Let’s face it, it’s been a year of chaos for travellers, with mixed messaging, issues surrounding rebookings and vouchers and in some cases, being denied basic consumer rights.
It can be confusing to know what you can and can’t do given so many possible issues, so we’ve put together this at-a-glance guide to cover your specific situation with travel over the past year.
Find out below what you can do if your trip was cancelled, if you did travel but experienced delays or if you accepted vouchers instead of a refund.
This one should be straightforward. Put simply, if your airline or travel operator cancels your trip then you are entitled to a refund. For flights you should receive this within seven days of the cancellation date. For package holidays the time frame is 14 days. If you are offered a voucher as an alternative then you can choose to do this, but remember, you don’t have to and you can get a refund. The lines get slightly more blurred if you booked through an online ‘marketplace’ rather than directly through an agent. The difference here is that packages from an online marketplace can be made up of components provided for by separate companies. We heard many cases where flights were cancelled but accommodation was not or vice versa. The Competition & Markets Authority has recently warned that sellers should not block customers from obtaining a refund and that refund rights should be made clear. If you’re having trouble getting your refund – or your company is refusing to give you one – you can claim the money back from your credit card provider, if you paid by credit card, under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This means that your credit card company is jointly liable for the purchase and in fact many card providers are promoting this benefit. The total cost of the trip has to be more than £100. Resolver can help you raise the issue direct with your travel provider or with your credit card company. If you paid by debit card you can contact your provider to try and claim using ‘chargeback’ for purchases of £30 or more. This is not a legal right but is offered by many providers providing you can show that you have tried to get your money back from your travel firm.
If you simply decided not to go on the trip (or you cancelled it), even if you could go, then it’s unlikely you will be able to get a refund or alternative date, though providers may have been offering the latter. It’s still the advice to not immediately cancel your trip as once you do this, you lose many of your rights, including maybe the possibility of getting vouchers or an alternative date. Resolver is aware of many trips still planned to go ahead despite countries on the ‘red’ and ‘amber’ lists, and of many flights not cancelled during the second lockdown late last year – despite it being illegal to travel abroad for a holiday at that point. It may be worth speaking to your travel insurer but in these situations it is unlikely you will be automatically covered.
If you couldn’t travel, for example if lockdown restrictions prevented it or you or one of your party was diagnosed with Covid-19 before you were due to go. If you have travel insurance, it’s possible that you may be covered for this – and in fact a number of policies include this circumstance in their Covid cover, so contact them to find out what you can do. You may be subject to timing conditions, such as a positive Covid test having to be within 14 days of travel, but make sure you get in touch as soon as you know you can’t go away.
This has become the cause of many problems for consumers of late. Many of you accepted a voucher or refund credit note from your travel provider rather than a refund both to support the travel industry and secure a holiday in the future, only to be hit with extra charges, vouchers that don’t work or expiry dates meaning that lockdowns and restrictions prevented you from using them. If you accepted a voucher willingly instead of a cash refund, you’re unlikely to just be able to exchange it for cash, though a handful of companies are allowing this. If your voucher is due to expire, check its terms. There’s a chance you can extend the expiry date or use it to book for a holiday further down the line. Some voucher terms mean that the expiry date is for booking, not necessarily having to travel on that date. If your voucher isn’t working or it’s shown to be ‘invalid’ get in touch with your provider with screenshots and the original voucher code.
If you were issued a voucher automatically, or you received one despite asking for a refund when your trip was cancelled, you can dispute it. Contact the provider to argue your case. If it doesn’t play ball you could try approaching (in the case of airlines) your airline’s approved alternative dispute resolution provider.
As well as vouchers, many customers accepted a new travel date for their cancelled holiday plans. If this happened to you and now you are facing difficulty, for example, if your destination is now on the Government’s ‘red’ or ‘amber’ lists, then contact your provider to find out your options. We are aware of many providers making this difficult, with a number refusing refunds in this situation or trying to force another alternative date if you don’t want one, often for a higher cost. If you have assurance in writing that you will not be charged extra fees for rebooking or cancelling at the time of your original changed date, make sure you have this to hand when you raise the issue. If you simply want to cancel your rebooking then this is likely to be trickier, despite it clearly not being fair that you may be forced to go abroad against government advice or lose money if you choose not to. It may be worth speaking to your travel insurance provider to see if you will be covered if you bought your policy before the latest guidelines were announced.
If you managed to travel but your flight was delayed then you can claim for compensation. There are many tiers for compensation, but the minimum triggers are if the flight was delayed by more than three hours and is not due to reasons within the airline’s control (for example, adverse weather conditions or political instability may mean you’re not eligible). The flight must have also departed from a UK or EU airport or be on an UK or EU headquartered airline and landing at a UK/EU airport. Our flight compensation tool will tell you if you are eligible for compensation and how much you may be able to claim. You may also be due compensation if your flight was cancelled less than 14 days before departure but be aware that this only applies to flights if you booked a package holiday.