Flight Centre waives cancellation fees after consumer backlash
Flight Centre has caved under pressure and has pledged not to charge any more hefty cancellation fees.
The travel agency group has been flooded with complaints and slammed on social media by customers for its policy of charging refund fees of $300 per person for international flights or $50 for a domestic flight.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was applying pressure too and had threatened court action.
Flight Centre had already put a cap on cancellation fees per booking and now will scrap them altogether.
It will now refund customers who were charged the fees since March 13.
It also applies to bookings through other Flight Centre Group companies including Aunt Betty, Travel Associates, Student Universe, Universal Traveller and Byojet Travel.
The ACCC said it had been inundated with more than 6,000 complaints.
"This is a very welcome move made by Flight Centre for thousands of customers impacted by Covid-19 travel cancellations," ACCC chair Rod Sims said.
"We are continuing to discuss issues in relation to refunds and cancellations with the travel sector, and encourage travel providers to treat consumers fairly in these exceptional circumstances."
"We ask consumers to remain patient and be mindful of the significant pressures on businesses at this time and, where possible, contact the business by email or website, rather than by phone," Sims said.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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