Especially in these times of crisis, airline customers have to be patient when it comes to ticket refunds. Because of the numerous inquiries, there may be longer delays. This is also the case with an Austrian couple: The Styrians had booked a flight from Graz to Amsterdam and back for the beginning of April directly with the Dutch KLM. Due to the corona pandemic, the machine never took off.
For two months, the Styrians tried to get back the 687 euros for the two plane tickets - with no prospect of success. When the patience finally broke, they turned to the AK consumer protection. “We wrote to KLM immediately, but only got standard answers,” said Bettina Stepwieser, head of AK consumer protection. At the end of July, a lawsuit was finally filed for reimbursement of the flight costs. “After filing a lawsuit, the airline announced that it would pay. The money was there in mid-August, ”said the consumer advocate:“ But they didn't pay our court costs. We are now suing them. "
KLM is not the only airline that is currently being sued: "We are preparing lawsuits against Lufthansa, Ryanair, Eurowings, Emirates and Turkish Airlines, among others," reports Stepwieser. They are all said to have canceled flights and would now not pay back the ticket costs like that Chamber of Labor Styria communicates.