Following a European Commission recommendation on the use of refund credit notes for cancelled package holidays, ABTA has released a statement on the right of passengers to claim a refund
The EC recommendation, which applies to the UK until the end of the Brexit transition period, provides guidance on the use of vouchers by EU member states in the event of a package holiday being cancelled. The commission released a supporting statement that said member states should "contribute to informing all parties concerned about this recommendation and cooperate towards its implementation".
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began leading to package holidays being cancelled on a large scale, ABTA has repeatedly stated that customers have a right to a refund and this should be issued as soon as businesses are able to do so. In today's statement, ABTA acknowledges that many tour operators do not have the cash to offer refunds in a 14-day period as they may be waiting on monies from hotels, airlines and other suppliers. Forcing tour operators to pay refunds within the 14 days would put many of them out of business, further delaying the refund process for customers, the statement went on to say. ABTA explained that this is because the ATOL scheme of financial protection "could not cope with the sheer volume of refunds" and "result in long-term damage to the UK travel industry."
ABTA recommends that if companies cannot offer an immediate cash refund, refund credit notes are a way to "help buy more time to process and provide the refund". ABTA attributes confusion around the issuing of refund credit notes to the UK government and CAA not publicly reconfirming its position on this issue since the start of the pandemic, "despite the Air Travel Trust fund payment policy stating deferred refunds remain financially protected".
Mark Tanzer, ABTA?s chief executive, commented: ?That the European Commission has endorsed the correct use of financially protected refund credit notes should help to give additional confidence to UK holidaymakers that they can be trusted to provide the same protection as the original holiday booking. We now need the UK Government and the CAA to come out and confirm their status, which the industry has long been waiting for.?
Image credit: Mike Cohen/Flickr
