Turkish Airlines not responding to refund request

Thrugelmir

bagand96 said:

CarolineBeth said:

I'm still honestly confused, I booked before the pandemic, the flight did go ahead but due to covid 19 I wasn't allowed to fly, it has to be for work, medical reasons or a family death, and for these reasons  I'm still not allowed to fly.  Surely I've paid for a service I still can no longer avail of.  I am not at fault and neither are the airline, but they do still have my money.

You could look up the Competition and Markets Authority advice in frustrated contracts. Their opinion is that in your situation the contract is “frustrated” as you can’t use the flight so therefore a refund should be an option. This has not been tested in law though, and for all the CMA’s advice I don’t think anyone’s reported a success in the frustrated contract route. It will need someone to bring a test case to court, to be honest I think it will be hard enough against a UK based airline, let alone a foreign one. 

The airline could counter claim for the costs incurred in providing the "seat" that wasn't used. The refund may not amount to much given the thin margins that airlines operate with. 

CKhalvashi

bagand96 said:

CarolineBeth said:

I'm still honestly confused, I booked before the pandemic, the flight did go ahead but due to covid 19 I wasn't allowed to fly, it has to be for work, medical reasons or a family death, and for these reasons  I'm still not allowed to fly.  Surely I've paid for a service I still can no longer avail of.  I am not at fault and neither are the airline, but they do still have my money.

You could look up the Competition and Markets Authority advice in frustrated contracts. Their opinion is that in your situation the contract is “frustrated” as you can’t use the flight so therefore a refund should be an option. This has not been tested in law though, and for all the CMA’s advice I don’t think anyone’s reported a success in the frustrated contract route. It will need someone to bring a test case to court, to be honest I think it will be hard enough against a UK based airline, let alone a foreign one. 

It would be a contract regulated under Turkish law, with the exception of rights under EC261.

To take an EU company through further formalities is still relatively simple, to do this with a non-EU airline is going to be virtually impossible.

bagand96

Thrugelmir said:

bagand96 said:

CarolineBeth said:

I'm still honestly confused, I booked before the pandemic, the flight did go ahead but due to covid 19 I wasn't allowed to fly, it has to be for work, medical reasons or a family death, and for these reasons  I'm still not allowed to fly.  Surely I've paid for a service I still can no longer avail of.  I am not at fault and neither are the airline, but they do still have my money.

You could look up the Competition and Markets Authority advice in frustrated contracts. Their opinion is that in your situation the contract is “frustrated” as you can’t use the flight so therefore a refund should be an option. This has not been tested in law though, and for all the CMA’s advice I don’t think anyone’s reported a success in the frustrated contract route. It will need someone to bring a test case to court, to be honest I think it will be hard enough against a UK based airline, let alone a foreign one. 

The airline could counter claim for the costs incurred in providing the "seat" that wasn't used. The refund may not amount to much given the thin margins that airlines operate with. 

I'm not convinced of the CMA's stance.  Whilst I do understand the principle of frustrated contracts I'm not sure if it would be deemed to apply in this scenario.  The CMA are happy to share their opinion but I wonder if they are doing anything practical about it.

Even if it did get judged that refunds were due, I'm not sure if it could be enforced on foreign airlines.  Would probably accelerate the destruction of the UK airline industry that is arguably already in a disadvantaged position in the market.  It's a complicated matter for sure.

Thrugelmir

bagand96 said:

Thrugelmir said:

bagand96 said:

CarolineBeth said:

I'm still honestly confused, I booked before the pandemic, the flight did go ahead but due to covid 19 I wasn't allowed to fly, it has to be for work, medical reasons or a family death, and for these reasons  I'm still not allowed to fly.  Surely I've paid for a service I still can no longer avail of.  I am not at fault and neither are the airline, but they do still have my money.

You could look up the Competition and Markets Authority advice in frustrated contracts. Their opinion is that in your situation the contract is “frustrated” as you can’t use the flight so therefore a refund should be an option. This has not been tested in law though, and for all the CMA’s advice I don’t think anyone’s reported a success in the frustrated contract route. It will need someone to bring a test case to court, to be honest I think it will be hard enough against a UK based airline, let alone a foreign one. 

The airline could counter claim for the costs incurred in providing the "seat" that wasn't used. The refund may not amount to much given the thin margins that airlines operate with. 

The CMA are happy to share their opinion but I wonder if they are doing anything practical about it.

CMA have neither the time nor resource to become involved in every single scenario. As has been the case so far. More effective in hitting the large domestic targets over which they can influence outcomes for many people. 

CKhalvashi

bagand96 said:

Thrugelmir said:

bagand96 said:

CarolineBeth said:

I'm still honestly confused, I booked before the pandemic, the flight did go ahead but due to covid 19 I wasn't allowed to fly, it has to be for work, medical reasons or a family death, and for these reasons  I'm still not allowed to fly.  Surely I've paid for a service I still can no longer avail of.  I am not at fault and neither are the airline, but they do still have my money.

You could look up the Competition and Markets Authority advice in frustrated contracts. Their opinion is that in your situation the contract is “frustrated” as you can’t use the flight so therefore a refund should be an option. This has not been tested in law though, and for all the CMA’s advice I don’t think anyone’s reported a success in the frustrated contract route. It will need someone to bring a test case to court, to be honest I think it will be hard enough against a UK based airline, let alone a foreign one. 

The airline could counter claim for the costs incurred in providing the "seat" that wasn't used. The refund may not amount to much given the thin margins that airlines operate with. 

I'm not convinced of the CMA's stance.  Whilst I do understand the principle of frustrated contracts I'm not sure if it would be deemed to apply in this scenario.  The CMA are happy to share their opinion but I wonder if they are doing anything practical about it.

Even if it did get judged that refunds were due, I'm not sure if it could be enforced on foreign airlines.  Would probably accelerate the destruction of the UK airline industry that is arguably already in a disadvantaged position in the market.  It's a complicated matter for sure.

Completely agree here, there are far too many variables in the current scenario and don't believe the CMA are correct in this case, however I'd equally love for this to be tested in court to give a definitive answer. The CMA have issued non-binding advice at this stage.

In addition, such policy if ruled against an airline would in the medium-long term decrease the choice to the consumer and therefore increase prices on many routes, causing a long-term loss to the consumer, whilst putting further employment at risk within the UK. A global Britain requires global connections by air at a reasonable price, which this won't provide.