Online travel agencies to refund canceled flight tickets in 14 days in EU

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - Leading online travel agencies agreed to reimburse the canceled flight tickets to customers within 14 days, the European Commission announced on Tuesday.

“Consumers will receive their refund within 14 days maximum,” the EU executive body said in a statement after talks with major European airline intermediaries eDreams and related sites, Etraveli Group and Kiwi.com.

The firms committed to better informing their passengers of their rights if flights are canceled, and to speed up reimbursements if they choose money over vouchers.

The EU passenger regulation obliges airlines to refund the tickets within seven days, and intermediaries will transfer the money to the consumers within another week under the agreement.

- Global COVID certificates

EU member states adopted on Tuesday guidelines “to ensure the smooth transition of COVID-19 certification system to a WHO (World Health Organization) global digital health certification network,” the Council of the EU said in a statement.

EU member states are recommended to use the global digital health certificates of the UN agency as the regulation on EU COVID-19 certificates expires by the end of June.

The EU set up the COVID-19 certification system on the vaccination status of passengers in 2021 to facilitate travel amid the pandemic.