Etihad Refund after nearly 2 years of original payment

samkma

CKhalvashi said:

The most important question here is where the cancelled flight was departing from.

If UK/EU/Ukraine/Georgia/Armenia (and probably the Balkans plus some others) then there is a legal right to a refund within 7 days.

If not, then depending on the departure point (we can look) a voucher may be legally acceptable as there would be no legal breach, especially in the case of a country with little to no consumer rights where the contract is king.

cancelled flight was departing from - MANCHESTER, UK

Ticket purchased from the UK.

Westin

This all seems strange. I am sure Etihad would know their responsibilities if they cancelled the flight.

Thinking;
(a) This was a voluntary OP requested cancellation and a travel concession/waiver issued by Etihad as a future travel voucher.
(b) If an airline cancellation, when notified the OP may have selected the travel credit voucher as an option. 

Find it strange to think that Etihad would not offer a cash refund (as well as a credit voucher option) if they cancelled a flight ex UK.

CKhalvashi

samkma said:

CKhalvashi said:

The most important question here is where the cancelled flight was departing from.

If UK/EU/Ukraine/Georgia/Armenia (and probably the Balkans plus some others) then there is a legal right to a refund within 7 days.

If not, then depending on the departure point (we can look) a voucher may be legally acceptable as there would be no legal breach, especially in the case of a country with little to no consumer rights where the contract is king.

cancelled flight was departing from - MANCHESTER, UK

Ticket purchased from the UK.

Then this will be a relevant flight under EC261, which was the legislation in place at the time (this has since been replaced with UK261).

I'd therefore advise contacting both Etihad and Barclaycard again, the latter mentioning Section 75 if you paid on a Credit Card.

A company cannot evade its legal rights which it appears it is attempting to do so, this goes for both parties. The law is clear.

Article 8Right to reimbursement or re-routing

1.Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between:

(a)- reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger's original travel plan, together with, when relevant,

- a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity;

(b)re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or

(c)re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats.

I don't see reference to a voucher, unless you decide to accept one, being adequate legally (It isn't).

samkma

Westin said:

This all seems strange. I am sure Etihad would know their responsibilities if they cancelled the flight.

Thinking;
(a) This was a voluntary OP requested cancellation and a travel concession/waiver issued by Etihad as a future travel voucher.
(b) If an airline cancellation, when notified the OP may have selected the travel credit voucher as an option. 

Find it strange to think that Etihad would not offer a cash refund (as well as a credit voucher option) if they cancelled a flight ex UK.

Nothing strange here....

I was not offered any options back in 2020!

Also try getting a response from Etihad yourself then you will know how good their customer service is!

samkma

CKhalvashi said:

samkma said:

CKhalvashi said:

The most important question here is where the cancelled flight was departing from.

If UK/EU/Ukraine/Georgia/Armenia (and probably the Balkans plus some others) then there is a legal right to a refund within 7 days.

If not, then depending on the departure point (we can look) a voucher may be legally acceptable as there would be no legal breach, especially in the case of a country with little to no consumer rights where the contract is king.

cancelled flight was departing from - MANCHESTER, UK

Ticket purchased from the UK.

Then this will be a relevant flight under EC261, which was the legislation in place at the time (this has since been replaced with UK261).

I'd therefore advise contacting both Etihad and Barclaycard again, the latter mentioning Section 75 if you paid on a Credit Card.

A company cannot evade its legal rights which it appears it is attempting to do so, this goes for both parties. The law is clear.

Article 8Right to reimbursement or re-routing

1.Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between:

(a)- reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger's original travel plan, together with, when relevant,

- a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity;

(b)re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or

(c)re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats.

I don't see reference to a voucher, unless you decide to accept one, being adequate legally (It isn't).

Thank you for your advice.

I have spoken to and also emailed Etihad right now.

Contact centre staff cannot see my ticket history with a book reference that is 2 years old and have requested for that as they have in my previous contacts with no response to them.

Will call Barclaycard now and post the response.

Your response much appreciated.

