A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us an infuriating Ethiopian Airlines flight cancellation case where the airlines tries to charge a fee for a refund for flights that they canceled (the airline).
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Here’s the email from the reader:
I thought this might interest you. I am forwarding to you an entire chain of absurd e-mails from Ethiopian Airlines pertaining to the cancelation of some flights on their end, for which they are asking me to pay cancelation fees in order to receive a rebate!
Here’s the short story prior to my initial below e-mail on August 24th (the rest of the story is in their below responses):
- On June 7th, 2021, I booked 2 tickets under Reservation Code REMOVED on the Ethiopian Airlines website directly, to fly on September 1st from ATH to NOS (Nosy Be Madagascar), via Cairo and Addis Ababa. Flights Sep-1 ATH-CAI ET1804, Sep-2 CAI-ADD ET453, Sep-2 ADD-NOS ET837, and return with the same routing on September 9th. The tickets were business class, and I paid EUR 3,006.28 each. At the time, flights to Nosy Be were running normally.
- Sometime in July, the Madagascar government closed the airports to all commercial flights due to COVID, and then prolonged this closure every 15 days.
- On August 23rd, I received 4 automated e-mails from Ethiopian Airlines stating that the CAI-ADD, ADD-NOS, NOS-ADD and ADD-CAI flights were cancelled. The ATH-CAI flights were operated by Aegean, so the cancellation for that leg was made by them.
- On August 24th I sent reservation @ ethiopianairlines.com an e-mail requesting a full refund, to which, as you will see below, they responded that since the cancellation was due to “government restriction”, a cancellation fee of 129 EUR per person will apply, and if I want my money back I have to accept this. Later they even said that if I don’t accept, after September 1st I’d be liable for even more penalties as a no-show (on a canceled itinerary!!).
- Since then, I have not accepted this cancellation fee, and we keep going back and forth, which is infuriating.
I hope you find this story interesting, and I wonder how many more Loyalty Lobby fans have experienced such a scam from Ethiopian.
Here’s the most recent response from Ethiopian:
From: reservation@ethiopianairlines.com <reservation@ethiopianairlines.mypurecloud.de>
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2021 8:31 PM
To: REMOVED <REMOVED@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: RE: RE: RE: Cancelled flights / Request for full fare rebate – Reservation Code REMOVEDDear Mr. REMOVED,
Thank for your email.
Kindly be informed that the flight is cancelled due to government restriction so the cancellation fee will apply.
Pursuant to your email to cancel your flight booked under reference number , please find the details below:
1. The applicable cancellation fee is 129EUR/per person.
2. The amount to be refunded is 2877.28EUR/per person
3. The refund will be made to the credit card that was used to purchase the ticket.
4. The processed refund amount will be displayed into your account within 15 working days.
If you would like to continue with the refund, kindly confirm by return of this email,
Thank you for choosing Ethiopian.
Kind regards,
Samuel Mulugeta(Mr.)
It is very clear that the reader is due a full refund because Ethiopian Airlines has canceled several flights on their itinerary.
The airline claims that they are allowed to collect a refund fee if the cancellation is due to government action that is utter nonsense.
The reader must:
1. Chargeback the purchase
The reader had paid using a Mastercard (there is a long email convo that he forwarded to us), and need to contact the issuing bank to initiate a chargeback. Doing one can be easy, difficult, or impossible depending on the country.
The airline has not provided the service the reader paid for and thus is eligible for getting money paid back.
2. File complaint with the EC 261/2004 enforcement body
As the reader’s trip begins within EU/EEA, they are also eligible for a full refund per EC 261/2004 legislation.
They can file a complaint with the EC 261/2004 enforcement body in Greece.
Conclusion
The reader already noted in his communication with Ethiopian Airlines that the EC 261/2004 legislation does apply and the airline is required to refund in full.
Not sure why the airline tries to play games because eventually they are forced to refund regardless? I guess that Ethiopian is so deprived of cash that they are trying to delay legitimate refunds.
