Vueling has to return 459,000 euros for irregularities in resident discounts

The airline Vueling has been condemned by the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) to return almost half a million euros for irregularities in the application of discounts to passengers residing in the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla.

The court thus agrees with the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, which, during 2013, paid 2.6 million euros for this concept when the discount was 50%.

From the verifications carried out, it was determined that in that year 14% of the bonuses had fraudulent use and therefore must be returned.

The central government issued the resolution in July of last year, which was appealed by the airline, which after the ruling of the TSJM has the possibility of appealing to the Supreme Court (TS).

The sanction is the result of the verifications initiated by the General Intervention of the State Administration (IGAE) in mid-2017.

Once concluded, on two occasions Vueling and 58 travel agencies were offered the possibility of presenting in their defense the documentation they deemed appropriate.

It was not until April 2019 when the company stated that only two agencies had provided the required information, and assured that they had made available to the State all the flight coupons they had.

The General Intervention of the State Administration clarified that in reality what it had "repeatedly" requested were the invoices of the tickets issued to passengers, and the accreditation of the payment for which the state agency considered that the company had not complied with what was required.

Therefore, in March 2019, that body urged the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) to initiate the procedure for reimbursement of that half million euros.

The result of the investigations is that Vueling had not provided the supporting documentation for the sale and collection of tickets by certain agents and flights, so it was concluded that the amount settled was higher than that stated in the invoices issued by the agency to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

It was also found that in those documents the service fee did not appear or these were lower than the amount settled, to which the company responded that they were only accounting tables.

In another series of tickets, negative price concepts appeared, which meant a reduction in what was paid by the traveler and in others its payment was not accredited.

After analyzing almost 300 tickets with 710 associated travel coupons worth almost 4,000 euros, deficiencies were found in almost 14% that implied the reimbursement of about 359,500 euros, a figure that rose to 459,000 once 99,300 euros were applied in interest.

Vueling insisted that it had rigorously complied with its obligations in terms of documentary and accounting conservation, while the DGAC speaks of "resistance, excuse, obstruction or refusal" during the verification process.

The company responded that it had provided all the required documentation, expressed its willingness to collaborate, and assured that it was available to present the necessary clarifications.

But it stressed that, according to current regulations, it was the travel agencies and not the airlines that were obliged to keep and preserve the records and that these entities were responsible for carrying out the billing while they only transport travelers.

Extreme that the central administration discards and that ratifies the TSJM, pointing out that the company is also obliged to preserve the invoices.

From Vueling they alleged that, due to the health emergency of covid-19, they had lost more than 170 million passengers, which implied a fall in air traffic of 99.4% in 2020 compared to the previous year.