Plane tickets: Will prepayment soon come to an end?
Created: 07/07/2022Updated: 07/07/2022, 16:30
By: Franziska Kaindl
When purchasing airline tickets, it is customary to pay the price at the time of booking.
The Ministry of Consumer Protection is now questioning the prepayment practice.
The shortage of staff in the aviation industry caused by the corona pandemic is currently causing a lot of chaos at airports - also in Germany.
Flights are canceled at short notice, suitcases are lost and long queues form at the check-in counters.
The Consumer Protection Ministry is already issuing a warning to airlines to reimburse the ticket costs in good time in the event of a flight cancellation.
The corona pandemic has already shown that many customers had to wait several months for their money -
according to the Air Passenger Rights Ordinance, they should be reimbursed within seven days
.
And that is when the flight was canceled without replacement.
Many travelers are currently encountering a thinned-out airport staff.
© Arnulf Hettrich/Imago
Ministry of Consumer Affairs threatens to examine advance payment practice
When booking flights, it is common for customers to pay for tickets in advance.
However, consumers only have to pay for a service once it has actually been provided.
"In the practice of prepayment, passengers have a high risk if there are flight cancellations or insolvencies of airlines," said a spokesman for the Ministry of Consumer Protection to the ARD capital studio.
"We have the clear expectation that airlines will fulfill their legal obligations," is the demand from the ministry.
You should urgently avoid these mistakes in travel cancellation insurance
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According to the WDR, a spokeswoman for Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) also explained to the "Welt am Sonntag" that airlines are legally obliged to "proactively" take care of the refund within the deadline: "
Otherwise you will practice prepayment in their current form
.” In practice, it is usually up to the passengers to request reimbursement of their ticket costs.
Aviation industry reacts to criticism of prepayment model
"Of course, passengers are entitled to a timely refund of their ticket price if they do not want to rebook their canceled flight," said Matthias von Randow, general manager of the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry, regarding the debate, according to the ARD report.
At the same time, he pointed out that customers who paid in advance would have the advantage of early booking discounts.
The federal government, on the other hand, is currently examining whether an automated payment of ticket prices is possible in the event of cancellation.
(fk)
