Timeframe -is there anything we can do?!

gillian3011

Is there anything we can do in terms of refund timeframe. Our holiday wasn’t until mid July but we found out weeks ago our flights were cancelled by the airline and went through the online think with Opodo...it’s still not even been looked at by Opodo. 

I have all the emails from the airline confirming cancellation and saying we’re due a full refund but I can’t do anything. It says not to phone and they’ll get round to it in due course. 

I’m really suffering with anxiety just being expected to wait indefinitely with no timeframe even suggested. 

Has there been no ruling in terms of refund times? Surely they can’t just hold onto our money until new holidays are booked with them?!

Caz3121

Many third parties and airlines are working through refunds in travel date order (some even say not to contact them until x days/hours before the original flight date as they have 1,000s of people to deal with) depending on the airline.
I am waiting for a refund from an early April flight still - booked direct with the airline and was cancelled in advance but could not be dealt with until 72 hours before flight.
When the airline deals with your travel dates they will send the refund to Opodo, then you need to wait for them to process it to you. 3-4 months from travel date would be my estimate 

gillian3011

Caz3121 said:

Many third parties and airlines are working through refunds in travel date order (some even say not to contact them until x days/hours before the original flight date as they have 1,000s of people to deal with) depending on the airline.
I am waiting for a refund from an early April flight still - booked direct with the airline and was cancelled in advance but could not be dealt with until 72 hours before flight.
When the airline deals with your travel dates they will send the refund to Opodo, then you need to wait for them to process it to you. 3-4 months from travel date would be my estimate 

Thank you for your reply. I’m trying to remain rational but I can’t help thinking everything is pretty automated and it really shouldn’t take 6 months from my flights being cancelled to get it refunded. 

I’ve had event tickets refunded, accomodation refunded, both within a few days/few weeks at the most, I don’t know why flights would need soo much longer?! I just wondered if any consumer support agencies have been requesting set time frames for refunds? 

[Deleted User]

Lots of people in same situation Gillian, agents are working in strict date order of travel so no option other than to wait until your date of travel arrives.  You should have contact by then.

rosiesposies

Most global ERP systems still need manual intervention with credits and refunds, whether that’s with or without stock ie a service. Unfortunately manual means people and with a backlog like this 95% of travel booked cancelled don’t think it’s going to be anytime soon 

Browntoa

They are using a system designed for a few 1000 refunds a month to refund hundreds of thousands of people . It was never designed to cope with this once in a lifetime event

gillian3011

Thank all for your replies. I guess 

I just wonder how hard they are working to minimise delays when holding onto that money for as long as possible works in their favour. I mean if I don’t have my money back in 3 months, 6 months, a year...where is the cut off for it becoming unreasonable/illegal? There has to be some guidelines even in the event of extreme circumstances surely?!

Browntoa

Some companies are employing outside companies ( claims companies did Thomas Cook so have the expertise) but it takes time to set up and then start clearing the backlog

Nebulous2

Airlines are short of money and are hoping to begin work and generate some cash before refunding people. A third party complicates the situation even more than that. There have been reports of airlines refunding to travel agents and travel agents then holding on to the money as they are going through the same crisis of burning cash with limited income. 

A takeaway from this for me is never to use a travel agent for flights. Booking with the airline direct will be my plan going forward.