Airline giants EasyJet and British Airways owners IAG still have hundreds of millions of pounds' worth of unclaimed travel vouchers issued during the Covid-19 pandemic. Figures suggest EasyJet had £110m in unclaimed vouchers.
IAG, which also owns the likes of Iberia and Air Lingus, said it had about €600m (£533m) in vouchers. There are fears that thousands of passengers could miss out on flights they have already paid for.
Both companies have extended the expiry date of their vouchers a number of times. EasyJet said no vouchers had expired yet, while British Airways' run out in September 2023 - although the airline said it was constantly reviewing the deadline.
Robert Boyle, an aviation consultant and former IAG employee, told the BBC: "If even 20% of the original €1.4bn (£1.24bn) of vouchers expire unused, that would be a €280m (£248m) release to profit.
"However, if the vouchers are never used, IAG will have extra seats available to sell. Given what has happened to ticket prices since the pandemic, the cash value of those seats will be even bigger than the reported voucher values."
The issuing of travel vouchers rather than refunds sparked anger among many travellers. Some said they would have preferred cash refunds, while others said they were difficult to either claim or use for future fights.
British Airways was among a number of airlines to remove the refund option from its website early on in the pandemic - a move which attracted criticism. The airline has said that it always offered the option to get a full refund, rebook or reroute - but did acknowledge that issues linked to Covid meant it could not offer 'all the usual channels for customers to request a refund'.
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The airline added that it was sending reminders to customers holding outstanding ones. There is also a chance that flyers are waiting for the busy summer season before booking their flights.
Earlier this year, a woman representing herself beat British Airways in court after the company refused to give a refund but offered vouchers instead.
In its most recent set of results EasyJet said no vouchers had expired yet as expiry dates had been extended 'to ensure customers have the maximum opportunity to utilise their vouchers'.
