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As airports reopen and countries end travel bans at their borders, people are starting to feel confident enough to book summer travel. The European Union is actively encouraging its citizens to do so, releasing a tourism strategy earlier this month outlining how travel can work in the age of Coronavirus.
But given the continued uncertainty, consumers should be cautious when booking flights. Some of the flights currently available for purchase online will probably not actually take off. There is increasing suspicion that some airlines are pulling a bait-and-switch, allowing people to buy tickets online for flights they have no intention of operating, and then locking them into receiving only a voucher for the cancelled flight instead of a cash refund.
An investigation by the website Skift found that some airlines are allowing customers to book tickets on flight routes in July that they have already told their shareholders won’t be operating. They then alert the customer some days after purchase that the flight is cancelled, but only offer them a voucher as compensation. According to Skift, one airline boss implied during a call with shareholders that airlines are selling flights that might not fly in order to “create as much selling opportunities as possible coming out of a negative to net zero demand environment”.
Even when airlines aren’t purposefully listing flights that probably won’t take off, there is still some risk involved in booking far in advance over the next months. With the situation being so uncertain, aviation experts say airlines will probably be cancelling flights at short notice if they have not filled to a capacity that makes them profitable to fly. A good strategy to avoid being stuck with a voucher you can’t use, they say, is to check to make sure a flight is adequately full before booking.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, said on Friday it will look into the issue of whether tickets for already-cancelled flights are being sold online. “If there are scams out there then obviously the consumer protection authorities in member states should be alerted and look into this – the commission will of course look into this as well,” said a spokesperson.
“We would caution travellers to be very careful.”
The EU is currently locked in a battle with airlines and national governments over the voucher issue. Under EU passenger rights law, airlines must offer customers the option of a cash refund for cancelled flights that were to take off or land in EU territory. But many airlines are making it difficult or impossible for customers to get refunds. They want to be able to force customers to take time-limited vouchers instead, because of the severe liquidity problems they are facing during the Coronavirus crisis.
It is up to national governments to enforce EU law, and several member states have said they will not enforce the law because airlines need the money. The Commission has sent warning letters to 12 out of the 27 EU countries saying they are infringing EU law by not forcing airlines to issue cash refunds. So far 10 of those countries have responded.
A commission spokesperson said that if such a bait-and-switch occurred in Europe, the airline must offer the customer a refund in cash. “If a passenger buys a ticket and then the airline company cancels the ticket, the passenger has the right to reimbursement or rerouting,” he said. “Airlines can also offer vouchers, but the passengers have the right to refuse vouchers.”
The Commission says it understand airlines are facing liquidity difficulties and they want to issue vouchers in order to keep the cash on hands. They have recommended that the airlines make the vouchers more attractive to customers, who are afraid they will end up not using them, by offering protection against insolvency, a duration of at least 12 months, and transferability between passengers. “By doing so passengers have protection,” the spokesperson said.
