Many airline customers become abused lenders to the aviation industry because of the prepayment of tickets.
(Photo: dpa)
Winglets on the wingtips that make flights quieter and more economical, e-fuels and bio-kerosene for climate protection, algorithms with which commercial aircraft will soon be able to fly autonomously – no other industry is as hungry for innovations as aviation. But when it comes to paying for plane tickets, the industry snaps back to the Middle Ages.
The trip often has to be paid for far in advance, which makes passengers financially dependent on airlines whose creditworthiness they cannot even guess. In addition, in these weeks – once again – the uncertainty as to whether your flight will actually take place at the end.
“But the system as such: It works,” claims the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry now unperturbed in a statement. As required by law, passengers in Germany whose flight was cancelled, “normally” received their money back after seven days. The only question is why a number of air passenger rights portals with hundreds of employees earn good money in this country.
If the airlines don’t want to be accused of fighting for old sinecures as a cartel of the unwilling, they should take a look at the tour operators. There, too, the industry had refused for decades to accommodate customers with the booking rules. Anyone who had booked and paid for their holiday could hardly get out of the contract or only for high fees. Even some airlines were more accommodating.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
When tour operators like DER Touristik moved away from their previously defended booking model during the pandemic, the provider cartel collapsed like a house of cards. Today, almost all of them successfully offer flexible cancellation conditions and money-back guarantees, mostly with a small surcharge.
Applied to aviation, the only question that remains is: Which airline will be the first to debit the money from the credit card only when the plane takes off?
More: After a wave of flight cancellations: advance payment practice for airline tickets is shaky