Flights cancelled a month ago by booking.com - they holding my money.

DrunkenDribbler

Hi everyone, I am looking for some advise.

I booked and paid for an AirAsia flight through Booking.com Flight leaving from UK.

AirAsia cancelled the flight on 24 July 2026 because of middle east situation, and I requested a refund through Booking.com It has now been almost four weeks.

Booking.com keeps telling me that they have sent the refund request to AirAsia, but they will not refund me until they receive the money from AirAsia first. They also refuse to give me:

• the date they submitted the refund request to AirAsia
• confirmation of whether AirAsia has approved the refund
• any estimated timeframe

They simply keep telling me to “please wait” and say that the refund timeframe depends 100% on the airline.

My question is: Is this normal/legal when I actually paid Booking.com directly for the booking?

Has anyone been in a similar situation with Booking.com or another online travel agent? How long did you have to wait, and did you manage to get your money back?

I'm based in the UK, if that makes any difference.

Thanks.

Aylesbury_Duck

What do booking.com's terms say about refunds in this situation? Is there perhaps something in there that says they won't refund until they are refunded themselves? They are acting as your agent, so it seems reasonable that they wouldn't refund you until they themselves have been refunded.

Next time, book directly with the airline. It saves this sort of nonsense where you've introduced an intermediary.

Worried_fool

Note that your booking was made by Gotogate: Booking merely pocketed commission on the deal.

Presumably you paid by card: request a cashback on the ground that the agent took your payment but did not provide you with a valid ticket.

SiliconChip

I assume @Worried_fool means Chargeback, @born_again may be able to advise if it's possible in the circumstances described. Two things the OP hasn't told us: how they paid (hopefully with a card), and when the flight was due to depart, if it's still in the future that might impact whether a Chargeback can be requested yet.

DrunkenDribbler

Good Morning🙏

I should have been more specific. Flights were booked using a Debit card/Visa. We were meant to fly in October, still a while away.

I spoke to Nationwide yesterday. They said that based on Visa rules you need to give them reasonable amount of time which is 30 days. 30 days will pass next week then I ring NW again and they will chargeback based on Visa rules. I need to keep all web chat logs and booked ticket dates etc. Easy enough I guess.

We didnt booked with airline directly because tickets were 30% more.

Thanks