Yahoo Finance 'We had to cancel our holiday after cancer diagnosis. Why did it take two months to get a refund?'
We had to cancel our business-class tickets to New Zealand with Cathay Pacific because of a diagnosis of cancer and subsequent chemotherapy for my wife.
We emailed Trailfinders, with which we had booked on Nov 5 2018, to say we wanted a refund. The cost of the tickets was £6,926 and, even though we were expected to pay within 24 hours of booking, we didn’t receive the refund until January.
Surely a speedier return of one’s money should be expected, rather than the 10 weeks it took in our case?
MH, East Sussex
It seems you suffered a long wait because there were multiple stages to the refund: Cathay Pacific had to refund Trailfinders, which in turn refunded you, subject to your bank processing it.
Cathay Pacific confirmed that it refunded the tickets to Trailfinders in late November, after receiving the request on Nov 13.
It said the time it took for funds to transfer between an airline and the agent (and vice versa) can be between seven days and four weeks. After that, the time required for the actual refund to reach a customer will also depend on their individual bank.
Trailfinders said that, with Christmas falling near the time your refund was processed, there was a “minor administration delay”.
A spokesman said: “Flight refunds tend to take eight to 12 weeks due to the complexities of airlines’ accounting and billing systems, over which we have no control.
“We are unable to compel airlines to process refunds any quicker than they already do. We are sorry that Mr H was disappointed on this occasion.”
A Cathay Pacific spokesman said: “We take customer concerns seriously and have written to Mr and Mrs H to advise them of the refund process to ensure that this is clear and to offer reassurances for any future bookings.”
You are grateful to know that your case has been looked into, but remain flummoxed that, with the capabilities of digital payments available today, the process can’t be made any quicker.
