Flight Centre customers consider legal action over cancellation fees, refund delays

Would-be travellers are unhappy about being charged $300 cancellation fees and having to wait up to 16 weeks for refunds, or instead accept travel credits.

Former Junee man Eran Ben-Avraham is one of two people leading the charge for a class action against the embattled travel company.

Mr Ben-Avraham told The Daily Advertiser he had the support of almost 5000 Flight Centre customers around the country whose holiday plans have been dashed by COVID-19.

Flight Centre has since announced international travel cancellation fees will be capped at $600 per booking.

However, customers argue they should not have to pay cancellation fees when it is the suppliers - the airline companies, hotels and tour operators - who have cancelled their services.

Mr Ben-Avraham was due to fly via Vancouver to the United States for a surprise birthday party earlier on March 25.

His plans were thrown into disarray by Canada's travel ban on March 18 and Australia's travel ban on March 24.

Mr Ben-Avraham said Flight Centre told him he could get a full refund if his flights were cancelled by Air Canada, which didn't happen "because they were still getting Canadians back home".

"So my flight still left Sydney on March 25 but legally I could not get on that flight," Mr Ben-Avraham said.

He was charged an $800 cancellation fee which he is now disputing.

Flight Centre spokesperson Anna Burgdorf said she couldn't comment on the proposed class action.

However, she said the cancellation fees reflected the time spent booking products for customers and then processing refunds from suppliers.

Travel credits, she said, would not expire until December 2021 with the potential for a further extension.

Wagga's Christine Avery is waiting anxiously to receive her refund from Flight Centre after her retirement holiday to South East Asia was cancelled.

Mrs Avery said her holiday, which she had planned to take with three other people, was worth about $30,000 in total and she had taken money out of her superannuation to pay for it.

She said Flight Centre had capped the cancellation fee at $600 for the whole trip, but she didn't want to wait "16 weeks for a refund" when some of her holiday's suppliers had already refunded money to Flight Centre.

She said she wasn't interested in joining a class action, but had lodged complaints with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, NSW Fair Trading and the ministerial offices of Simon Birmingham and Michael McCormack.

Ms Burgdorf said it would take up to 12 weeks to receive funds from suppliers in a normal trading environment but recognised "that some feedback has been negative".

"We do continue to review our policies and listen to feedback - both positive and negative," she said.