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A reader’s sister struggles to get a flight refund following her partner’s death

The couple didn’t have travel insurance, as they always left organising this until a couple of days before departure

Pricewatch contacted Aer Lingus, a company that, in our experience, tends to be very good at processing refunds in circumstances such as this
Pricewatch contacted Aer Lingus, a company that, in our experience, tends to be very good at processing refunds in circumstances such as this
Conor Pope's picture
Conor Pope Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Wed Oct 30 2024 - 06:00

The last thing a person whose partner has died unexpectedly needs is to be fighting with an airline or travel company over a refund but that is where the sister of a reader has found herself in recent weeks.

Last month the partner of our reader’s sister died. It was just weeks before the couple were due to travel to Spain, a trip they had booked through the Loveholidays website.

“Following his death she contacted Loveholidays the next day to advise she wouldn’t be travelling, and they said to process a refund she needed to submit an intermediate death cert; she did this on October 2nd,” our reader writes.

To its credit, Loveholidays almost immediately refunded the cost of the hotel and transfer costs to the couple but said it couldn’t facilitate the flight refund and instead referred her to Aer Lingus to request this.

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This is where she struggled to make progress.

“They didn’t have travel insurance at the time of death as they always just organised this a couple of days before,” our reader says. “I would hugely appreciate any help or advice you could offer here. It’s a small enough amount of money in the grand scheme of things but if there is anything at all I can do to help her at the moment I will do it.”

We contacted Aer Lingus, a company that, in our experience, tends to be very good at processing refunds in circumstances such as this. In fact, most companies we deal with are very good at processing refunds in tragic circumstances such as this.

In response to our query, Aer Lingus issued the following statement.

“Firstly, we extend our heartfelt sympathies to this customer and acknowledge the sad circumstances which led to this customer being unable to fly with us.

“We understand this booking was made through a third party and that all aspects of the claims were the responsibility of the travel agent, who has resolved all the refund issues for this customer. The Aer Lingus customer team also reached out to offer any assistance the customer might need from the airline.”