The National Consumer Service (Sernac) in Chile reported on Tuesday that five international airlines must return boarding fees to consumers for flights not made between 2015 and 2021 and that they total 7.5 billion Chilean pesos (about 9 million dollars).
Sky, Avianca, Jetsmart, Aerolineas Argentinas and Copa they voluntarily accepted a Sernac process to extend the payment to about 730,000 affected users nationwide.
The return of the five companies is added to the one committed by Latam AerolÃneas to almost 400,000 people for an amount of 4,000 million in Chilean pesos (almost 5 million dollars).
The measure, in the opinion of the national director of Sernac, Lucas Del Villar, "will allow thousands of consumers to get back the money for boarding fees for trips they never took and probably didn’t even know they had the right to require it".
"From now on, the companies, in addition to restoring the money from the fees, must develop expeditious mechanisms so that every time a person who buys a ticket and does not travel for any reason, the money corresponding to this concept, is returned in a timely manner, as established by the regulations"added.
The companies will be in charge of contacting the affected passengers in order to specify the delivery of the money, preparing a record both in this way and through platforms enabled on their websites.
On the other hand, the Spanish airline Iberia did not reach a satisfactory agreement with Sernac, so the public entity assured that the European company "must answer before the Justice, risking fines in addition to restitution and compensation".
Added to the above is the legal action filed against American Airlines, a company that refused to provide information that would allow calculating the amounts to be returned for boarding fees on flights not made.
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