Travel boss bemoans refund process

Airlines are "procrastinating" in the process of refunding passengers left out of pocket after the ash crisis.

Many travellers now need to reclaim expenses, as a result of the ash crisis affecting their travel plans, but airlines are failing to help customers get quick refunds.

Norman Gage, director of business travel at Advantage, said airlines don't really want to make the process easy.

"No airline has a claims form for these circumstances, and there's certainly not an industry standard either,"said Gage.

"I think they want to delay, because within the regulation there is no payout time limit. In some ways it is open ended."

The Advantage Business Travel team has been in contact with more than 70 airlines, collated all their policies regarding refunds and claims and communicated these to members.

The team has also resorted to providing its travel agency members with a standard form for business travel clients to use when making claims, based around the relevant EU regulations.

Gage also warned that airlines will want to look at claims on an individual basis. "If sombody's been staying at a 5-star deluxe resort, when they could have been staying at a 3-star down the road, the airline is not necessarily going to pay out for that sort of extravagance."

"Its hard to say, at this stage, if people will be out of pocket," said Gage, "but not if we can help it."

The Air Transport Users Council (AUC) has called for airlines to make it easier for passengers to get their money back following disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud.

The AUC carried out a survey of the websites of major UK and international carriers.

"Instructions on how passengers can go about claiming for their expenses, and on how to get a refund of a ticket if they did not travel, are either tucked away in a section of the site that can be difficult to find or are not there at all," said the AUC.

www.advantagetravelcentres.com   www.auc.org.uk