What's going to happen to my booked AirBerlin flight now that they've gone bankrupt?

Well, just as I assumed, Air Berlin have cancelled most of their North American routes effective October 1st, which means that my flight back is not going to be operated by Air Berlin.

I already called my credit card company, and they promised that I’ll be issued a refund if the flight didn’t operate. However, they said I’d probably have to wait until the flight itself to claim this (unless I get a written statement). My insurance does not cover cancellations in cases of airlines’ financial troubles.

Does anyone have any information about the eminent Lufthansa takeover? Do you think they will honor the flight back (United has a direct ORD-MUC flight)? And in case they didn’t, under European Flight Cancellations regulations, would I be able to receive compensation if the flight is cancelled under two weeks before its time?

Not sure what you could do at this point, other than rely on what the company has said…

However, in the future, it’s a great idea to buy travel insurance for your trips. This would at least cover some of the expenses, should something untoward happen on your trip. And, I’m sure, the airline going bankrupt and not flying would be covered…(or at least you might be able to claim any delta’s in costs)

E.g. We went on a cruise vacation with non-refundable Iceland Air tickets — on the way home, Iceland Air decided that they were going to have a 1 day mechanics strike so we were ‘stuck’ in Iceland for that day…we were automatically rebooked for the next day (well, after stopping by an airline counter)…however, due to the insurance, we got back most of the money we incurred by spending another night in the hotel.

In a case where AB is unable to provide the service before the operational cover runs out (estimate is three months but honestly this is unrealistic), you will be honoured the flight on another (most probably EW) operated flight (that will take over the route).

Worst case you get your money back after the bundled slot that affect your flight is taken over and AB no longer operate.

This does not quite answer the question, but hopefully is helpful enough to warrant posting.

Assuming you become confident the flights will not be honored (probably due to the an announcement by the company, or after the flight date).

If you paid for goods and services, and did not receive said goods or services, you can request a chargeback with the bank you used to pay (assuming you didn’t pay in cash I guess). BPay may also result in you being unable to process a chargeback.

For more detail about cahrgebacks, check this link, or better still, contact the bank you paid with.

Note that companies that have gone bankrupt are still valid targets of a chargeback. Depending on the severity of the situation, a chargeback may be unsuccesful if they have no money available.

Disclaimer, I am not a banker or a lawyer or familiar with chargebacks or flights in Germany. Talk to your bank.

German news reports say that a government loan will secure the next three months of operation. The intention is to avoid disruption of (return) travel during the summer holidays; quite a lot of Germans are currently abroad with AirBerlin tickets.

So I’d be confident about the next couple of weeks; things might get tricky if those €150M don’t last the full three months.

Unfortunately, I would not give a dime on anything which a call center agent tells you now or in a week from now. On the other hand, legally, you don’t have too many options unless you did not just purchase a ticket from their website but it would be part of a packaged holiday. In case of packaged holidays there is a mandatory insurance against bankruptcy at least in Germany.

Your problem is: AirBerlin may operate your flight or they may not. You will know once you’ve arrived at your final destination. Given their personnel situation (which is unlikely to improve now and has been bad already) it will be enough if they cannot find a crew on the day you plan to travel.

On the other hand, you don’t have any chance right now IMHO to have your tickets refunded and book with a different airline. The only bet on the future you could make is to try and buy a refundable ticket with another airline now (maybe for a day later) and give it back if AirBerlin will fly.

Last chance: Check the credit card you possibly used to pay for the flight. Some cards (especially and “Silver” and “Gold” cards come with all kinds of insurances. Not sure if bankruptcy of an airline is one of them, but it may be worth checking.)

But please also note that all those insurances would if at all only make sure you either get your money back, but you will still not travel then. At least not at the insurance’s expenses. Only if there would be such an insurance and you made it to your destination but your flight back home doesn’t take place the insurance would pay for suitable means to get you back home, but that would be all. They will never pay the difference to a more expensive ticket if you haven’t started the trip yet.

Called AirBerlin. They’re saying that at the moment they are expecting all flights within the next 3 months to operate normally and that I should check back in one week to get an update about possible refunds and cancellation policies.