The Association of Northern Ireland Travel Agents (ANITA) is calling on airlines to “play fair” over refunds.
A spokesperson for the industry body said: “The length of time taken by a lot of airlines (I hasten to add not all) including some of our major uk airlines has been totally unacceptable.
“We accept that when the pandemic first hit they needed time to re-group and quickly come to terms with the scale of what was happening and no-one really expected the refunds to be returned as quickly as they normally would but we are now into the 10th month of Covid and some airlines are still not playing fair and refunding customers.
“I know that several travel agencies in Northern Ireland have decided to go ahead and refund customers and wait for the money to be refunded to them. Given the current financial climate and the fact that travel agencies are already financially stretched – it is just not acceptable that our members have been put in this position.
“ANITA are calling on all airlines to play fair when government advise prohibits all but essential travel- customers should be allowed to cancel their flight free of charge and receive a refund within the set timescale. When a flight is cancelled by the airline for any reason the same applies and refunds should again be made promptly.”
