According to reports published in BBC, IAG, which owns five airlines including Aer Lingus, holds about €600m (£533m) in unclaimed vouchers.
Passengers are yet to claim hundreds of millions of euros’ worth of vouchers. This is for cancelled flights during the pandemic.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, airlines opted to provide vouchers which could be used for future trips rather than cash refunds for disrupted flights. This move had caused controversy amongst passengers. Passengers wanted a cash refund, which, according to many reports, was difficult to claim.
British Airways was among a number of airlines to remove the refund option from its website early on in the pandemic, and this had understandably sparked anger among its passengers.
Aviation consultant and former IAG employee Robert Boyle has flagged the IAG figures. He told the BBC that when airlines were forced to cancel a huge number of flights during the pandemic they encouraged customers to accept vouchers for future travel rather than issue refunds.
According to Boyle, if the vouchers are never used, IAG will have extra seats available to sell.
In its most recent set of results EasyJet said no vouchers had expired yet as expiry dates had been extended to ensure customers have the maximum opportunity to utilise their vouchers. British Airways vouchers appear to run out in September this year.
