TAP Air Portugal - refund issues

katie2poozer

Hello! Advice please Mr Lewis!. I'm a 2nd year uni student, and back in November 2019, I booked flights with TAP Air Portugal for a University field trip for 29 March - 6 April 2020. Due to a misunderstanding, the University also booked me tickets for this very same flight, therefore I applied for a refund and cancelled my booking on the 16 December 2019. The flights originally cost £163.74. I think I saw on the website somewhere that there was a cancellation charge of around €30, so I was aware I couldn't expect the full amount refunded to me, but when I did eventually receive a refund it was for £42.74, and it took much longer than the time stated on the website. So, having been apparently penalised  £121 to cancel, I contacted customer service who told me refunds correspondence has to be done via an email address, which, as it turns out, does not reply or even acknowledge receipt. Very frustrating. Does anyone know if there is a way to speak to someone about this? Is TAP justified in charging this amount? Is this normal service for an airline in the Star Alliance, or are TAP just a very poor example. Is there anyway I can recoup some of the £121 which at this point seems lost to me. I'm very disappointed to say the least. Katie.

Westin

I am not sure that Mr Lewis does forum replies so you might have to put up with us ordinary fellow MSE users who add to forum posts.

You really need to refer back to the ticket type you booked with TAP Air Portugal and the cancellation penalties for each. TAP offer Discount, Basic, Classic and Plus fares.  The cheapest will have the most restrictive terms.  

katie2poozer

Ha, ha! I'll take advice from anyone that knows more than me! I had 'Discount' tickets so I've searched the site and there is a bit at the very bottom of a table that says "Ticket, changes from €65" so I guess that's the explanation. Rats. Thank you Westin.