What an awful situation for the passenger! I am still fighting to be refunded for a cancelled March 2020 flight with Bamboo Airways (BEFORE countries started to close their borders) and they’re playing the same tricks…
CHARGE BACK BABY! My flights were cancelled and the airline was playing games offering vouchers etc… NOPE. Called my credit card company and forwarded them confirmation that the flights were cancelled and they issued me a refund.
Sounds like Avianca (seemingly will only issue a voucher valid until 31/12/2021 minus USD 300) on an itinerary with multiple flight cancellations by their own airline. I say “seemingly” because they don’t actually answer emails and this is just what one agent told me before redirecting to another department, who said they could not help.
Where do the flights take place and where were the tickets issued?
OT. 2 months ago,Qatar was refunding tickets within 10 days.I called and was told 28 days or less. I’m currently waiting at the 5 week mark now. I called at 4 weeks and was lied to,”It’s in process and should be 3-4 days”! I called 6 days later and was told in process and nothing could be done except go to the website and file a complaint. Doing so,I received this e-mail reply,”Dear Customer,Thank you for contacting Qatar Airways Customer Care.
This automated response confirms receipt of your email. One of our team members will review your comments and will revert to you in due course. Due course means eventually in Arabic/Qatari.
However, your message may require further input and review from other departments, and this may delay our response. Please be assured that we will respond to your message.
You are encouraged to provide us with your booking reference, e-ticket number or any other information related to your concerns for quicker handling, if this information has not been provided earlier.
In the meantime, you may please take note of your case reference: CAS-XXXXXXX-XXXXXX assigned to your correspondence’.
Kind regards,
Qatar Airways We Don’t Have Customer Care Team
Qatar Airways – Going Places Together
That was 3 days ago. If Akbar Al Baker needs my money that badly, maybe he should just drop out of the air transportation business.
Good ol’ Al Baker.
First they buy next years World Cup and now this…..LOL! It’s expensive to air condition outdoor stadiums.
What a pain in the ass. Unbelievable that they would not give a full refund for a flight they cancelled. BTW I had a reservation on JAL to fly the beginning of September. The middle of the summer they cancelled my return flight. I contacted them and told them I was cancelling the whole reservation since my return was cancelled and also could not enter the country due to quarantine restrictions. I did pay a little extra for my ticket that would have allowed me to get all funds back except $500 if I cancelled the trip. However, this was not applicable since they cancelled the flight not me. They refunded the full price of my ticket and I received confirmation of the refund via email within less then a week. So I am very happy with JAL.
What a pain in the ass. Unbelievable that they would not give a full refund for a flight they cancelled. BTW I had a reservation on JAL to fly the beginning of September. The middle of the summer they cancelled my return flight. I contacted them and told them I was cancelling the whole reservation since my return was cancelled and also could not enter the country due to quarantine restrictions. I did pay a little extra for my ticket that would have allowed me to get all funds back except $500 if I cancelled the trip. However, this was not applicable since they cancelled the flight not me. They refunded the full price of my ticket and I received confirmation of the refund via email within less then a week. So I am very happy with JAL.
Too much emphasis on the charge back. Many credit cards will not help unless you booked with their travel services. They are too inundated with requests and the terms and conditions vary from airline to airline. Also, 129 Euros, while I would not want to spend it if I did not have to, consider the amount you would get back. Also consider the amount of time you put into this and if it’s worth fighting over the 129 euros! On the other hand if this person held the appropriate credit cards which offers an airline credit, he or she would not need to pay for it.
What a strange response from @Iamhere. I had a similar experience with Aero Mexico with a cancelled connecting flight. They rebooked me departing the previous day, 12 hours before my flight would arrive from Madrid. Only option offered was rebook within 14days of original flight or pay additional fare or apply for refund to be completed 12 months from date of application. Called MasterCard, did charge back and was credit within 24 hour. Not sure why 129 Euro is not important to you but my money is my money and I want it all back, so yes, it is worth fighting for. This was my second charge back this year, the other was with LOT and I did not get any pushback from the credit card company. The credit card companies with help you get your money back.