I can understand the hate when:
1. Airlines are still actively selling flights they already know they won't be running.
2. Airlines are refusing refunds even though there is a legal obligation to.
3. Airlines are forcing vouchers onto people, even after saying yes to a refund. Two airlines sent me unsolicited vouchers several weeks after confirming a refund.

I completely disagree with these as being justification for hate. Anybody buying a ticket now, and being 'surprised' that the connection is cancelled/reschedule, is either mischievous or stupid. Pushing airlines to liquidate all fare funds (that point 2 seems to suggest) would simply put them into bankruptcy. Most customers wouldn't see a penny. Fortunately, airlines are smarter than just bailing out. Point 3 is basically the airlines attempt to avoid the bankruptcy. I can understand people being unhappy (I'm personally more unhappy for having to sit at home the last 2 months, than from missing a fare refund ...), but I do not understand hate. The situation is objectively difficult. We need to seek ways to cope/surive, not seek victims and scapegoats. Like Often1 says, file a refund request and a chargeback, open a beer, and relax.

I totally understand what you are saying, and of course I wouldn't book a flight in June, now, without knowing that the risk of it not going ahead was quite high. However, there are indeed many people still trying to get home. Only a few days ago, I checked and I could buy EDI to ARN as of 11 May. I know of Swedes in Scotland trying to get back to Sweden. The flight was for sale, it is so soon that I think many would think it is safe to assume that whatever is on sale for the month of May is the 'limited schedule' of flights being offered and that it will indeed go ahead. Can you blame them for then booking and assuming it'll go ahead? June is one thing, but just how late SAS is leaving it before cancelling -- that I dislike.

I checked just now out of curiosity and now all of May has no flights between EDI and ARN, which wasn't the case a few days ago. But as soon as you load up June, there are flights on 01 June onwards. It seems to be the full normal schedules for EDI-ARN. It's still the 10th so I can maybe forgive the flights still being around, but if I can book that 01 June flight on say, the 20th of May, I would think that is pretty bad of SAS.

On that note, I see that LHR>ARN is on sale from Tuesday 19 May onwards, nine days away from today. I would stand by my thinking that if this flight is going to be cancelled, it is bad of SAS that they are still selling it with only 9 days to go.

The misconception is that SK is scheduling flights which it "knows" that it will not operate. This is not likely the case. Rather, just like most carriers, it has a notional schedule which it would operate but for travel restrictions. As those restrictions become more clear for a time period, decisions are made.

There is no question but that if SK cancels a flight, one is entitled to a refund, thus if one accepts a voucher, that is up to the passenger. For me, accepting a voucher is always a poor idea unless there is a substantial premium or other benefit conferred. If the voucher is for the face value of the ticket and there is nothing else of value, cash will always be better.

For those who use credit cards issued in countries with absolute bankruptcy protection -- including the UK and US -- the risk of a voucher is even greater. If a carrier is unable to perform through insolvency, the funds are credited relatively immediately. A voucher, on the other hand, has no value unless some other carrier purchases the carcass and chooses to honor vouchers as a means of building its brand (unlikely in this environment).

BTW, accepting a voucher indicates you agreed to a compromise with the travel provider and nixes any changes of a chargeback

I've also been waiting for refunds for over a month now and am considering the charge back.

SAS deliberately did not cancel my flight despite not selling tickets for it anymore and sent me three e-mails in four days (from 14 till 10 days before departure) reminding me that I could get a voucher for that flight before cancelling the flight the next day (nine days before departure). If SAS had actually cancelled my flight when they stopped selling tickets for it, I could've rebooked my flight to an earlier date where the flight was still going, but as this was only a few days ahead the price was significantly higher (and the voucher wouldn't suffice). I therefore do not feel bad at all for making a charge back. SAS really handled all of this horribly.

However, I see that SWISS is not offering any refunds at the moment so I guess someone is actually worse than SAS...

Still waiting for a refund here. Flights were for 24 March and 29 March (separate itineraries). Both flights were cancelled by SAS on 19 March, and I called to request a refund that day. Email received on 1 April asking me to be patient...

I am happy to wait for the two month point but beyond that it will become very annoying and I will look at a charge back. In the meantime I have had full refunds from BA and Wideroe, and Scandic hotels, for all other elements of the same holiday so only SAS is dragging its feet so much.

I was only able to get a refund after US DOT complaint. Obviously that only works if you have a flight in the ticket from/to the US.

The DOT complaint system is speedy and effective in this situation. While DOT does not enforce individual matters, it does forward complaints to the carrier with the requirement that they respond to the complainant and provide a copy to DOT. As US rules require a refund where there is a cancellation, there is no option for the carrier other than to issue the refund and then report that a refund has been issued.

I would also not hesitate to initiate a chargeback, No reason to wait,

Hi everyone.

I was scheduled to fly LAX-CPH on May 7th but it was finally officially cancelled in late April. I requested a refund from SAS on April 28th and I just received it on this past Sunday (May 10th), so roughly a two-week processing period. Seems like I've dodged the long waiting game...

For some reason, all my cancelled TATL flights (two segments in late March in Plus, and another two just after Easter in Business) were refunded within a week. My three cancelled short-haul segments (CPH-ARN in early-April, ARN-ATH-ARN in mid-April) are still in queue. When I called them last week they were still processing refunds from March 10th. Which makes me wonder, does this mean that refunds of long-haul (or Y+/J) are prioritized over short-haul (or Y) tickets, or is this simply a coincidence?

Might be because TATL flights are subject to DOT rules.

Sounds plausible. Interestingly enough though EU rules (EC261) also prescribe refund within seven days, but I suppose that under the present conditions this is hard to enforce. I any case I give it to SAS that they respect the regulations and provide proper monetary refunds instead of vouchers for cancelled flights, unlike other airlines (e.g. LH,A3)...

All EU airlines are offering refunds if any flight in the booking is cancelled. LH Group, Ryanair & SAS are not processing the refunds fast enough citing that their systems are overwhelmed (MOL said they have 25 million refunds in queue in a system that usually handles 10000 a month), AF/KL are issuing refunds in form of a voucher that can be cashed in if you dont use it within 12 months. To each their own. The overwhelmed system and negative cashflow aspect are both plausible. I only have 300€ due with SK and LH, so not very concerned. A 10k refund with QR which I was more concerned about took about 6 weeks to refund.