Why won’t Transavia refund me for a ticket I already paid for?

When Rachel Newton books flights that include a leg on Transavia, a Dutch discount airline, she expects a no-frills experience — but not a surprise fee that doubles the cost of his trip. Why won’t the airline make things right?

Question

My family of four flew from Toronto to Marrakech on tickets booked directly with Delta Air Lines. The first leg was on KLM, and the connection was on Transavia.

When we landed in Amsterdam, Transavia couldn’t find our reservation at first. After two hours of back and forth, a representative said our tickets weren’t paid in full. 

The airline wouldn’t give us boarding passes unless we paid $1,198 on the spot. We had no choice but to pay.

When we returned home, I contacted Delta Air Lines, which advised me to file a chargeback on my credit card.

Transavia admitted a refund was due and repeatedly told me they were processing it — but the money never arrived. Each time I follow up, they either ask for the same banking details again or insist the transfer was rejected. My bank has no record of any attempt by Transavia to send the refund.

Transavia now says it will close my case if I don’t provide the requested information, which I’ve already sent several times. It feels like a runaround. Can you help me get my $1,198 back? — Rachel Newton, Toronto

Answer

If you had tickets to fly to Marrakech, you should have been allowed to board the flight without further payment. You had valid tickets issued by Delta, for flights operated by KLM and Transavia. The fact that Transavia claimed your tickets were “unpaid” was almost certainly a systems error. Forcing you to pay again at the counter, with your flight minutes from departure, feels like a shakedown.

I’m not surprised this happened to you on Transavia. The discount airline has been criticized for aggressive fees and, in some cases, refund delays that border on obstruction. In fact, I was on a Transavia flight from Athens to Paris recently, where an overzealous gate agent forced me to pay $80 just to carry a small bag on the plane. That left me with the impression that Transavia is far more interested in extracting money than in treating customers fairly. (Related: A bag fell from an overhead bin and cracked my phone. Should SAS pay?)

And the way Transavia handled your refund? Equally unacceptable. Transavia acknowledged multiple times that you were due a refund. But rather than simply processing it, the airline kept moving the goalposts: asking for details you’d already provided, insisting that payments had been sent (though your bank found no trace), and warning they would close your file if you didn’t comply. That’s not customer service — it’s delay by design.

When an airline takes money in error, European Union rules are clear: it must issue a prompt refund. Under EU Regulation 261, passengers are also entitled to assistance and rerouting when airlines mishandle tickets. While this law is better known for compensating delays and cancellations, its core principle is that airlines can’t simply strand you or extort additional money for a flight you’ve already purchased. (Related: I sold my house, so why am I still getting trash bills?)

Delta’s advice to file a credit card dispute was wrong. You always want to work directly with the merchant (in this case, Transavia) to resolve a billing problem. If you file a dispute, that usually ties up any refund process. Fortunately, you didn’t take that advice from Delta.

You can also appeal your case to one of the executive contacts at Transavia that I list on my consumer advocacy website, Elliott.org.

This was a long and frustrating battle for money you never should have had to pay in the first place. And it’s a reminder: When an airline insists on cash or card at the counter for something that seems wrong, document everything and, if possible, push back before handing over your credit card.

I contacted Transavia on your behalf. 

“We fully understand how frustrating this situation must be for her and her family, and we regret the long time this refund process has already taken,” a representative told me. “Our records show that the refund has been initiated twice, but both transfers were rejected by the receiving bank.”

Actually, here’s what happened: You gave the airline a SWIFT/BIC code for the transfer but it insisted on an IBAN code, which isn’t used by U.S. or Canadian banks. You ended up opening an account with WISE to obtain an IBAN code and sent it to Transavia. You received a full refund, as promised.