Couple flying high after refund
THEIR trip of a lifetime to Latin America has still to happen, but the £2,500 a couple paid for flights is now winging its way back to them.
The wait has been long and, just a few weeks ago before Lauren and Ben Hooper contacted Crusader, their refund seemed as unlikely as finding a lost city in the Amazon.
Last year the couple booked multiple flights with EU, US and Latin American carriers for July and August through Kiwi.com.
They had previously satisfied customers of the based in the Czech Republic.
But this time international Covid travel restrictions changed everything with Lauren and Ben unable to go and most flights cancelled or departing almost a day late.
Accepting Kiwi’s initial explanation that they were waiting been agent, for the airlines to refund them, Lauren and Ben hung on too.
But with no progress six months later, Lauren checked with one of the airlines, Norwegian Air. “It said it had refunded Kiwi last summer.
“We were so disappointed that the money had not been passed on to us,” she told Crusader.
Redress via their credit card providers had also fallen by the wayside as by this time they were over the 120-day time limit to start a claims process. It’s estimated more than two million UK travellers are still waiting for flight refunds.
These are due within seven days if they fly from the UK or an EU country or with a UK or EU-based operator that cancels.
Crusader tackled Kiwi which responded quickly confirming it had now passed on the Norwegian Air refund, although it was still waiting for other airlines to stump up.
It then refunded the couple in full within days.
“We are sorry the refund process has been so long and difficult,” said a spokesperson. “We have been battling for monetary refunds for our customers from many airlines.”
Kiwi told Lauren that it had now found that in the course of changing its refund processes to cope with Covid restrictions and delays, there had been an error in her case.
That had led to her Norwegian Air refund not being swiftly transferred.
“Yes! We can now afford another trip, thank you,” the couple told Crusader.
Lauren and Ben’s names have been changed