UK’s biggest travel operators and airlines openly breaking the law on refunds for cancelled holidays

22 April 2020

The UK’s 20 biggest travel operators and airlines are openly breaking the law by delaying refunds for cancelled trips or removing customers’ refund rights altogether, new research by Which? has found.

The consumer champion has received thousands of complaints and requests for help from people struggling to secure a refund for their cancelled travel.

Some airlines and package travel providers are refusing to provide refunds, in a breach of their legal obligations to their customers, while others are providing vouchers or credit notes – which may prove to be worthless if holiday firms run into financial trouble.

Up to £7 billion in payments made by UK customers – many who may also be struggling financially due to the impact of the pandemic – are affected, according to the travel industry’s own estimates.

The travel industry is facing unprecedented strain as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which has left many firms unable to pay out refunds on such a large scale within the legal time frame without risking going out of business.

Which? is today launching a 10-point plan to maintain trust in the travel industry and warning that without swift and tangible government action, consumer confidence in the travel sector could be permanently damaged.

The practical measures in the plan, which would help the industry and protect holidaymakers, include protecting consumers’ legal right to cash refunds, extending Foreign Office travel warnings to a definitive date, establishing a temporary government travel guarantee fund, and ensuring travel insurance terms and conditions are more transparent.

As part of its research, Which? contacted 10 of the UK’s biggest holiday companies, including TUI and Jet2, and 10 of the UK’s biggest airlines, including British Airways and easyJet, to establish if they were offering customers cash refunds for cancelled travel plans, and if so, under what circumstances.

It found that none of the UK’s 10 biggest holiday companies are currently offering full refunds within the legal time frame, with some refusing to provide refunds altogether and instead offering customers the choice of rebooking or accepting a voucher or credit note.

Loveholidays has come under fire for telling customers they would only be able to accept voucher credit for their cancelled holidays, and would not be processing refunds any time soon. TUI, the world’s largest holiday company, was also criticised for not proactively offering refunds after cancelling holidays on mass, but amended its policy after Which? highlighted its approach.

A few companies are bucking the trend, showing that it is possible to treat customers fairly and operate within the law amid the coronavirus outbreak. Trailfinders, Kuoni, Responsible Travel, Explore Worldwide, Llama Travel, Mountain Kingdoms, Friendship Travel and Vivid Travel are some of the companies that customers have said are processing refunds as normal, with a number of customers contacting Which? to praise their handling of the disruption.

On the Beach is also issuing cash refunds, although these are taking longer than the legal time frame as it will only pay the airline element of the refund when it receives this from the carrier.

The Package Travel Regulations currently state that customers whose package holidays are cancelled by the tour operator in these circumstances should receive a full refund within 14 days of the cancellation. Confusingly, ABTA is advising travel operators that customers may be offered a ‘refund credit note’ instead of an immediate cash refund, despite the Package Travel Regulations not having been amended in light of the current coronavirus crisis, and remaining legally binding.

Which? also contacted 10 of the UK’s biggest airlines and found none are refunding passengers who have had flights cancelled within the legal time frame, with one airline refusing to process refunds at all. Under the Denied Boarding Regulations, if you’re due to fly with an airline based in the UK or EU, or are flying from an airport in the UK or EU, you’re protected if your flight is cancelled, and should be refunded within seven days.

Frustrated customers have told Which? of how airlines are making it near impossible to contact them to find out if they will be refunded, with some having to resort to attempting to claim their money back from their card provider.

Steven D’Hoe, 46, from Herefordshire, told Which? he has had to resort to making a Section 75 claim with his credit card provider after Air France-KLM confirmed it would not refund him for his cancelled flights. Mr D’Hoe explained to the airline that he is self-employed and needed the money to pay for bills and food while he has no income, but told Which? that the airline would not budge.

Despite Ryanair initially being praised for its decision to refund customers, Which? has seen customer complaints that the airline is now asking them to accept a voucher valid for 12 months, or to join a refund queue and wait for their money back until the coronavirus outbreak has passed.

Meanwhile, British Airways passengers have complained to Which? about being unable to complete a refund form online, and instead being directed to a phone line where they are often unable to speak to someone due to high call volumes.

Richard Lartey, 27, from London, told Which? he has been waiting over a month for his money to be returned for a cancelled BA flight, and of his frustration in trying to claim a refund from the airline.

