Etihad Travel vouchers

samkma

I was given voucher in April 2020 by Etihad (worth £2750) now any chance to get a refund as travel this year is not going to happen.

MattMattMattUK

samkma said:

I was given voucher in April 2020 by Etihad (worth £2750) now any chance to get a refund as travel this year is not going to happen.

Almost certainly not, but there would be no harm in asking.

eskbanker

samkma said:

I was given voucher in April 2020 by Etihad (worth £2750) now any chance to get a refund as travel this year is not going to happen.

Nothing stopping you from asking them but it's highly unlikely that they'll be under any obligation to buy it back from you with cash - what were the circumstances leading to the issue of the voucher?

samkma

eskbanker said:

samkma said:

I was given voucher in April 2020 by Etihad (worth £2750) now any chance to get a refund as travel this year is not going to happen.

Nothing stopping you from asking them but it's highly unlikely that they'll be under any obligation to buy it back from you with cash - what were the circumstances leading to the issue of the voucher?

Flights got cancelled and they issued vouchers (travel bank credits)  A few weeks later this..... Airlines must give passengers refunds for cancelled flights and cannot force them to accept vouchers instead, the European Commission has said.

Tried with the call centre would not accept as converted to travel credit. Now we have no plans to travel in near future.

samkma

MattMattMattUK said:

samkma said:

I was given voucher in April 2020 by Etihad (worth £2750) now any chance to get a refund as travel this year is not going to happen.

Almost certainly not, but there would be no harm in asking.

Asked but extended the validity for another year and added £200 extra as goodwill!! I dont want anything extra just my money back!

k3lvc

samkma said:

Flights got cancelled and they issued vouchers (travel bank credits)  A few weeks later this..... Airlines must give passengers refunds for cancelled flights and cannot force them to accept vouchers instead, the European Commission has said.

Unless the EU suddenly follows Eurovision rules and accepts UAE into it's fold I can't imagine Etihad give two hoots what the European Commission says 

eskbanker

k3lvc said:

samkma said:

Flights got cancelled and they issued vouchers (travel bank credits)  A few weeks later this..... Airlines must give passengers refunds for cancelled flights and cannot force them to accept vouchers instead, the European Commission has said.

Unless the EU suddenly follows Eurovision rules and accepts UAE into it's fold I can't imagine Etihad give two hoots what the European Commission says 

Not sure if you're being serious but any airline (regardless of domicile) operating flights into and out of the EU has to comply with the EU EC 261/2004 regulations, which mandate the issue of cash refunds when such flights are cancelled, unless the customer chooses to accept a voucher instead - this has been the case since 2004 so it's nothing to do with Covid, even if the EU reiterated its position again once the pandemic started.  However, once a customer has accepted a voucher (rather than insisting on their legal right to a cash refund), the airline has no obligation to buy it back.

k3lvc

eskbanker said:

k3lvc said:

samkma said:

Flights got cancelled and they issued vouchers (travel bank credits)  A few weeks later this..... Airlines must give passengers refunds for cancelled flights and cannot force them to accept vouchers instead, the European Commission has said.

Unless the EU suddenly follows Eurovision rules and accepts UAE into it's fold I can't imagine Etihad give two hoots what the European Commission says 

Not sure if you're being serious but any airline (regardless of domicile) operating flights into and out of the EU has to comply with the EU EC 261/2004 regulations, which mandate the issue of cash refunds when such flights are cancelled, unless the customer chooses to accept a voucher instead - this has been the case since 2004 so it's nothing to do with Covid, even if the EU reiterated its position again once the pandemic started.  However, once a customer has accepted a voucher (rather than insisting on their legal right to a cash refund), the airline has no obligation to buy it back.

I was being slightly flippant given Etihads sometimes roughshod approach to the law outside their home market.

On a separate but linked note do UK citizens still get the benefit of EU EC261 on a flight from UK to non-EU country now that we've left ?

Alan_Bowen

Surprisingly yes, the government converted it into UK law as part of the mass transfer of consumer and employment rights developed by the EU

eskbanker

k3lvc said:

On a separate but linked note do UK citizens still get the benefit of EU EC261 on a flight from UK to non-EU country now that we've left ?

Yes, as with the vast majority of EU legislation, the UK has incorporated the EC 261/2004 regulations into domestic legislation.