The Danish Transport Authority has reported ten airlines to the police for withholding customers refunds for canceled flights during the corona outbreak.
A statement on the website of the organization says that a total of 12 airlines in October received an order to pay the customers their money back by 1 December or they would be reported to the police.
The companies are Norwegian, Thai Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air France, Brussels Airlines, EasyJet, KLM, Ryanair, TAP Portugal and Vueling and it is now up to the prosecution to assess whether the airlines should be fined.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Lufthansa were also among the companies that received an injunction. The two companies have been asked to submit additional documentation by January 10, and they also risk receiving a notification at a later date.
According to the Danish Transport Agency the injunctions have meant that slightly more effort has been made by the airlines in regards to the repayments. However, none of the airlines has – in the Agency’s assessment – fully complied with the issued order.
The Danish company Flyhjælp (Air Assistance), which helps air passengers get their money back for canceled trips, however have not experienced a greater effort from the airlines in refunding payment and currently have around 2000 claims against airlines on behalf of passengers.
Press manager Alex Kirkeberg says that they have not experienced the hoped effects of the injunctions and still feel that the airlines are extending the cases excessively. He continues to say that they of course respect the current situation of the airline industry but that we must also respect the rules that states that customers’ payment for cancelled flights must be within seven days. Flyhjælp have customers who still have not received repayments for canceled trips in March.
Several of the airlines have apologized for having had an extraordinary number of cancellations to deal with as a result of the corona outbreak.
At the same time, the situation has meant that most airlines have been in dire straits regarding funds.
Source: BT
Thai airways are still selling flights with T&Cs clearly stating a refund within 7 days . Knowing this cannot be done as they are not allowed under thai law to offer them . Clearly lying to customers making out that they have a back log . Thai airways are finished after this . They will never be trusted again .
Thai Airways is under chapter 11!!!
So they are not allowed to pay out money 😉
And most of the other airliners does not have the money, so technically bankrupt !