I waited over a year for a flight refund

Q

I n April 2020 I was issued with a voucher for £1,560.87 from Air France after my flight to Fortaleza in Brazil was cancelled. I was told at the time – and have it confirmed in an email from Air France – that the voucher was valid for 12 months and if I didn’t use it during that time I could claim a refund.

I contacted Air France as soon as the voucher expired and was told that the refund would be processed and I should expect it within 15 working days. That didn’t happen, and when I spoke to Air France in late May I was told that I would have to wait 60 to 90 days.

I’m an NHS paramedic and had been saving up for this trip for a long time. Can you find out what the problem is?

– Simon Radley

A

Air France did not initially provide cash refunds for flights cancelled by the airline due to the pandemic. All passengers were given a voucher valid for 12 months. As the expiry date approached, the airline did extend voucher validity to December 2021. However, passengers who wished to apply for a refund could do so.

The airline said it was deluged with requests for cash refunds from voucherholders in April and is taking time to process them. It apologised to Mr Radley and said he should receive his refund shortly. It arrived 12 days later.

Now that Air France has the cash to repay its customers, it has introduced Air France Protect, which promises that all tickets are fully refundable for flights scheduled to depart in 2021. If the airline cancels the flight, you receive a cash refund immediately. If you decide not to travel for any reason, you can cancel your ticket up to the close of check-in for the flight for a refund.

In the first instance you do need to apply for a voucher through the My Bookings section of the website. Once this has been issued, you can apply again to convert it into a cash refund. The website says that the processing time should be several weeks.

This new policy has turned Air France from one of the worst scheduled airlines for cash refunds into one of the best. Such policies vary widely. British Airways is issuing eVouchers on all flight itineraries completed by April 30 2022. Lufthansa allows date changes to tickets issued before July 31 2021 but only partial cash refunds. Virgin Atlantic says that for flights and holidays up to April 30 2022 you can change the dates and destinations as many times as you wish and the passenger name once. There are no voucher or cash refunds.

Beautiful game: footballers on the beach at Fortaleza in Brazil, where reader Simon Radley was heading before his flight was cancelled