People who have had flights cancelled due to the covid-19 crisis are fully entitled to a cash refund and are not obliged to accept a voucher, according to the European Commission.
The Commission has made a number of recommendations to make vouchers more appealing, in a bid to help airlines cope with the financial impact of mass flight cancellations.
It says they should have a minimum validity period of 12 months, and be refundable if they are not redeemed in that time.
However, EU Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager says passengers will be under no obligation to accept the vouchers:
"European consumers have a right to a cash refund if that is what they want. Full stop!"
"Many companies have come under pressure and this liquidity crunch would be less severe if customers accepted vouchers instead of cash refunds."
