything wrong with that. If you would have just cancelled it, a full refund would be due.

If you decided to rebook to a later date which then wasn’t useful to you... well, that isn’t SKs fault.

highupinthesky

One question. Did you book directly through SK or through a TA or OTA?

Beside that.
The phones aren't the only way to contact the customer service. In fact in cases like this I would have used the online customer service forms so that I have a ticket number to refer too and not just a phone conversation.
As the flight were canceled it would have been an automatic refund if you didn't change it flight. By changing the dates of the flight, you told SK you didn't want the ticket to be canceled, but still wanted to do the trip on another date.

Either way. I can't really see SAS have done anything wrong here, but I might have misunderstood what you have written.

JR67

I have to agree with the other posters. You had two options: rebook to another date or let the flight get cancelled without rebooking. Had you done the latter you would have been reimbursed for the cost of the flight. For some reason you felt compelled to rebook, although this was NOT the only option. So this is on you.

Also - SAS WAS answering calls the entire time. I had a flight to ORD that was affected by the strike, and they answered promptly. Granted I am EBD and get pushed to the front, but anecdotal experiences from colleagues without status show that they were also answered, although not as promptly.

Without knowing more, this seems like the responsibility lies with you, and not SAS.

MHLHR

Actually not true - the messages at the time said that one had the option to rebook; And one could not get through to the customer service. Only after the strike did I get through and they admitted that there was no cancellation option on the website, but that if I had done nothing I would later have been able to claim a refund. Clearly, they initially tried to avoid publicising that option. You may be right, I should have done nothing (instead of choosing another date and calling them after the strike when they answered the phones), and following the instructions in the email was silly. Either way it left me with a sour taste and have not flown them since (and have enjoyed BA and LH service instead). As a comment to the poster above, being LH SEN does not cut any ice with SK. I hope LH returns the favour...

highupinthesky

I'm with Fassy on this. It's not SK's fault you didn't knew/understood your rights. The wording used for the current canceled flights to PEK and PVG is exactly the same SK used during the strike. It clearly says that you have the option to either change the flights to a later date or get a full refund.

JR67

That is my recollection as well. I was actively monitoring the situation due to my trip to Chicago, and I was completely in the clear about the refund/rebook options from the get-go. I also was in the clear that if I waited until the flight was officially cancelled I would be rebooked on another *A carrier - which gave me a nice chance to try out UA's Polaris offering...

highupinthesky

As far as I understand automatic rebooking to other metal didn't happen during the strike, just as it doesn't happen during the current cancellation of flights to/from China, but rebooking on other metal is an option if you ask for it. It's probably not mentioned in the SK statement, as it's part of the existing ticket rules, where as the rebooking to another date or refund is additional options which is normally not available unless you buy full flex tickets.

CPH-Flyer

In terms of call waiting time, I can assure that they do return the "favour". I can't think of any carrier that offers priority phone lines to other than their own frequent flyers. Usually you either have to punch in your FFP number, or call from a phone line where the number is associated with your account.

JR67

I didn't wait until I could find out about a possible automatic rebooking so I can't comment on that. I knew when the flights were generally being cancelled for the next day, and I called the second that mine came up cancelled. Wait time of less than a minute, and I was rebooked via FRA within 5 minutes. When I got the itinerary I saw that I had a 40 minute transfer at FRA, and realized that with my recently injured foot that could be a problem depending on where the gates were (and how far out on the apron our stand was and how long we would need to taxi to it). So another call to SK, another one minute wait, and 5 minutes later I had a very comfortable 1:05 transfer at MUC. The guy did make a comment about "Actually, we are only allowed to rebook you once..." but did it anyway without complaint. Very smooth handling by SK.