Icelandair voucher process
Not sure if anyone else has been dealing with Icelandair trying to get a refund or a voucher, but I thought I'd describe my process thus far trying to get a voucher for my flight scheduled at the end and June (going) and early July (returning) for the now cancelled Iceland tour. I booked the air myself, not through Tauck.
Once the tour was cancelled I got on the Icelandair website and looked into the process of getting a voucher (I only wanted a voucher because we already have rebooked the Iceland tour for next June, so I knew I'd be rebooking air in a couple of months). The website has an interface from which you can request a fund or voucher. I filled out the form and then submitted in. I got a response email assigning me a 'Case Number'. That was around May 15th.
After not hearing anything via email or phone for over a week I called Icelandair. They have a recording that basically tries to get people to call back much closer to their flight. So I hung up and said I'd honor that request and wait until June to try again if I still hadn't heard or received anything with respect to my Case.
June arrived, today, so I called Icelandair again. This time I listened to the recorded message, made a selection indicating that I was calling about a current reservation, listened to the entire message again, but this time I ignored their requests to call back later (like wait until three days before your flight) and stayed on the line. After a very brief wait I got to speak to someone. The person took my name and Case Number and looked it up. She sent my case to be processed. So apparently before I called, my case was simply in a queue to be looked at to decide whether to pass it on to the people that will actually process the request.
After the person passed my Case onto the people that actually will process it I received a Confirmation email saying that my reservation had been cancelled and that I would get a voucher. However, the email said that it could take up to 3 weeks to receive the voucher. I'm requesting just a voucher, not a refund where they'd actually have to send me money.
In a couple of weeks, if no voucher has arrived I will call Icelandair again, ignoring all requests to call back (I've learned - see you can teach an old dog new tricks) and see what's going on. Hopefully I'm won't simply be passed to another queue, to receive another automated respect, to get me to wait another few weeks. If that is attempted, I will likely be less than cordial.
So this is my second extremely weird travel 'accident' in the world of COVID-19. I posted on another thread the oddity associated with my American Airlines reservation for a yet to be cancelled Egypt trip in October. American cancelled my flight legs to/from Italy but left all of the other legs. Go figure.
The joys of COVID-19 travel.
Comments
Smiling Sam, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I wish you had not asked for a voucher, you just don’t know what is going to happen next year.please consider getting your credit card involved to get the money back if it is not too late. Reading the Ponant response for Covid, the tour is going to be much much expensive in the future. Less people allowed on the ship, charge more per person. No buffets, costs more to have more staff to serve you. Site seeing, less people per bus, more buses and more tour guides to take you to the sites, more money.
I think land tours will have less issues. You might find they are better bang for your buck
British - I'm trying to stay positive throughout this process. Since we will be rebooking our air with Icelandair once we get within the 330 day window I thought the voucher would be fine. In addition, the wait for a refund was up to 5 weeks, whereas it was only 3 weeks for a voucher. Of course, if they go belly up before a refund is issued or a voucher can be used it doesn't much matter. With respect to Ponant, I can only vouch that the Iceland tour next year for the same cabin, hotel room, etc. was 17% higher than this year. I'm sure that is a combination of Ponant and Tauck raising their prices.
Sam - Don't know what class you're flying, but in case it matters and you're not aware, Icelandair has a terrible biz class - no lie-flat seats.
BKMD - We're in business class. I know about the seats, but there is some additional leg room and only two on each side. Like our first class domestic seats. They didn't cost anywhere like the transatlantic, lie-flat, business class seats. I use SeatGuru to find out plane configurations and seat characteristics. They were 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of American.
We have flown both Economy and Saga class on Icelandair. The Economy seats are very uncomfortable. The Saga (Business) seats are comfortable, even without the lie flat feature.
We flew premium economy on Icelandic Air which was the last row of Saga class - we had the same seats but none of the other perks like the complimentary wine - so close, but couldn't partake!