Cancellation fees

I refer to the letter by Gordon Croton (May 12) expressing his dissatisfaction with Air Malta's ticket cancellation policy and administration.

Having checked with all relevant departments in London, we have no record of either a booking or a refund request under the name of the signatory. The customer service department at our UK office has no outstanding refund cases and since this telephone number is different to the reservations number there would seldom be times when an immediate response is not made to our customers. I welcome contact from Mr Croton to provide me with more details and to check if the reservations were made under his name.

Air Malta maintains one of the most flexible fare tariffs in the industry. With the exception of any promotional offers, all Air Malta fares allow customers to change dates for a very reasonable service fee or to completely cancel with a similar reasonable cancellation fee provided in both instances that this is notified to Air Malta at least a day before travel. Should Mr Croton have booked from the UK with other airlines he would have found that his ticket was completely non refundable.

Where a customer cannot advise his new flight requirements at the time of notifying his intention to cancel the original flights, then like all airlines this has to be processed as a cancellation and refund since monies cannot be kept in credit without a live reservation file. This is particularly relevant now that Air Malta utilises e-tickets and the customer no longer holds a paper ticket document.

If Mr Croton can provide details of any inadequate service in relation to his cancellation then we shall be pleased to refund the £30 cancellation service fee as an apology, in which case Mr Croton will have paid Air Malta nothing at all.