A British man has been waiting for his refund from Air Malta since June 2023 but, now that the airline has ceased operations, his requests remain unanswered. And he is not alone.

Will Algar, who lived in Malta for two years, has filed several requests for refunds or compensation for delayed or cancelled flights. However, communications have been sparse at best and he has yet to receive any payments.

“The ridiculousness of Air Malta is unfathomable,” he said.

One of Algar’s initial requests was a €145 refund claim for two flights cancelled in June 2023. He had to cancel his flights for personal reasons and requested his 50 per cent refund as per Air Malta’s policy at the time.

At first, he was told on the phone that compensation would take place but, after chasing the company for four months, he only received an e-mail confirming the flights had been cancelled “in accordance with the terms and conditions” and a refund would be processed. Since then, he has not received a cent for this or any of his other claims.

“Their customer care or, rather, lack of it has been shocking,” he said, referring to an incident last September where he and his wife went from the UK to Sicily on vacation and used Malta for their connecting flights.

His wife needed to change the date of her flight leaving the UK but she was forced to purchase another flight due to her inability to get through to customer care.

A few days later, lack of communication with customer care had a snowball effect on her return flights, causing the couple to make pricey last-minute purchases again due to an Air Malta policy they were unaware of.

This policy gave the company the right to cancel the return or onward flight on a ticket in the case of a no-show for the outbound flight if they were not notified.

According to EU consumer laws, passengers whose flights are cancelled can choose between getting a refund, being re-routed or re-booked on an alternative flight. Passengers whose flights were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic must be given the choice between a cash reimbursement and a voucher.

Algar is not the only person who spoke to Times of Malta about communications issues with Air Malta. Other Air Malta passengers say they were kept waiting for several months or even years and remained without any refunds.

They were told via phone and e-mail that they had a right to compensation while the airline operated.

But now that the airline has stopped operating, there has been radio silence and they are concerned they will never receive their compensation.  

Times of Malta contacted Air Malta’s customer care line several times over the course of a week, but the attempts were in vain. The calls were never answered.

Spokespeople at the airline Financer Ministry also did not reply to requests to comment.