Budget airlines charge for flight cancellations

Travellers cancel flights for good reasons. It might be due to ill health or a family emergency. But some budget airlines have been charging for flight cancellations; frustrating when customers have had to cancel through no fault of their own.

When passengers make flight cancellations, they must prove to their travel insurance company that they couldn't make their flight. In order to prove that they didn't show up for their flight, policyholders must send a letter from the airline to their insurer as proof.

While some airlines don't charge for this letter, some budget airlines do. Thomas Cook, Bmibaby and Ryanair all charge for their letters. Unfortunately travel insurers must see proof that passengers have missed their flight, so they're forced to cough up the cash.

Passengers are also hit with charges when they try to get a refund for air passenger duty (APD). Some airlines charge £25 in administration fees for a refund on APD. On short haul flights, this can be around twice as much as the cost of the APD. Amongst all the budget airlines, easyJet is the only airline that will refund air passenger duty in full.

Some air passengers that suddenly fall ill before their holiday can't travel, so it seems unfair to impose so many charges on their flight refunds.

Bob Atkinson from TravelSupermarket.com criticised the airlines for imposing charges on refunds. He said: 'These charges are just a license for airlines to hold on to your money. Charges for no-show letters, when the airline is already retaining the full amount paid are out of order. Not only are they keeping the APD, in many cases they may be able to sell the seat twice.'

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