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Only 10 percent of the flights that were scheduled to take off before the Corona Virus crisis were from UK airports
A regulatory authority in the civil aviation sector has warned airlines that they are required under British law to refund tickets for customers whose flights have been canceled due to the Corona virus.
The UK law says that airlines must return customers the money they paid within seven days if flights are canceled.
But with the takeoff of just 10 percent of scheduled flights, airlines have trouble handling ticket refund requests for canceled flights.
The British Civil Aviation Authority said it could take action against non-paying airlines.
The Authority said in a statement issued in this regard: “We are currently reviewing how airlines deal with refunding tickets canceled during the spread of the Coruna virus, and we will study if there is any action that should be taken to ensure the protection of consumer rights.”
The consumer protection website, “Witch”, said last month that it had received thousands of complaints from customers struggling to recoup airline tickets after canceling their flights. He pointed out that companies offer customers vouchers that include discounts that they can use after closing.
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“Systematic denial of rights”
Witch website said that £ 7 billion of customer money was affected by the cancellation of flights.
The Civil Aviation Authority said: “According to the law, customers have the right to recover their money paid for canceled flights despite the difficulties faced by airlines at the current stage.”
She added, “We support companies offering purchase vouchers and alternatives to re-book if these alternatives are of value to customers.”
But, she added, “clear options must be offered for clients to recover their money without unnecessary obstacles.”
The authority indicated that it did not expect the airlines to exercise “systematic denial of the rights of clients to receive a refund.”
She said: “We expect airlines to return the value of canceled flights to customers as soon as possible, and we appreciate the operating challenges facing these companies in light of the current situation.”
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The chief of Raynaire believes that it takes six months for his company to return the value of the canceled tickets
It will take six months for airlines to refund the airline tickets canceled due to the spread of the Corona virus, Michael O’Leary, president of Raynaire, told the BBC.
He added that his company was struggling to secure about 25 million pounds of accumulated pounds that should be returned to customers, in addition to other suffering that led to the reduction of labor.
Airlines were forced to stop operating most flights due to the current crisis, which caused the collapse in demand for air travel.
As a result, the United Kingdom Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Rayanair Airlines announced the abolition of thousands of jobs.
In addition, airlines have said that the imposition of a quarantine on those arriving in the UK from outside the country, with the exception of those coming from the Republic of Ireland, for a period of 14 days would seriously harm the demand for flight.
UK airports are of the view that quarantine “will not only have a devastating impact on the UK aviation sector, but on the economy in general”.
“This measure should be taken on a selective scientific basis, so that the negative impact that is expected to be encountered by key economic sectors will be mitigated,” said Karen Dee of the British Airport Operators Association, which represents most of the country’s airports.
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