Discovery Bank Commits to Refunding Vitality Clients After South Africans Were Left Stranded by Comair

• Discovery Bank announced it would reimburse its Vitality clients who booked tickets on Kulula and British Airways
• The airlines owner Comair announced a few days ago that it was grounding its fleet of planes across South Africa
• Thousands of people were left in the lurch as they could not make alternate travel arrangements and the airline couldn't commit to reimbursing them

There's some light at the end of the week for South Africans who used Discovery's Vitality benefits to purchase discounted tickets on Comair-operated flights. Discovery Bank announced it would refund its clients.

Comair announced Kulula and British Airways will be closing its doors for good after failing to raise enough money to continue operating.

The refund applies to any Vitality member who is a Discovery Bank client and booked a discounted flight departing from 1 June 2022 onwards that has been cancelled due to this issue, a company blog post said.

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The bank will automatically refund the amount spent on that flight into the Vitality member’s Discovery Bank account by close of business on Friday, 10 June 2022, the company's website reports.

For Vitality members who are not Discovery Bank clients, the financial institution says those people can open a Discovery Bank account before 30 June 2022 to take advantage of the refund.

Discovery Vitality CEO Dinesh Govender says:

“We apologise to all those affected and hope these efforts will help alleviate their situation. Comair has been one of Vitality’s longest standing partners, and we are saddened by the news. It is devastating for Comair’s passengers, staff and partners, as well as for the travel sector.”

Comair published information on Thursday announcing it had failed to secure funding to maintain operations of Kulula and British Airways in Mzansi.

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Comair grounds Kulula and British Airways due to lack of funding, South Africans left stranded

South Africans have been left feeling frustrated after Comair, the holding company that owns Kulala flights and British Airways, announced that all flights would be cancelled on Thursday, 1 June, Briefly News reports.

The announcement was posted on the Kulula official Twitter page on Wednesday night just after 11pm. The airline stated that passengers who had booked flights for Thursday should not head to the airport unless they have alternative flights.

Kulula stated that the reason for the cancelled flights is due to lack of funding and flights will remain cancelled until they can secure funds.

Source: Briefly News