Sixteen European airlines have reimbursed consumers for over 500,000 vouchers they had imposed at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Commission says.
The sixteen major airlines—including Brussels Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Wizzair, Vueling, EasyJet, Air France and Ryanair—had used the vouchers as compensation for canceled flights during the pandemic.
After a dialogue with the European Commission and the European Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC Network), the airlines decided to review their policies and committed to reimburse customers.
All airlines that bypassed European consumer rights and imposed vouchers were encouraged to offer travelers who had not already used the voucher a cash refund in exchange for the vouchers. According to the European Commission, about 500,000 consumers of the 2.5 million travelers contacted preferred the cash refund rather than the voucher.
Airlines have overall implemented their commitments regarding the massive cancelation crisis of 2020. The bulk of reimbursement backlogs has been cleared, consumers are better informed of their rights and millions of euros were reimbursed.
Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice
Overall, European airlines have implemented their commitments to refund consumers affected by the massive cancellation crisis of 2020, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said.
