Coronavirus travel disruption - latest info and your rights

Andy_E

My partner and I had a package holiday to Crete with Jetline Holidays  cancelled in April due to the coronavirus issue. Jetline initially offered a refund (by voucher) of £415 against a holiday purchase price of £845, citing unrecoverable costs as the reason for the deficit and telling me to try to recover the difference from my insurance. My understanding is that for package holidays, companies should offer to rearrange a holiday or provide a full refund. After an email exchange Jetline have increased their offer to £594. My insurance company have declined my claim for a refund of the deficit. I have written to ABTA who say that are communicating with Jetline on my behalf. Are Jetline legally obliged to provide a FULL refund for the package holiday? I have told them I'd be happy to rearrange the holiday or accept a full refund in vouchers - I think that's reasonable?

northwest1965

Andy_E said:

My partner and I had a package holiday to Crete with Jetline Holidays  cancelled in April due to the coronavirus issue. Jetline initially offered a refund (by voucher) of £415 against a holiday purchase price of £845, citing unrecoverable costs as the reason for the deficit and telling me to try to recover the difference from my insurance. My understanding is that for package holidays, companies should offer to rearrange a holiday or provide a full refund. After an email exchange Jetline have increased their offer to £594. My insurance company have declined my claim for a refund of the deficit. I have written to ABTA who say that are communicating with Jetline on my behalf. Are Jetline legally obliged to provide a FULL refund for the package holiday? I have told them I'd be happy to rearrange the holiday or accept a full refund in vouchers - I think that's reasonable?

A FULL refund is due. Go back to them one last time and then if they do not refund in full in 14 days, tell them you will either do a chargeback or Section 75. Personally I would not accept a credit note, useless if they bankrupt.
https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak

keep us updated

DPS-2016

Agree with the new inclusion of HolidayExtras way down the list.  Usually such a fantastic firm, but my heartfelt pleas of needing the money back since THEY cancelled have gone unheard and unresponded to.  

TynewyddExport

We have flights booked to Florence from Birmingham Airport. We are due to fly on 19th June and return on 22nd June. Flights are with Luftansa and are via Frankfurt. Luftansa have now sent us a 'change of reservation'. Our outward flights are unchanged as is our return from Florence to Frankfurt. However our return from Franfurt to Birmingham has changed from flight number LH956 to LH958. LH956 was scheduled to depart FRA at 17:00 and arrive BHX at 17:35 and LH958 will now depart FRA at 21:50 and arrive BHX at 22:25. Are we entitled to have our booking refunded due to this change? Our notification from Luftansa does not state we can apply for a refund. Thank you.

9babecallistos

Tui phone message now says
"if you were to travel before the 13th April and booked online we are automatically sending your refund back to your original payment method, if you booked through one of our stores we are working as quickly as we can to issue these refunds and they will be with you really soon"
Is this new information today?  It doesn't appear on the website either Tui or here?  Desperately hoping it's true but i have already had a refund credit code and we need our cash back, we were meant to travel on 11th April but now I have a place in the queue don't want to give it up!  Has anyone had an automatic refund through this message without having spoken to someone please?

Life__Goes__On

TynewyddExport said:

We have flights booked to Florence from Birmingham Airport. We are due to fly on 19th June and return on 22nd June. Flights are with Luftansa and are via Frankfurt. Luftansa have now sent us a 'change of reservation'. Our outward flights are unchanged as is our return from Florence to Frankfurt. However our return from Franfurt to Birmingham has changed from flight number LH956 to LH958. LH956 was scheduled to depart FRA at 17:00 and arrive BHX at 17:35 and LH958 will now depart FRA at 21:50 and arrive BHX at 22:25. Are we entitled to have our booking refunded due to this change? Our notification from Luftansa does not state we can apply for a refund. Thank you.

Yes, the CAA  considers a flight number change as it being cancelled

https://www.caa.co.uk/Passengers/Before-you-fly/Making-a-booking/Tickets,-fares-and-schedule-changes/

What changes can an airline make to my flight

Where an airline has made a change to your flight (the flight time for example) it is known as a schedule change. This is not the same as cancelling flights. Schedule changes should always be notified to passengers at least 14 days in advance, and the change should only be to the time or the date and not the flight number.

