Airplanes at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, just west of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the number of cases in which foreign airlines have rejected refund requests has more than quadrupled compared to a year ago.
The number of cases filed for damage claims against foreign airlines for refund refusals stood at 887 in the January to August period of this year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Consumer Agency.
This figure is about a fourfold increase from the annual average of 180 during the period from 2016 to 2019.
By month, such cases shot up from March (90) with the full onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching 213 in July.
The aggregate value of these damage claims during the period from January to August of this year totaled 394 million won (US$331,670), a dramatic increase from last year’s total of 25 million won.
Among foreign airlines, Indonesia’s national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia topped the list with 130 cases totaling 179 million won.
Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport sent a letter of cooperation to Garuda Indonesia, asking the airline to take appropriate measures to prevent delays in refunds for cancelled tickets.
If including the number of cases where foreign airlines received and addressed such requests themselves, the actual number of such damage claims would be higher than the ones filed with the Korea Consumer Agency.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
