Airlines flipping off refund responsibility
THERE can be no question that international travel has become significantly more difficult in the era of Covid. Two years ago, I booked flights from Cape Town to Los Angeles for April 2020. That trip only became a reality in late February 2021. Because we had booked on Emirates through Discovery/ Vitality, Emirates had to reroute our outbound flights on Turkish Air due to UAE Covid restrictions.
We had hoped that Emirates would be flying into Cape Town by our return in early May 2021. Three weeks before our return flights to Cape Town, Emirates informed me that our return flight from Dubai to CT was cancelled due to extended Covid restrictions from Dubai to SA.
I was given the choice of having them reroute us on another airline or receiving a refund. This time I opted for the refund and booked my own return flights via Turkish Air.
Since we originally booked through Discovery/Vitality, we had to apply for the refund through Comair Travel, which I did in early April. Here it is six months later, and I am still waiting for our refund from Emirates via Comair. Comair has been blaming Emirates and Emirates has told me I must go through Comair. Trying to reach anyone by phone at either Comair or Emirates has proved futile. And while the agent at Comair usually answers my emails – which are considerable by now – the answer is always the same: “The refunds manager is checking with Emirates and will get back to you soon”. I’m still waiting.
At this stage, it is hard to know who is at fault: Emirates or Comair, or both. What I do know is that I expect better from Emirates as I have used them for years and they were always very professional and courteous, until now.
The amount of time and effort that has been invested in trying to get back a simple refund has soured me on both Emirates and Comair.
It would appear both have as their motto, “We hate to fly, and it shows.” Therefore, I will move my business to Turkish Air or Qatar from here on out.
MARK CHRISTOPHER | Durbanville