Travel customers still waiting months for refunds from airlines, travel agents

Steven Marvell and his wife have been waiting seven months for a refund to plane tickets they bought for a trip in July.

They were due to fly with Qantas from Sydney to London.

When COVID-19 hit Australia though, and the Government restricted international flights, he asked for a refund.

“We had to decide in May if we should accept a credit so we thought we’d do that for the following year,” Mr Marvell told ABC Radio Sydney.

“But then we thought ‘we don’t know when we’ll be able to fly and whether we’ll want to fly’.

“We contacted the travel agent and asked for a refund.”

He still has not seen any of the $10,600 he paid for two premium economy return tickets.

He has also lost $800 on tickets with Scandinavian Airlines and another $800 for a canceled Airbnb booking in London.

A spokesperson from Qantas told ABC Radio Sydney in a statement that they were “working to clear the backlog as quickly as we can, but it is unprecedented and we’re really grateful for people’s patience”.

If customers made their bookings through a travel agent or third party, refunds must be processed via those agents, the spokesperson outlined.

In June, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) raised concerns with Qantas after the company was issuing travel credits rather than refunds for flights that had been cancelled.

Others still waiting

Mr Marvell is not alone and is among many other travelers still waiting on refunds from airlines or travel agents.

“Still waiting for a Qantas refund. Told 16-week wait, been waiting over 6 months.” — Jo

“Bought four Qantas tickets in February from Flight Center for $1,800. Got told ‘don’t bother contacting us, you will get paid eventually’.” — Peter

On its website, Flight Center wrote that due to coronavirus “all suppliers have been delayed with requests leading to long wait times of more than 12 weeks in some instances”.

“I booked return flights to the UK for last June. Nearly $6,000! Flights were booked with Virgin but operated by Singapore Airlines. Virgin have refused to offer a refund even when asked on multiple occasions. They have given me travel credit. As it stands now I have $6,000 in travel credit to use by next July. All we want is a refund.” — Joe

Virgin indicated they were “unable to offer refunds or credit for flexible fares” if travel was to occur on or after February 1.

“We have been waiting since March 11 for a refund of about $12,000 from TripADeal for a 6-week holiday in Europe. We received the Emirates refund for flights months ago but have only been given credits for the remainder.” — ABC Radio Sydney listeners

TripADeal said they are “working closely with our local and international suppliers” and offer credits and refunds “where possible”.

“We were to fly to India in October. Still haven’t got $12,000 refund from Singapore Airlines.” — Harry and Bronwyn

A spokesperson from Singapore Airlines said all refunds requested for flights scheduled to depart between April and November have been processed.

Customers who bought tickets directly from the airline should have received their refunds.

Customers who purchased tickets via travel agents should contact those agents about refunds as Singapore Airlines has refunded money to those travel companies, the spokesperson said.

Why is this happening?

The Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) says that under normal circumstances, refunds should be processed within 12 weeks.

In a fact sheet on the AFTA website, it says “in the current environment, there are clearly significant delays on top of this”.

“These delays are not the fault of the travel agent but are due to government imposed restrictions,” AFTA said.