Lastminute to pay £7m for missed trips

LASTMINUTE.COM has promised to repay £7million to more than 9,000 customers it failed to refund for holidays cancelled during the pandemic.

The online retailer has agreed to pay at least half of customers by December 16 and the rest by January 31, the Competition and Markets Authority said.

Anyone entitled to a refund for cancellations on or after tomorrow will be paid within 14 days, the CMA added.

The consumer watchdog received hundreds of complaints that lastminute.com was not giving refunds for trips.

CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli said: ‘Online travel agents have a legal responsibility to provide prompt refunds to customers whose holidays have been cancelled due to coronavirus – irrespective of whether the agent received refunds from airlines and accommodation providers.

‘Our action today means that customers whose holidays were cancelled by lastminute.com will receive their money back without undue delay.’

Mr Coscelli said the CMA was also continuing to investigate other package holiday firms and warned it ‘will not hesitate to take further action’ if firms breached consumer protection laws.

In October, the CMA won a commitment from Virgin Holidays that it would refund all customers ‘without undue delay’ after hundreds of complaints.

It also wrote to more than 100 firms in July to remind them of their obligations and gained refund pledges from Tui, Sykes Cottages and Vacation Rentals.

Package holiday customers are legally entitled to refunds within 14 days for cancelled trips. But many have been left waiting months during the pandemic as travel firms face a cashflow crisis.