Demise of Monarch

I always thought that the events that are reported on the news are so distant from my daily life that they really won't impact on me directly.  Except this time the demise of Monarch did impact on me. I am a planner, my entire family are planners. We planned Christmas over the Summer hols and thought we had booked everything we needed for the family ro get together doe Christmas.  We booked flights with Monarch as it was the only company who would have flown them directly to destination. Except of course Monarch isn't going to fly at all so we have had to make alternative plans. It was surprisingly easy to book another flight- the rise of the internet has made travel easier. Getting the refund from my credit card company is not quite so easy. The flights were not insured via the ATOL because of the booking date, and the advice on the Monarch website was to contact the credit card company. Me plus another gazilion other customers. My bank's advice was to wait a few days before trying to reclaim the tickets so as to avoid the rush. I agreed, took notes on what to do and decided to sit on it for a while. Then the bank decided to text me advice. I thought that was considerate- something must have moved on and they have managed to streamline the process. I went to the website and actually there was close to no information on the website other than call the bank. If the banks have details of the transaction, which is why they texted me, why can't they just refund the ticket price? It seems like an extra layer of bureacracy, potentially to discourage people from claiming their refunds? Maybe that is cynical but I just can't see with cases like these, or even PPI, why the refund cannot be automatic. It is not like they don't have the information.