A few days ago the U.S DoT issued an enforcement notice that airlines must provide cash refunds for cancelled flights and not travel credits. The European Transport Commissioner Adina Valean has also clarified this is same under European law as well stating the following in an interview with Euro News (emphasis ours):
The legislation for passengers rights is clear. When a passenger doesn’t receive the service that for which he/she paid, they should be reimbursed, and that is clear at the legislation, or they can be offered voucher services, but only if they agree on these voucher services. This is the legislation we have in place,
The important part here is that you shouldn’t accept a travel credit otherwise you’ll be out of luck. Valean does go onto say that they are looking at ways to help airlines with liquidity problems but doesn’t go into detail on what that help will look like. It’s important that passengers know their rights and that airlines actually follow the law.