Richard, who was due to fly to visit his pregnant partner in Austria, said: “The only option for a cash refund is to call up. Instead of holding customers in a queue the telephone system would simply hang up after playing a short message.”

BA has told Richard that his money will be returned, but he has yet to receive the money back.

Which? recognises the travel industry is under huge strain, and would encourage holidaymakers to rebook if it suits their circumstances – but the government must first provide clarity about how customer money will be protected in these circumstances.

Which? has set out clear steps the government can take to support the industry and help it through this challenging period in its 10-point plan.

The government must now work with regulators and the industry to implement these measures – to ensure that passengers who are unable to travel due to the coronavirus pandemic are not left out of pocket, that the damage caused to the sector so far is not permanent, and that consumer faith in the industry is restored.

Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:

“We have been inundated with messages from desperate travellers, some who are thousands of pounds out of pocket as a result of cancellations and have no idea if or when they’ll see their money again.

“We do not want to see the industry suffer further as a result of this outbreak, but it cannot be on consumers to prop up airlines and travel firms, especially when so many will be in difficult financial situations of their own.

“The government must urgently set out how it will support travel firms and airlines to ensure they can meet their legal obligations to refund customers for cancelled travel plans – and avoid permanent damage to trust and confidence in the travel industry.”

Notes to editors:

To view Which?’s full 10-point plan for government, visit: https://www.which.co.uk/trustintravel (link goes live at 00:01 Wednesday 22nd April)
On 15 April, Which? contacted the UK’s 10 biggest holiday companies (by number of ATOL certificates) and 10 of the UK’s biggest airlines to find out if they were processing cash refunds within the legal time frame for cancelled flights and holidays.
ABTA urges Government to act now on holiday refunds to save jobs and protect billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money
Coronavirus travel Q&A video: https://youtu.be/GaKib34XfoQ
Which? is a non-profit organisation working to make life simpler, fairer and safer for consumers. During the coronavirus crisis, Which? is making a range of news, advice and guides available for free for anyone who needs it at https://www.which.co.uk/news/coronavirus/

Which?’s 10 point plan:

Government and regulator

All consumers who are currently eligible to receive a refund must be offered a cash refund when their flight or holiday is cancelled. Valid refund requests must be honoured and repaid within the applicable statutory period, via a simple, clear and easily accessible process.
A credit note/voucher may be offered as an alternative but not sole option when a flight or holiday is cancelled. These vouchers must also be time-limited, with a full refund provided at the end of the term, with terms and conditions clearly and proactively communicated. This will guarantee that consumers will get their money back should they not want to re-book one of the holidays on offer within the prescribed period.
Airlines must be supported throughout the outbreak and effectively held to account when failing to offer and issue refunds for cancelled flights. The Government and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) should take action where necessary to ensure refunds, both directly to passengers and to travel agents and tour operators, are honoured.
The statutory 14-day refund period for package holidays should be temporarily extended to a maximum of one month, and all credit notes/vouchers must be insolvency protected. This will provide industry with additional flexibility to manage its workload and cash flow while also giving consumers confidence that they will get their money back should their provider collapse.
A temporary Government Travel Guarantee Fund should be established. This will provide funding to support travel companies which, as a result of coronavirus cancellations, are unable to fulfil their responsibilities to holidaymakers under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations.
All Foreign Office travel warnings should be extended to a definitive date. This will ensure that travellers have clarity around refunds, rebooking or claiming on insurance. These dates can be reviewed if needed.
Travel insurance terms and conditions should be more clear and transparent, with customers signposted to relevant parts of their insurance policy booklets. This will make it easier for policyholders to know if they are covered and will help customers to find out what they need to know as quickly as possible, providing specific answers to their questions.
Time-limits on making claims should be relaxed. This will help customers who are struggling to get in touch or communicate with travel companies as a result of the pandemic.
Insurers should extend existing travel insurance policies, where relevant, to ensure the customer remains protected when stranded abroad. This will help those who cannot get home because of government-issued advice or restrictions on travel imposed by governments (i.e. through no fault of their own).
Insurance providers must work more closely with the travel industry and the government to ensure that all information given to consumers about how and when to claim is clear and consistent. This will stop people from being passed between providers and ensure they know who to contact when, for example, seeking reimbursement from their provider before turning to their insurer.

