One year after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and its severe impact on the aviation industry and air passengers’ consumer rights, the European Court of Auditors recently published a report entitled “Air passenger rights during the COVID-19 pandemic: Key rights not protected despite Commission efforts”. 

The report concludes that:

“[…] key passenger rights were not protected in this unprecedented crisis, in particular in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reimbursements to air passengers for cancelled flights were put on hold, and passengers were treated differently across the EU.  

At the same time, Member States provided unprecedented amounts of State aid support for airlines and package organisers. The Member States never linked this aid to the reimbursement of passengers for airlines, but most Member States did so for package organisers. The Member States took these decisions for airlines despite the fact that the Commission had made it clear that under State aid rules they could do so.  

During the first months of the crisis, many passengers were not reimbursed; many others had no choice but to accept vouchers. As of June 2020, many airlines started reimbursing, albeit with significant delays. However, the passenger’s ability to secure reimbursement remains limited both when intermediaries (e.g. travel agencies) are involved, and when vouchers were imposed on passengers. Furthermore, most tickets and vouchers of passengers are not protected against airline insolvency.” 

During the first months of the crisis, many passengers were not reimbursed; many others had no choice but to accept vouchers. As of June 2020, many airlines started reimbursing, albeit with significant delays. However, the passenger’s ability to secure reimbursement remains limited both when intermediaries (e.g. travel agencies) are involved, and when vouchers were imposed on passengers. Furthermore, most tickets and vouchers of passengers are not protected against airline insolvency.” 

Some of the measures recommended by the European Court of Auditors to the European Commission and the EU Member States in order to rectify the above are:  

• “creating guarantee funds for cancellations of flights and of travel packages containing flights, allowing airlines and package organisers to draw on to reimburse and, if needed, repatriate passengers in times of crisis, or 
• setting aside a fixed percentage of the ticket pre-payment (“ring-fencing”) in each airline, to cover claims of travellers; 
• provide the NEBs with the necessary means to enforce air passenger rights; 
• clarify the roles and responsibilities for ticket reimbursement where intermediaries are involved;” 

In addition to the aforementioned report, in its own latest communication on air passenger rights of 28 June 2021, the European Commission and consumer authorities across the EU also urge airlines operating in the EU to improve their practices with the help of a list of measures drawn up by the European Commission and the CPC network of national consumer protection authorities. 

The Commission’s investigation into airlines procedures following cancelled flights during the pandemic included instances of these bad practices by some airlines:  

• presenting the right to cash reimbursement less prominently than other options such as re-routing or vouchers 
• the written notice setting out rules for compensation and assistance required by EU law is either not provided or not easily accessible via cancellation e-mails 
• cancellation-related communications may lead passengers to believe that the reimbursement in cash is an act of goodwill of the airline rather than a legal obligation under EU law 
• many airlines issuing vouchers did not offer cash reimbursement at all 
• many airlines subjected the passenger claiming cash reimbursement to completing a cumbersome refund process
• some vouchers were found impossible to redeem before the end of their validity period
• Some airlines unilaterally extended vouchers’ validity period without informing passengers about their right to request a reimbursement 
• Some airlines still have reimbursement backlogs and do not reimburse consumers within the 7-day time limit for new reimbursement requests. 
• In most of the cases where passengers booked their flights via an intermediary, airlines do not inform passengers about their cancellation-related rights, nor do they accept direct requests for reimbursement in money, claiming that this responsibility falls on the intermediary. 

The European Commission states unequivocally that airlines operating in the EU must provide a choice between a refund and a voucher and inform passengers that they have the right to exchange their vouchers for money at any time and operate pending reimbursements by 1 September 2021 at the latest.  

 The measures requested by the European Commission are detailed here. 

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, through its 30 centres across the EU and the EEA, ECC Ireland’s parent organisation, the European Consumer Centres’ Network (ECC-Net), secured cancelled flights reimbursements totalling over EUR 2,5m on behalf of passengers using its services. 75% of a total of 6,000 flight-cancellation complaints received by the network were successfully resolved following our direct intervention. Over the first COVID-19-year 2020, air passenger issues accounted for 64% of the total number of complaints received by the European Consumer Centre Ireland, of which 76% were resolved successfully through our dispute resolution service.  

By far the biggest issue over 2020 involved passengers receiving vouchers instead of a cash refund for airline-cancelled flights. Pursuant to the European Commission’s COVID-19 Recommendation on EU Regulation  (EC) No 261/2004, airlines were obliged to refund the full cost of cancelled flights within 7 days, either in cash or in the form of a voucher; this latter option only possible with the passenger’s express agreement.  

These rules are applicable to all airlines based in and all flights departing/arriving from/into any EU Member State, Iceland, Norway and the United Kingdom. The rules apply to airline tickets bought both directly from the airline or through a booking agent/ platform intermediary; it should be noted that in the latter case, the refund process took longer as refunds were transferred from airlines to the passengers via the intermediaries. 

If vouchers instead of immediate cash refunds were accepted (or offered as a sole solution), they needed to be valid for 12 months, at which point they should have been cashed in. In many cases, however, airlines extended their vouchers’ validity further instead of operating refunds. Where this process did not take place at all or was severely delayed, passengers were assisted by the local European Consumer Centres in order to obtain a refund or extend a voucher’s validity either from the airline or through a booking intermediary.  

The role of European Consumer Centres, such as ours in Ireland, in the consumer disputes over reimbursements following flight cancellations, is to inform and assist consumers to know and claim their rights.  

Our consumer resources on air passenger rights can be read here. 

Consumers can follow step-by-step instructions on flight-related compensation disputes here. 

All the redress options available to consumers in the EU are detailed here. 

Consumers who have a dispute with an airline located/headquartered in another EU/EEA country can avail of ECC Ireland’s expert assistance with the practicalities of obtaining redress here.