Finally, the aerial breathes a little. After sluggish months due to border closures and movement restrictions, the sector is picking up some colors with the improvement of the health situation in many countries. However, this regain of form is fragile, as explained by Ben Smith, the general manager of Air France-KLM, on Europe 1, Tuesday noon. Another major problem at the moment, the question of assets: many customers are unable to be reimbursed for flights canceled since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
“No way to get the money back”
Séverine is one of the 10,000 client files processed by the UFC-Que Choisir for reimbursements that do not succeed. This summer, this Frenchwoman has no desire to fly. Too many constraints, too many fears … For months, she has therefore been asking the airline Vueling for the 800 euros of flights that she could not make, without success. “From the start, they didn’t give me a choice,” she told the microphone of Europe 1. “They turned my tickets into flight credits. I tried on their site, it didn’t There’s no way to get the money back. Over the phone, they say ‘choice number one, choice number two.’ At the end of the day, you never have anyone on the phone. “
“ Passengers receive an email every six months requiring them to use their assets, under penalty of losing their money “
Files like that of Séverine, Raphael Bartolomé receives them every day. “A passenger who tries to dialogue with customer service, whether via social networks, emails, phones, has no answer,” says the one who is legal director at UFC-Que Choisir. “The passenger also receives, every six months, an email requiring him to use his assets, on pain of losing his money. This is what annoys the thousands of consumers who have made reports to us.”
Air France, the right student?
Among the companies less open to dialogue, there is Ryanair, Iberia or Lufthansa, while EasyJet has made some refunds. But the only one to really play the game, according to the UFC-Que Choisir, remains Air France.
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