While normal life and businesses across the world recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, the travel industry has issues due to numerous flight cancellations. On April 26, Emirates announced that its commitment to making refund on flight tickets, by ramping up its capability to boost this process.
Over half a million people are waiting for the refund of lost money on Emirates flights that were cancelled. The Dubai-based airline states that it will increase its capacity for dealing with 150,000 refund requests per month. And by early August, the current backlog will be cleared.
For customers, there are several options to get a refund or make a request for a travel voucher. Firstly, it can be done by filling out an online form on the Emirates website or by contacting your travel agent. Emirates recently extended the validity of tickets to 24 months, applicable on flights booked on or before June 2020 for travel before November 2020. So, customers can simply leave bookings open or reschedule trips.
Otherwise, customers have the possibility to request a travel voucher to the same monetary amount as a flight or request a refund on a flight ticket. Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline said: “It is a difficult time for us, as it is for all airlines. We are dipping into our cash reserves by being proactive in processing refunds, but it is our duty and responsibility.”
Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2, also known as COVID-19) is a new strain of coronavirus which is causing illness in humans and animals. Most people infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus will feel mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without any special treatment. Older people, as well as those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, cancer or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness, and require immediate assistance. Novel Coronavirus was first identified in a cluster with pneumonia symptoms in Wuhan city, Hubei province of China, quickly spreading around the world. On early March 2020, the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic had officially started, becoming the defining global health crisis of our time. Today, it is the greatest challenge people have faced since World War II, worsened by subsequent lockdowns of whole countries, collapse of entire industries, and a major economic recession.