Ryanair condemned over ‘wallet’ refund policy
Budget carrier Ryanair is under fire again over its refund policy.
The airline now placing all funds owed into the customers ‘Ryanair Wallet’.
This is an extra, unnecessary step that Which? believes makes it more complicated for customers to get their cash back.
Customers must first confirm they want a refund which is then placed in the online wallet.
They are then required to contact the airline again to ask to withdraw the cash refund.
The watchdog believes this new scheme may violate the law.
Airlines are legally required to directly refund customers for cancelled flights within seven days, and required to gain customers’ signed agreements if they are offering a voucher as an alternative.
Ryanair told Which? they email a voucher by default for cancelled flights, and tell customers to ‘refuse’ the voucher if they prefer to be refunded.
Ryanair does not give passengers a choice over their refunds being issued into the wallet, and doesn’t to tell them about its updated refund method when booking flights.
Which? has asked the Civil Aviation Authority to investigate.
Which? called out Ryanair’s ‘potentially misleading; approach to providing refunds previously on several occasions.
In 2020 Ryanair customers complained they were sent unsolicited vouchers even after they indicated they wanted a cash refund.
Ryanair, along with other large airlines, also failed to consistently giving customers a refund within seven days of cancelled flights as then required under EU law.
Ray Monty
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