Rights of reply:

Tour operators	Response
TUI UK	“We are proactively contacting all affected customers as fast as we can to help them amend their holiday to a future season. If they are unable to amend to a suitable alternative, we will discuss their various options with them. One option currently available for customers is to cancel the holiday and receive a full refund, however there is a delay in this process due to the large volumes of customers impacted.”
Jet2holidays	“We are continuing to operate a fully staffed call centre, and even though our teams are subject to the same difficulties and restrictions as everyone else, they are working tirelessly to proactively contact customers in departure date order to discuss their options, one of which is rebooking their holiday to a later date. We believe that contacting customers in departure date order is the fairest way to deal with this. The number of calls we are receiving is unprecedented. We ask customers to bear in mind that contacting us will result in longer call waiting times, which is why we politely remind them to wait for us to be in touch.”
On the Beach Travel	“On the Beach is making every effort to provide refunds to customers in line with our obligations under the Package Travel Directive – in cash, in full and within 14 days. Airlines, like the rest of the travel industry, are experiencing huge operational and cash-flow challenges, and the result of this is that there are currently significant delays in receiving refunds from many airlines. In cases where the flight refund is delayed by their airline, we have explained to our customers that we will split the refund into 2 parts. The first part for all holiday monies paid (excluding the flights) is refunded by us immediately from our trust. We have already refunded over 30,000 bookings in cash for hotels, transfers and other ancillaries, and (apart from a brief period at the start of the process) we have refunded these sums within 14 days. The flight cost is then refunded as soon as physically possible following the airline’s formal cancellation of the flight and receipt of the cash refund. At present, we can’t confirm to customers when this will be, as we don’t know how long it will take airlines to refund these sums, though we are urgently working to clarify this.”
We Love Holidays	“We are issuing fully ATOL protected credit notes which customers can then exchange for cash refunds after a definite date if they do not wish to use them. At the moment, we have cancelled package holidays up to 7 May and are issuing refund credit notes to all these customers. As I am sure you are aware, these refund credit notes are fully ATOL protected, meaning there is no risk that customers will lose the money paid towards a cancelled holiday and indeed any new package holiday booked using it will continue to be protected by ATOL. The current date when customers can exchange their refund credit note for a full cash refund is on 31 July 2020, for package holiday refunds (or such later date that the Civil Aviation Authority, who administer the ATOL scheme, and ABTA may subsequently specify) and on the first anniversary of the date of issue of the refund credit note for hotel only bookings. Our policy remains under constant review.”
Expedia Group	Did not respond – its website currently says: “With Coronavirus (COVID-19) continuing to impact travel around the world, our teams are handling an unprecedented number of requests, which means refunds are taking longer than normal. Thank you for your patience as we work to take care of our travelers as quickly as possible! If we charged you, your refund could take up to 30 days to process. (You’ll see our brand name listed on your credit card statement.) If the hotel, airline, or car agency processed the charge, they’ll determine the refund timeline. If you have questions, we’d recommend contacting them directly.”
British Airways Holidays	“If a customer’s holiday/flight has been cancelled, they should call us to discuss their options. They can rebook, refund or choose to take a voucher to travel at a later date. Refunds can be requested at any point up to 12 months after the start date of the journey.”
easyJet Airline Company	“We’re doing all we can to process refunds as quickly as possible, and we’re striving to do this within 14 days where we can. On average, it’s taken us 13.4 days to process refunds to customers impacted by coronavirus. So, due to these exceptional circumstances, where it’s taking a bit longer than we’d like, we’d like to thank customers for their patience and understanding. Some customers are able to amend their holiday instead if they would prefer.”
BravoNext SA/Lastminute	“As we are experiencing an emergency and force majeure situation, our teams are reviewing every package holiday and working around the clock to provide a resolution to our customers. When selling flights, lastminute.com is playing the role of sole intermediary and has to follow the cancellation policies of the airline.”
Travel Republic	“We’ve been working hard for several weeks behind the scenes to finalise our refund process and expect to have further news for customers soon. In the meantime we’ve given all our package holiday customers the option of a full refund, or credit notes as recommended by ABTA’s latest guidelines for its members. These credit notes can be redeemed until the 31st December 2020, and offer a generous period for new departures until 31st December 2021 – which we believe offers our customers maximum flexibility to rebook their holiday if they so wish. Customers who accept a credit note and then change their mind in favour of a cash refund instead, can request this at any time and will be added to the refund process. Whether customers originally chose a refund, or took a credit note and then changed their mind, we’re being clear that we expect that refund process to take longer than usual due to very high demand. However, we’re working to refund customers as quickly as possible, and expect this to be well in advance of the credit note expiry date. Customers who do not redeem their credit note before its expiration date of 31st December 2020 will automatically be given a cash refund. “We are being clear that, under the circumstances, we expect the refund process to take longer than usual. A process that would normally take weeks, will take longer due to very high demand. We fully understand the situation some of our customers are in and are doing everything in our power to be able to refund as quickly as possible.”
Virgin Holidays	Automatically issuing credit notes, but refund is still available – “Refund requests made now for cancelled trips are taking longer than usual to be logged and processed and we’re very grateful for our customers’ continued patience as we deal with this unprecedented situation.”

