Expats on the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca are struggling to get refunds from low cost airline Ryanair 

EXPATS have been attempting to get refunds from cancelled flights booked before the lockdown and State of Alarm in Spain for flights back to the UK as well as travellers who wished to book for Spain.

With the visits to the UK cancelled for many expats to which they had planned prior to the crisis whether it be for business or family visits, not the fault of the customer, they tell how they can’t get a cash refund.

Nichola Regis from Mijas told the Euro Weekly News of her frustrations:

“I have four different flights booked, one to the UK so I could go and see my family in Essex, that was cancelled, one to Bristol, that was cancelled, a business trip and then two for June and July to Budapest and Prague for girls trips away, I don’t have any information yet on those but presume they are likely to be cancelled. I’m getting emails in regards my cancelled flights but offering me credit vouchers that are valid up to 12 months, but money is tight now with no work for six weeks and I have no plans to travel any more this year. There is a section on the website that it leads you to if you insist on a cash refund, but when you get to that section it simply tells you that you will have to go to the back of the queue and wait until the crisis is over with no confirmed dates, that can’t be correct? They cancelled the flights, they have my money, they couldn’t provide the service, so I should be entitled to a refund back to my payment card. Yes I know they are probably like most businesses struggling for cash flow, but so am I and have kids to feed.”

Dave Sturgeon also expressed his feelings on the same issue: “Ryanair are doing everything possible not to refund in cash, I don’t want a voucher and have no plans to travel in the next 12 months at all, they have my money and won’t repay it by return, they say go in the refund line for when the crisis is over, I can’t tell that to the girl at the supermarket checkout can I? The sum of €655 is at lot of money at the moment and I need it in my bank account and not Ryanair’s.”

Chris Catton has noticed that his bookings are disappearing on the website as he said “I went to look at my bookings and check the flights and dates, but they simply have disappeared, they aren’t there at present, also I can’t get a refund back to my Visa card by return with no indication of when a payment can be made apart from ‘after the crisis.’ I don’t think that’s acceptable.”

Aviation enthusiast Frank Thomas from Torreblanca supported the airline’s actions “Airlines are in a financial crisis, cash flow will be non existent, I would urge everyone to take a credit note to assist the airline, we will need low cost airlines in the future when this is all over, people will soon start moaning if they don’t have cheap flights after the crisis – give the business a break if you want it in the future.”

Jason Thorpe though was less sympathetic “O’Leary the owner is always giving it the large one with his race horses and big wins, he’s a multi-millionaire, he should be refunding customers straight away if he hasn’t been able to provide the services, if he can’t afford to, then he should turn to the government, they tried to help out Flybe!”