Flight cancelled, but Alternative Airlines will not release your money? This is the darkest black hole in the travel industry: the airline says it has paid, while the portal claims no money has arrived. Meanwhile, you are stuck with unreachable chatbots.
Enough of that. Use our free generator to place Alternative Airlines in default. We demand full repayment of your ticket price within 14 days. No commission, no middleman service – straight to your account.
Editorially reviewed on: 05/07/2026
Did you book through a booking portal (OTA) and are now stuck in a holding pattern because the airline and portal keep passing responsibility back and forth? In many cases, the tried-and-tested chargeback process can help. If you paid for the ticket with a genuine credit card, you can often recover the money for a service not provided directly through your bank. A strong pressure point against stubborn intermediaries!
Compare the best (free) travel credit cardsAnyone who books a flight through portals such as Alternative Airlines often saves £10 or £20 at the time of booking. But when a cancellation happens, that small discount becomes an expensive trap. Because you have a contract with the intermediary rather than paying the airline directly, the airline’s refund is returned to the intermediary’s account when the booking is cancelled.
Has the airline cancelled the flight and already initiated the refund? Then your money is already with Alternative Airlines. If you ask there, you will usually receive only standardised replies: "We are waiting for confirmation from the airline." This is often a deliberate delaying tactic to use the liquidity of thousands of customers. Legally, you are entitled to payment once the intermediary has received the money from the airline.
Although UK Regulation 261 (UK261) requires ticket costs to be refunded within 7 days, portals such as Alternative Airlines often try to retain additional "processing fees".
In 95% of cases, the airline is telling the truth. Airlines almost always refund to the original method of payment. Because Alternative Airlines paid for the flight on your behalf using a corporate credit card, the money ends up there. The portal then has to allocate that incoming payment to your booking manually – and that is exactly where delays or cost-cutting often occur.
Once the 14-day deadline has expired, the company is in default. You can then start court proceedings using the Money Claim Online service or escalate the matter to an approved alternative dispute resolution body such as AviationADR where applicable. Because the portal is in default, it may also have to cover your legal costs if the dispute proceeds.
If the airline cancelled the flight, the portal may not deduct additional service fees for processing the refund from the ticket price. You are entitled to the full amount refunded by the airline.
Alternative Airlines is a booking platform (OTA) and not the operating airline. Regarding ticket cancellations and the refund of taxes and fees, OTAs and airlines frequently refer back and forth to each other. Legally, the OTA must not charge unreasonably high admin fees solely for forwarding and processing a refund. What matters is that your claims are correctly assessed, forwarded to the appropriate department, and any refunds are transparently paid out to you. The legal headquarters are in Surrey, United Kingdom.
Our generator was developed to help level the playing field between huge booking portals and travellers. We analyse user complaints about Opodo, Kiwi and others every day in order to provide the most effective wording.
Note: This tool offers self-help support. It does not constitute individual legal advice.
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