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Although the airlines often quote lengthy periods for refunds it is our experience that normally the refunds arrive much quicker. With MH we generally get the money back in a week to ten days. CX one to two weeks. In fairness we have status with both and perhaps that helps, but nonetheless you may find that the moneys are returned faster than you might expect.
For what it’s worth, and speaking as someone who works for a travel agency (corporate), most airline refunds which we process are managed electronically, are left to us by the airline/s concerned, e.g. to calculate which fees, charges and taxes which are to be returned to the customer, and are processed immediately with no delay; a smaller number of refunds have to be sent to the airline concerned who will confirm the amount, and it is these which can take up to 4-6 weeks. The reality of it from the airline side is that they don’t have the resources to deal with the volume of refunds submitted.