Airtransat refusing full refund

Donnak74

Please can anyone help me? My husband passed away in April of this year leaving me and my 3 young children. We have relatives in Canada and immediately booked flights to get out there. I paid £2763.56 and we were due to fly out on 22/12/20. Last week i received an email, saying they would refund me an amount of £1417.72 and it would take 5 to 6 weeks to receive the refund. They said they are keeping the other £1345.84 as a travel credit. i have called them explained the situation, and that due to not flying to Canada for xmas i need a full refund. They have told me no, and that they do not have to give me a full refund. This is awful, and has mad our whole situation worse, i cannot afford to lose this kind of money, can they do this?

eskbanker

Air Transat have form for this, as discussed extensively in this lengthy thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6116421/air-transat-cancellation-no-refund/p1

Some posters on there report success by issuing a chargeback via their card provider, which is likely to be worth a try, assuming they've actually cancelled the flights....

bagand96

Did Air Transat cancel your flights? 

I assume the refund is for your outbound flights; as they are bound by EC261 to refund you. 

The amount not refunded maybe the amount for the inbound flights. The Canadian Government have said hat they consider travel credit to be an acceptable form of refund. So Air Transat are likely hiding behind that. 

How did you pay?  A chargeback or Section 75 claim via your payment card might be an option. 

Alan_Bowen

Air Transat are playing games, it took 6 months to get them to even offer refunds for the outbound flight. They simply ignore the law completely and the only way you can b certain to get a refund is to go for a chargeback or section 75 claim. Otherwise, you will get nowhere, the CAA called them out for breaking the law but they just carried on. They are in the process of being sold to Air Canada, another company whose refunding left a lot to be desired but their value has called 75% this year and they are barely alive at this point.