During the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced air travel opportunities, demands for refunds for airline tickets have increased around the world. Several airlines have been slow to issue refunds, but major carriers in the Arab world have fared better, Bloomberg News reports.
Qatar Airways has refunded over $1.2 billion, equivalent to approximately SEK 10 billion, for unused airline tickets since March of this year, according to a press release on Tuesday. This despite the company offering its customers three options for getting their money back: the tickets can be used for a period of up to two years, or exchanged for a traveler's check worth 110 percent of the original price, or exchanged for airline miles.
36 percent of Qatar Airways passengers have chosen one of those options instead of a refund.
”"What they want and deserve is flexibility and reliability and we hope they feel they can fully rely on Qatar Airways. The amount we have refunded has, without a doubt, impacted our bottom line, but it is our duty to act correctly towards our customers and trading partners and as an airline we are strong enough to mitigate the impact of this," said Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker in the press release.
Competitor Emirates has also refunded large sums to its customers: tickets worth $517 million have been refunded.
Source: di.se
