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Norwegian defends refund procedures
Travel News reported last week that the Swedish Consumer Agency had initiated a supervisory case against Norwegian. Now the airline has responded to the Consumer Agency's questions.
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The case was initiated on 6 March after Norwegian cancelled flights to Dubai due to the outbreak of war. This is what the Swedish Consumer Agency's lawyer Maja Lindstrand wrote:
“Norwegian has not accepted refund claims for cancelled flights when the ticket was purchased through a travel agency. Instead, Norwegian has referred the consumer to the travel agency where the ticket was purchased. Some travel agencies, for example, charge a fee of 595 kronor per traveller for refunds of cancelled flights.”
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The Swedish Consumer Agency also cannot find the refund form that Norwegian claimed to have created after the large number of refunds that arose in connection with covid-19: “In 2022, Norwegian stated that the airline had created an online form that could be used by passengers who booked through a travel agency. Norwegian is asked to provide a description of where the form is published and what the form looks like.”
Norwegian sought and was granted an extension for its response until today, 27 March. We do not have all the exact details of Norwegian's response, but this is what Norwegian's communications manager Charlotte Holmbergh writes to Travel News:
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“For many years, we have had a good and constructive dialogue with the Swedish Consumer Agency as we want good and clear instructions on what applies in the event of deviations. We have informed the Swedish Consumer Agency that since 2021 we have had an online form that passengers can use to request a refund for tickets purchased through a travel agency. But if you have purchased a ticket through a travel agency, they are the ones you should contact first.”
But that online form has not been found by the Swedish Consumer Agency. How can that be? -We have sent screenshots showing how to find it. But it may happen that we can be even clearer there, so we will continue the dialogue with the Swedish Consumer Agency, says Charlotte Holmbergh.
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