SAS receives a fine of millions from the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority – NRK Norway – Summary of news from different parts of the country

The Civil Aviation Authority has notified the company that they must now pay one million crowns.

– The company receives a penalty for not having made sufficient refunds to customers within the timeframe specified by the Air Passenger Ordinance, Aviation Director Lars Kobberstad tells NRK.

When the corona pandemic hit Norway and the country was closed in March, it caused many flights to be canceled. Many hundreds of thousands of customers were entitled to a refund for tickets. Both the queue and the waiting time were long for many.

In October, SAS was notified that they would receive a million in periodic penalties starting December 1 if they had not reimbursed all customer claims. Many have been waiting for several months for the money they should have after seven days under the regulations.

Frustrated with SAS

Catalina Hagen is one of the many still waiting for money from SAS. She is very frustrated and angry at the company. In July, SAS made a trip to Stavanger for the first time for two. It was later discontinued by the company. Since then, he has been waiting for a refund. It has just under NOK 16,000 in circulation.

– They should stick their finger out, get it done, it was 5 months ago, Hagen tells NRK.

Especially now towards Christmas, they should be fine-tuned, Hagen believes. Who thinks of all those who have money pending with SAS and perhaps are also long-term unemployed, laid off or have lost their income?

– I’m very frustrated. We are entering the holiday season now, it would have been nice to have that money. It is MY money. Give me back my money, they say.

On the SAS Facebook page, there are several customers who are still asking for your money.

I lost hope for this year

The garden is, on the one hand, angry that SAS publishes many announcements of new trips, and they are clearly determined to get new passengers for their new trips, but they cannot deal with the passengers they have had this spring. summer and up to here.

On the other hand, understand that if there are hundreds of thousands who get their money back, then it is a bit of a loner that they will go up.

– But I do not understand that it will take so long, he says.

– Is it correct to fine them?

– Yes, they are late in delivering your item. Everyone else has to pay a reminder fee, if we don’t pay bills and debt collection claims. SAS, who has so much money pending with the people, should also be punished.

– Do you hope to get your money back soon?

– Not on this side of the year, but I hope to get them sometime …

Too many are still waiting for money

There are still too many reimbursement claims pending at SAS, according to the Civil Aviation Authority. The periodic penalty is issued based on the state by. December 1st.

– We are aware that the airlines have made a great effort to reimburse the claims, but we believe that they should have been on target now, nine months after the covid-19 began to cause the cancellation of flights, says the director of aviation Lars Kobberstad.

He goes on to say that he understands that the situation is extraordinary and that SAS has done a lot.

– But in our opinion, they started too late and haven’t done enough. And there are still too many cases that have not been addressed. We are talking about approx. 29,000 pending cases for SAS, which is equivalent to about 8 percent of all claims they have received, Kobberstad tells NRK.

Norwegian is also not eligible

SAS and Norwegian have clearly had the highest number of refund claims. Norwegian is also not sufficiently compliant with the Air Passenger Ordinance and still has pending cases.

– Yes, we have done a similar evaluation for Norwegian. Of your total claims, 4 percent are still pending. We also think it is too much. And we have assessed the situation, says Kobberstad.

Norwegian is still getting away this time.

– Since December 8, Norwegian has been under this reorganization scheme due to its high debt load and financial problems. Therefore, they are not allowed to pay refunds that have a history prior to December 8. And then imposing on Norwegian something that they are not allowed to implement, it becomes impossible for us, says Kobberstad.

But it also encourages Norwegian to reimburse customers as soon as possible.

90 percent of cancellations are refunded

SAS announced ahead of the weekend that a total of approximately 158,000 reimbursement cases remain for the company globally.

– Regarding the cases called EU261, in which SAS has canceled, we have handled more than 90 percent of them. And we believe that we have done what can be expected of the airline to comply with the order of the Civil Aviation Authority and thus avoid periodic penalties, wrote John Eckhoff in an email to NRK before the weekend.

But this has not been enough. Today, the decision came from the Civil Aviation Authority. SAS receives a penalty of one million crowns.

– We will refund what customers are entitled to

John Eckhoff says that the airline is taking note of the Civil Aviation Authority’s reaction, but that all customers will get their money back regardless of this penalty.

– We insist that we reimburse what the customer is entitled to, as soon as possible. That’s what we’ve been working on for many months, John Eckhoff tells NRK today.

– When will you be up to date with refunds that have not been refunded to you now?

– As of now, it’s hard to tell. There has been an increase in the rate of payments, so we are approaching strongly.

– Will you make it before the new year?

– I do not know.

Explain that they have done everything possible to achieve reimbursement targets, including by increasing the number of employees who work with reimbursements. They have also launched digital solutions for both customers and employees to increase speed. Over the city’s travel years, they have been open to automatic refunds.