Your flight has been cancelled and you’re asking yourself if you can get a full refund or only a voucher? We’ve compiled the policies of forty airlines and present you with a quick overlook.
We have already summarized at which points airlines must offer you a full refund:
In order to keep it short – you are entitled to a refund if one of the following two conditions applies:
- Your flight was booked with an airline headquartered in the European Union, Switzerland, Iceland r Norway, i.e. Lufthansa, Swiss, KLM, Air France, Norwegian, …
- Your flight departed from EU soil and operated by an airline headquartered outside the EU, i.e. Emirates, Etihad, American Airlines, …
Sadly, many airlines try to circumvent those rules by keeping passengers in the dark, suggesting that a voucher is all they can hope for. In most cases, this is false. Because of that, we compiled the airlines’ stance and your option to deal with them.
Info
We cannot give a guarantee for correctness, but added the sources for as many airlines as possible.
Table of contents
- Should I Accept a Voucher?
- Aegean Airlines
- Aer Lingus
- Air Baltic
- Air Canada
- Air France
- Air Transat
- Alitalia
- American Airlines
- Austrian
- British Airways
- Brussels Airlines
- Cathay Pacific
- Condor
- Delta
- Easyjet
- Egyptair
- Emirates
- Etihad Airways
- Ethiopian Airlines
- Eurowings
- Finnair
- Iberia
- Icelandair
- KLM
- LATAM
- Lufthansa
- Norwegian
- Oman Air
- Pegasus Airlines
- Qatar Airways
- Ryanair
- SAS
- Scoot
- Singapore Airlines
- Sun Express
- Swiss
- TAP Air Portugal
- Thai Airways
- Turkish Airlines
- United Airlines
Should I Accept a Voucher?
You’re not sure whether you should prefer a voucher over a refund? We can’t make that decision for you, but can shine light on the pros and cons of accepting a voucher:
- A voucher helps the airline to keep operating flights in dire financial times. Some even offer a refund at a later point (up to 12 months).
- Some airlines add a bonus to the value of your voucher if you opt for it.
- Sometimes, the airline offers only a voucher – to get a refund instead takes time and may come at additional costs for legal help.
- You are bound to the airline, even if you find a cheaper ticket with a different carrier.
- The vouchers are usually quite restrictive. For example, they are often valid just a year and cannot be combined with coupon codes or other discounts.
- If the airline files for bankruptcy, your voucher is basically worthless.
- How long Covid-19 related travel restrictions are upheld is totally up in the air. You may not be able to redeem the voucher before it expires.
Air Canada
- EU-Airline: No, based in Canada.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law for flights departing from Europe.
- Voucher: Yes, valid for 24 months.
- Rebooking: Ja, no rebooking fee, but price difference.
Air France
- EU-Airline: Yes, based in France.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law.
- Voucher: Yes, valid for one year.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference. Until September 30, 2020, for travel before November 30, 2020.
Air Transat
- EU-Airline: No, based in Canada.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law for flights departing from Europe.
- Voucher: Yes, valid for 24 months, issued automatically in case of cancellation.
- Rebooking: No. Only vouchers.
American Airlines
- EU-Airline: No, based in the USA.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law for flights departing from Europe.
- Voucher: No
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, no price difference.
Condor
- EU-Airline: Yes, based in Germany.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law.
- Voucher: No
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference. Rebooking may occur after the initial departure date.
Delta
- EU-Airline: No, based in the USA.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law for flights departing from Europe.
- Voucher: No
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference. Valid until December 31, 2020.
Easyjet
- EU-Airline: Yes, based in the UK & Austria.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law.
- Voucher: Yes, valid for 6 months.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference.
Etihad Airways
- EU-Airline: No, based in the UAE.
- Refund: Yes, for departures from the European Union, Switzerland, United States and United Kingdom.
- Voucher: Yes, until September 30 for travel until July 31, 2021. Plus up to 5,000 Etihad Guest Miles.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, no price difference for departures before June 30, 2020.
Ethiopian Airlines
- EU-Airline: No, based in Ethiopia.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law for flights departing from Europe.
- Voucher: Yes, valid for one year.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference. Valid until December 31, 2020.
Eurowings
- EU-Airline: Yes, based in Germany & Austria.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law.
- Voucher: Yes, valid for one year. You may travel later.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference. Valid until August 31, 2020, for travel up to March 27, 2021.
Icelandair
- EU-Airline: No, but subject to EU law.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law.
- Voucher: Yes, valid for three years.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference. Valid for travel until December 31, 2020.
KLM
- EU-Airline: Yes, based in the Netherlands.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law.
- Voucher: Yes, valid for one year. You may travel later.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference.
Lufthansa
- EU-Airline: Yes, based in Germany.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law.
- Voucher: Yes, valid until August 30, 2020, with a €50 bonus.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference. Valid until August 31, 2020, for travel up to April 30, 2021. For departures before December 31, a €50 bonus is subtracted from the price difference.
Norwegian
- EU-Airline: No, but subject to EU law.
- Refund: Yes
- Voucher: Yes, with 20% bonus in CashPoints. Valid for 12 months.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference. Valid until May 31, 2020, for travel up to November 30, 2021.
Oman Air
- EU-Airline: No, based in Oman.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law for flights departing from Europe.
- Voucher: No
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee and no price difference in the same booking class. Valid until May 31, 2020, for travel up to October 31, 2020.
Singapore Airlines
Sun Express
- EU-Airline: No, based in Turkey.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law for flights departing from Europe.
- Voucher: Yes, with a €25 bonus. Valid until March 27, 2021.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference. For bookings made before May 31, 2020, and travel up to June 30, 2021.
Swiss
- EU-Airline: No, but subject to EU law.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law.
- Voucher: Yes, with a €50 bonus. Valid until August 31, 2021.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference. For bookings made before August 31, 2020, and travel up to April 30, 2021.
Thai Airways
- EU-Airline: No, based in Thailand.
- Refund: Not actively offered, but subject to EU law for flights departing from Europe.
- Voucher: No
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee, but price difference. For bookings made between January 28 and April 30, 2020.
Turkish Airlines
- EU-Airline: No, based in Turkey.
- Refund: Yes, even possible as Miles&Smiles Miles
- Voucher: Yes, as an Open Ticket valid for travel until February 28, 2021.
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee and no price difference within the same booking class. Valid for bookings made until April 21, 2020.
United Airlines
- EU-Airline: No, based in the USA.
- Refund: Yes, but only after 12 months
- Voucher: Yes, valid for 12 months
- Rebooking: Yes, no rebooking fee but with price difference. Up to 12 months for new booking until April 30. For existing bookings made before March 2 with travel dates up to May 31.
Comments (3)
And what can I do when an airline only gives me the possibility to get a voucher, like Lufthansa or Swiss do? How do I get the refund?
Hi, Marc!
You should contact them and demand the refund, quoting (EG) Regulation No. 261/2004, Article 8 Right to reimbursement or re-routing. You can read more on this topic here in the last paragraph:
https://travel-dealz.eu/blog/cancellation-full-refund/
Great article. I have one addition: Scoot offers refunds in form of vouchers. Our flight wasn’t even cancelled but we could no longer transit in Singapore so I went online to see if I can rebook to a later date in the year and there it was, a button saying “Refund”. I clicked it, received an email in my inbox confirming the request and the very next day I had a voucher for the amount of my booking, valid for 1 year from date of issue.