My December flight to Georgia was cancelled but travel company Opodo has been too slow refunding my money
Last December, I paid �428 for a flight to Georgia through Opodo. Because of snow, the flight was cancelled and I applied for a refund. Opodo told me it would take two to 12 weeks for the refund to come through. Since then I have phoned the company four times. Once they said they weren't responsible for the money and that I had to claim through Austrian Airlines. Now, 15 weeks later, they are telling me that I never applied for a refund and I have to wait another 12 weeks for the money. NP, London
First it was the volcanic ash cloud and then the snow that disrupted thousands of flights in Europe last year. Airlines have used these events as an excuse to take months to return customers' money but really there is no excuse for taking so long.
Opodo has now looked properly at your refund claim and immediately admitted that it should have dealt with this sooner and kept you better informed. It says your claim was not just stuck in the queue, there was actually a problem.
Austrian Airlines' authorisation to refund your money turned out to be only a partial refund of �130 for some of the taxes. It wrongly charged a cancellation penalty of �206 because your ticket status showed that you had taken the flight, which of course you hadn't.
Opodo says if you check in online, the status automatically changes from "open" to "flown" at the flight departure time, whether or not the plane leaves the ground, but I am amazed that an airline could allow such an obvious computer error to go through.
Opodo again asked Austrian Airlines to refund all your money and �428 has now arrived in your bank account.
You can email Margaret Dibben at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Margaret Dibben, Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU and include a telephone number. Do not enclose SAEs or original documents. The newspaper accepts no legal responsibility for advice.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/may/29/margaret-dibben-opodo-flight-refund
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