Wsb5tails

I've got a flight booking for Budapest to UK via Brussels. This is a replacement flight after the original direct flight was cancelled before Covid. Now only the 2nd leg Brussels to UK flight has been cancelled where do I stand with getting a refund for the whole journey (Buda to Brussels to UK)  I've only been advised I can apply for the element that has been cancelled.  The whole outward trip was cancelled weeks ago so I've applied for that refund with a different airline so I wasn't going to be in Budapest anyway.

smk77

I cancelled my Jet2 holiday due to depart end June due to Covid 19. I appreciate that the advice was not to cancel but I was not prepared for Jet2 to take final payment and then subsequently cancel and hold onto my money. In the unlikely event that the holiday did go ahead I wasn't keen on going because 2 out of the 4 of the family have been highlighted as "High Risk". I was aware that Jet2's T&Cs stated that I would lose my deposit as I was cancelling more than 70 days before departure.

Deposits taken are supposed to be to cover the costs incurred by a business when a customer cancels. They need to be fair.
I cancelled the holiday based on the advice that the FCO was providing at the time which was indefinite travel ban. However, Jet2 had planned on commencing flight again on 17th June so my flight, as far as they were concerned, was due to fly. That 17th June date was of course an arbitrary date that no guidance from Government / FCO advice. Jet2 has now cancelled holidays that would have included mine. What strikes me is that the contract allow Jet2 to cancel a holiday for the exact same reason I cancelled mine. If they cancel I get my deposit back but if I cancel for the same reason I don't. That surely creates a significant imbalance between the rights of Jet2Holidays and myself which would mean that the contract is unfair.

I  also found the following recent article that states (https://www.lesteraldridge.com/blog/covid-19-news/package-holidays-your-cancellation-rights-and-the-impact-of-covid-19/):

"Under the Regulations, travellers can terminate the package travel contract at any time before the start of the package. However, travellers may be subject to pay an appropriate and justifiable termination fee to the airline/travel agent if they cannot prove cancellation was necessary due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. Unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances include warfare, terrorism, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of a serious disease at the travel destination, or natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes. It appears that the COVID-19 pandemic could fall under this definition, however, currently this is unclear and so it may be that holiday companies take the view that the termination fee will have to be paid by the cancelling traveller."
Additionally, what are the costs that Jet2 incur in these circumstances that justifies them withholding my deposit.?  

From Which? (https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/can-i-claim-back-a-non-refundable-deposit)

When can a deposit be kept?

Typically, the business has no entitlement to keep any amount that can be saved by finding another customer, or cancelling any other suppliers they’ve employed. That would likely constitute an unfair contract term under the Consumer Rights Act.

For example, if you booked a holiday which then sells out and the company finds another customer to take your place it’s likely the only amount it can legitimately withhold from your deposit will be administrative costs.

But, if you cancel at unreasonably short notice and the business can’t find another customer you could expect the business to keep most - if not all - of your deposit.

Under these circumstances, because all holidays on the date I was due to depart have been cancelled, none of the usual costs incurred are likely to remain. They don't need resell, have empty seats on the plane, coach transfers and also the hotel won't be able to supply the accommodation so Jet2 will not have to pay for an empty room.

I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of others because Jet2 Customer Services are struggling to understand the purpose of a deposit.

Life__Goes__On

smk77 said:

I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of others because Jet2 Customer Services are struggling to understand the purpose of a deposit.

I have broached this topic a it in here over the last few weeks.
It is my opinion you should get you deposit back as Jet2 has suffered no loss because you cancelled.
If you had paid,  all money would have been refunded.
I can't see how it can keep customer's money  for a holiday that never was.

Life__Goes__On

so02see said:

I've got a flight booking for Budapest to UK via Brussels. This is a replacement flight after the original direct flight was cancelled before Covid. Now only the 2nd leg Brussels to UK flight has been cancelled where do I stand with getting a refund for the whole journey (Buda to Brussels to UK)  I've only been advised I can apply for the element that has been cancelled.  The whole outward trip was cancelled weeks ago so I've applied for that refund with a different airline so I wasn't going to be in Budapest anyway.

When the direct flight was cancelled,  did you  take the money and rebook,   or swap flights on original booking?