A flight refund passes through three parties. Here is what affects the timing and how to track your request.
A refund for a flight ticket sounds like one simple step, but in practice it passes through several separate parties before the amount actually lands back on the card the ticket was paid with.
A refund is not one step
First the airline has to approve the refund under its own internal rules, then the issuer of the ticket processes the already-approved request, and finally the bank or payment provider returns the amount to the account. Three separate parties sit in that chain, and the traveller usually only sees the last, final step.
What affects the timing
The timing depends on the fare’s own rules — whether the fare is fully refundable or only the unused taxes are eligible — on the payment method the ticket was bought with, and on how the refund itself was requested from the issuer. Each of these factors changes the outcome on its own, which is why there is no single number or single rule that applies equally to every request.
Tax and fees
On a non-refundable fare, the part that is usually eligible for a refund is the unused taxes and charges, but whether that actually applies to your specific ticket is written in the rules of that fare, not in some general rule that applies across the whole market.
When the airline is obligated
If the airline cancels a flight by its own decision, the obligation and the regulated claim belong to the airline, not to the agency. But even then, the traveller’s first step remains the issuer of the ticket, rather than direct contact with the airline without prior coordination. For the rights that apply when a flight is cancelled, see our article on rights for a cancelled or delayed flight — the details are there, without repeating them here.
How to track it
Keep your ticket number and your booking reference, known as the PNR, contact the issuer of the ticket rather than a second channel at the same time, and file only a single request. Parallel requests through multiple channels at once only slow down the processing, rather than speeding it up.
Patience here is part of the process itself — a refund passes through a chain of parties working in their own order, and pushing in several places at once does not change that order, it only slows it down.
For more, see the changes and cancellations page and our article on ticket changes, cancellations and refunds. If you are waiting on a refund, contact us as soon as possible.