Refund For Cancelled Flights With Netflights

nick_cheets

Hi all first time so be gentle.  We had flights booked for July 21 Manchester to Heathrow to Miami booked through Netflights travelling with B/A and we had notification they have been cancelled on the 24th May.  I have chased Netflights and they have said up to 16-18 weeks for refund!!!  I complained and said I need this money to book a UK holiday and need it back quicker.  I spoke to B/A as I have a Executive Club Account and they said this is not the case due to Covid it is taking 6-8 weeks. They recommended me to tell Netflights to speak to there Trade Support Team at B/A , as BA cant help & need to go back to Netflights.  Whilst I understand the industry has been hit hard and I am prepared to wait some time 4.5 months seems very excessive.  Does anyone know who I can go to for help or can anyone advise next steps.  Netflights are ATOL protected but have said to me that if I have flights only I am not covered by ATOL.  This all seems a bit far fetched and unreasnoble does anyone know our rights and timescales to recieving my money back?
Kind regards
Nick 

marylusa76

Sorry, I don't know about it

Upsidedownandaround

They will only be able to pay you back the money once they have received it from BA. If BA are taking 6-8 weeks to refund it doesn't seem that unreasonable for them to take a similar time to process the refund once they get it back from BA.

How did you pay? Your only options would to be potentially go through your card provider to do a chargeback or a S.75 refund but this is unlikely to take you anywhere in my view at the moment if BA haven't refunded Net Flights.

Be aware you may not be entitled to a full refund and may have to pay and admin. fee as well if this was in the terms.

These are the many downsides of booking through a 3rd party.

Westin

I suspect they have just quoted you the worst case time frames.  In reality I think your refund will be processed much quicker.

nick_cheets

Thanks all still feel its totally wrong, I kinda understand if I cancelled it but just looks like they didnt have enough numbers so pulled the flight!!  How can famlies then expect to not get there money back for a long time and still be able to book a UK holiday!! seems very wrong in my opinion and holidaymakers should get there money back straight away they are quick to take hours!!

Upsidedownandaround

You chose to involve a 3rd party in your transaction and as a result you have to wait for two refunds. One from BA and one from your chosen 3rd party who is highly likely not known for it's customer service. We are also in the middle of a pandemic and a lot of workers are still furloughed and almost everything travel related is taking longer.

Hopefully you will get it back quicker but if you chose to continue to involve 3rd parties in future to book your flights you would be best adjusting your expectations accordingly.

Westin

Would you mind book marking your thread and returning to up date it once you have your refund.  It would be interesting to discover how long and how well your refund progressed.

Alan_Bowen

Actually, Netflights is usually one of the good guys, they are ultimately owned by the  Emirates Group in Dubai and will refund as quickly as they can. ATOL protection kicks in if an agent fails, clearly not the case here but you should be waiting a lot shorter period than many others who booked with other agents. The flights were cancelled, not because of lack of numbers as you suggest but because the US still won't allow us in....

mattyprice4004

BA are taking about 15 weeks at the moment, so a friend who works for them told me about 15 minutes ago when I asked. 
Totally unfair to be narked at Netflights, they can't refund you what they don't have from BA.