Belgian Athlete’s Pandemic Ordeal: Stranded in Morocco, Still Seeking Flight Refunds

In 2020, the Belgian karateka Nele De Vos had arrived in Morocco for the Summer Games. Things won’t go as planned. In March, she found herself stuck at the Casablanca airport. The Moroccan authorities had just decided to close Moroccan airspace. She tries to take a return flight. Without success. The flight was cancelled. A booking with Ryanair, another with Air France via Kiwi.com. All have been cancelled. "With a lot of luck, I was finally able to take a government flight," she tells Het Belang van Limburg.

"Since it was a turbulent time for the whole world, I patiently waited for a refund or a travel voucher from the various airlines. I called several times. They told me to be patient. After 1 year, my patience is exhausted," explains Nele De Vos. Last week, she receives good news: Tui has promised to refund her the 584 euros representing the amount spent for a return flight for three people. Kiwi did better than the German company. The Belgian passenger obtained the refund of the flights (627 euros).

"Since the start of the pandemic, the entire sector has been severely affected by flight cancellations and significant delays in refunds. Unfortunately, Ms. De Vos’ refund request was affected by a manual processing error, explains Kiwi. As a result, the request was not properly submitted. It was our responsibility to ensure that the request was properly handled during this process and we acknowledge that this was not the case in this instance. We sincerely apologize for this."

For now, only Ryanair has not yet responded to the Belgian karateka’s request.