Airline	Response
British Airways	“If a customer’s flight has been cancelled, they should call us to discuss their options. They can rebook, refund or choose to take a voucher to fly at a later date. Refunds can be requested at any point up to 12 months after the start date of the journey.”
easyJet	“We do aim to process claims in 28 days, however because of the increased volumes due to the pandemic, it means that unfortunately this could take longer.”
Jet2	“We are continuing to operate a fully staffed call centre, and even though our teams are subject to the same difficulties and restrictions as everyone else, they are working tirelessly to proactively contact customers in departure date order to discuss their options, one of which is rebooking their holiday to a later date. We believe that contacting customers in departure date order is the fairest way to deal with this. The number of calls we are receiving is unprecedented. We ask customers to bear in mind that contacting us will result in longer call waiting times, which is why we politely remind them to wait for us to be in touch.”
TUI	“We are proactively contacting all affected customers as fast as we can to help them amend their holiday to a future season. If they are unable to amend to a suitable alternative, we will discuss their various options with them. One option currently available for customers is to cancel the holiday and receive a full refund, however there is a delay in this process due to the large volumes of customers impacted.”
Virgin Atlantic	“Refund requests made now for cancelled trips are taking longer than usual to be logged and processed and we’re very grateful for our customers’ continued patience as we deal with this unprecedented situation. “To simplify the options for our Virgin Atlantic customers, and to provide immediate peace of mind, where a flight is cancelled, we’re automatically holding the booking open for 12 months, with a customer credit equal to the value of the trip. For customers whose holidays will no longer be going ahead, we’re automatically providing a voucher for the value of their trip. If the Virgin Atlantic credit or Virgin Holidays voucher is not used during the lifetime of their validity, customers will still be eligible to request a refund.” A tweet from the airline indicates they are currently aiming to refund within 90 days.
Ryanair	Did not respond to request for comment. Which? has seen customer complaints that the airline is now asking them to accept a voucher valid for 12 months, or to join a refund queue and wait for their money back until the coronavirus outbreak has passed..
Emirates	“We sincerely hope that our customers will choose to rebook and fly with us again at a later time, and that is why we’re offering up to two years validity on their current tickets, or travel vouchers which can be redeemed for any Emirates product or service. Any fees for making a change to the tickets will be waived for tickets issued till 31 May 2020 for travel up to 31 August 2020. However, if they would still like to opt for a refund, we will process that. We would just like to seek our customers’ understanding that refunds will take time as we have a significant backlog to manage.”
Air France-KLM	“Air France and KLM are offering three options to passengers who are booked on flights that are scheduled to depart before 31 May 2020: change their travel date free of charge; change the destination of their journey; or obtain a voucher for non-refundable tickets of the same value as their ticket. Vouchers in case of cancelled flights and that have not been used after a period of 12 months, will be fully refunded. Faced with the exceptional circumstances created by the coronavirus/COVID-19 crisis, Air France and KLM believe that the issuance of a refundable voucher constitutes a fair solution and a reasonable balance between the protection of their passengers and the operational realities that every airline has to face.”
Qantas	“We are priority-processing all regulatory refunds within the required time frames so if that’s with the seven days then that is what we are aiming to do. However, as you’d appreciate we’ve basically stopped flying so there’s a lot of customers/refunds/rebookings to be processed. Customers are also able to have the value of their ticket stored as a flight voucher that they can use up to the end of next year.”
Etihad	“For tickets purchased within Europe or the United States (for Etihad flights cancelled before 31 July 2020 due to COVID-19 border closures), Etihad will also offer greater booking flexibility, Etihad Credit, or a refund if requested.”

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