Dossier shows 14,000 holiday refund gripes

A DOSSIER of more than 14,000 complaints from people struggling to obtain refunds for cancelled flights and holidays has been compiled by a consumer group.

Many people are suffering “serious financial and emotional distress” while trying to get money back from firms such as Ryanair, easyjet and Virgin Atlantic during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Which?.

Under UK law, consumers should be refunded within seven days for cancelled flights and within 14 days for package holidays that cannot go ahead due to travel restrictions.

Which? said it has received more than 14,000 reports of travel firms not issuing payouts on time since May 22.

Analysis of 12,600 of these found that complainants are out of pocket by a total of £5.6 million, which is an average of £446 each.

Which? said its dossier provided “a snapshot of the problem”, and cited travel industry estimates in April that up to

£7 billion in payments made by UK customers could be affected.

The most reported airline was Ryanair, accounting for 44% of the complaints made, followed by easyjet (14%) and Virgin Atlantic (7%). Tui and Etihad customers spent the most time chasing refunds, with 39% of people who complained about either firm spending more than 10 hours dealing with the issue.

All five airlines acknowledged there have been delays in refunding customers due to the volume of applications, but insisted they are issuing payouts.

Which? has passed the complaints to the Civil Aviation Authority, which it urged to take “urgent enforcement action”.

Ryanair accused the consumer group of using a “baseless survey” to compile its figures, while easyjet said it is processing refunds within 28 days.