easyJet and British Airways customers could be owed money back in travel vouchers but they need to act quickly to claim them.
The owner of British Airways, International Airlines Group, is estimated to still be sitting on around €600million (£533million) in vouchers issued during covid. Figures suggest easyJet still has around £110million in unclaimed vouchers, according to Birmingham Live.
During the pandemic, airlines including BA were accused of making it difficult for people to claim a refund. BA said when a flight was cancelled it always offered the option to get a full refund, rebook or reroute.
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It never automatically issued vouchers, which had to be requested by a passenger. Many of these vouchers are yet to be claimed and UK tourists could use them for a holiday this year.
Aviation consultant and former IAG employee Robert Boyle, who flagged the IAG figures, told the BBC that when airlines were forced to cancel a huge number of flights during the pandemic they encouraged customers to accept vouchers for future travel rather than issue refunds.
Both BA and easyJet have extended the expiry date of their vouchers several times.
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".
BA's will now run out in September 2023, though the airline said it was "always reviewing that". It said last year 700,000 vouchers were used and it was sending reminders to customers holding outstanding ones.
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