Under pressure from the European Commission, sixteen European airlines have agreed to new standards for paying out refunds when flights are canceled. Under the agreement, refunds are now to be made within seven days of cancelation.
The Commission’s meetings with the airline grew out of widespread anger last year when mass cancelations were taking place and airlines were trying to push vouchers instead of refunds, or were delaying refunds for months trying to hold on to their cash reserves.
Didier Reynders, European commissioner for justice, said in a statement “In the early phase of the pandemic, some airlines pushed vouchers on passengers. They were acting against EU consumer protection rules. That was unacceptable.” The airlines also agreed to improve systems to notify passengers of cancelations, and to only offer vouchers as an additional choice.
The airlines signing off on the deal are EasyJet, Ryanair, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, Aegean Airlines, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Iberia, Norwegian, TAP, Vueling and Wizz Air.
As they say: the proof is in the pudding! I have my doubts.