It will come as no surprise to anyone who tried to claw money back from airlines over the COVID-19 pandemic Australian airlines really, really don’t like giving refunds.
And why should they, we have some of the most lax consumer laws as far as travel refunds go in the world.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, CHOICE and the Australian Lawyer Alliance have all urged the government to reconsider refunds as part of their submissions to a government white paper on aviation.
In Europe, according to The Guardian, passengers whose flights arrive at their final destination with a delay of more than three hours are entitled to between €250 and €600 each, depending on the distance of the trip.
Longer delays mean passengers can opt to be refunded, which must be repaid to them within seven days. If a delay means a passenger misses a connecting flight on the same reservation, the airline must also pay compensation.
Say what?
This sounds fantastic.
CHOICE Australia’s money and travel expert, Jodi Bird said: :Australian airlines don’t seem to care much about customer service after they’ve sold you the ticket, and something like this would mean they’d have to.”
Did you lose money over the pandemic? Did you get it back? Would you support the above changes?
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