CKhalvashi

samkma said:

CKhalvashi said:

samkma said:

CKhalvashi said:

The most important question here is where the cancelled flight was departing from.

If UK/EU/Ukraine/Georgia/Armenia (and probably the Balkans plus some others) then there is a legal right to a refund within 7 days.

If not, then depending on the departure point (we can look) a voucher may be legally acceptable as there would be no legal breach, especially in the case of a country with little to no consumer rights where the contract is king.

cancelled flight was departing from - MANCHESTER, UK

Ticket purchased from the UK.

Then this will be a relevant flight under EC261, which was the legislation in place at the time (this has since been replaced with UK261).

I'd therefore advise contacting both Etihad and Barclaycard again, the latter mentioning Section 75 if you paid on a Credit Card.

A company cannot evade its legal rights which it appears it is attempting to do so, this goes for both parties. The law is clear.

Article 8Right to reimbursement or re-routing

1.Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between:

(a)- reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger's original travel plan, together with, when relevant,

- a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity;

(b)re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or

(c)re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats.

I don't see reference to a voucher, unless you decide to accept one, being adequate legally (It isn't).

Thank you for your advice.

I have spoken to and also emailed Etihad right now.

Contact centre staff cannot see my ticket history with a book reference that is 2 years old and have requested for that as they have in my previous contacts with no response to them.

Will call Barclaycard now and post the response.

Your response much appreciated.

You're very welcome.

In addition, here is paragraph 7.3.

3.The compensation referred to in paragraph 1 shall be paid in cash, by electronic bank transfer, bank orders or bank cheques or, with the signed agreement of the passenger, in travel vouchers and/or other services.

The legislation in full (paragraphs 7 and 8 are relevant here) can be found at gov.uk here. This should be used instead of UK261 as it was the legislation in place at the time of your flight with the UK being de facto an EU member.

As you have not signed an agreement either physically or electronically, cash equivalent is the default status of your refund. 

samkma

Update from Etihad

Case Has Been Created CRM:0135097xxxx

Etihad Airways reference: 211209741xxx

Date: 12/9/2021 4:01 PM

You will be contacted once the investigation is over.

Barclays card has not come back to me yet. Will keep posted and hope this helps others in similar situation.

CKhalvashi

samkma said:

Update from Etihad

Case Has Been Created CRM:0135097xxxx

Etihad Airways reference: 211209741xxx

Date: 12/9/2021 4:01 PM

You will be contacted once the investigation is over.

Barclays card has not come back to me yet. Will keep posted and hope this helps others in similar situation.

Hopefully you'll get a positive outcome very soon!

If you need help with anything, please don't hesitate to come back and as always, updates are appreciated.

samkma

Thank you for writing to us about your booking Xxxxx

I am sorry that your travel plans were disrupted due to COVID-19 pandemic. I have reviewed our records and can confirm that your cancelled flights were converted to Travel Bank in May 2020. Allow me to explain that in line with our commercial waiver policy at the time, your booking was eligible for a refund to the original form of payment or refund to Travel Bank credit. These options were available on our website since April 2020. (This is not true)

In light of this, your booking does not qualify for Travel Bank refund. The credit is non-refundable. You can use your Travel Bank credit as form of payment towards flight tickets or other Etihad Airways products and services. You can redeem your Travel Bank credit for self, friends and family members. New flights must be booked within its validity for any future travel. Booking can be completed via our website or by calling our Global Contact Centre.

So my next option is to go via small claims court.

CKhalvashi

If you paid with a UK-issued credit card (not Debit) then Section 75 may be appropriate IF you can prove with a degree of certainty (so the person looking at this is more sure than not in law) that you were not offered your legal rights.

You will need to speak to your card issuer to get the ball rolling on this.

If not, you will be left with the Small Claims Court, however will have to balance the change of losing the court fee (I'm not in the UK at the moment and don't have a laptop in front of me so will leave that for others) against your chance of winning.

This will depend on the evidence you have, however anything mitigating such as an email to them at the time should help you, where anything this late may not be considered in the same light. Judges have a huge range of discretion depending on your case and how it is presented.