What’s the chance of getting a refund?

THE Civil Aviation Authority is arranging free flights to the UK over the next two weeks for around 110,000 Monarch customers who are abroad.

But these passengers – as well as around three quarters of a million people who were booked to fly in the future – may also qualify for refunds for accommodation and other expenses.

If your Monarch flight is part of a package holiday booked through a UK travel company, you should have ATOL (Air Travel Organiser’s Licence) protection.

This means you are guaranteed a refund if a company collapses, and you would be found an alternative flight if you are stranded abroad. It should also cover you for other costs including accommodation.

The refund will be organised by the Civil Aviation Authority which issues ATOL certificates. UK travel companies which sell flights and package holidays that involve air travel are required to give customers ATOL protection. If you booked your Monarch flight and then paid for your accommodation separately you will not be ATOL protected.

The CAA estimates that around half Monarch customers who are already abroad or were booked on flights in the future are ATOL protected. Those who do not have this protection, but paid for flights with a credit card, should be able to claim against their credit card company under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

This states that if you pay for all or part of something worth £100 to £30,000 on a credit card, then the credit card company is jointly liable to pay for flights and other losses such as accommodation and expenses.

For flights costing less than £100, or any flights paid using a debit card, there is another potential safety net in the form of the chargeback scheme. In this case, the customer asks the card provider to ask Monarch for their money back because they have not received the service they paid for.

While it is not a legal protection like Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, card companies such Visa, Mastercard and American Express should provide it.

Each provider has a different set of terms so you’ll need to check if you are covered in the first instance.

There is a time limit for when you can make a claim. Typically this is 120 days from the date at which you become aware of a problem and 540 days from when you purchased your travel.

If you paid through PayPal you need to raise your claim within 180 days of the date you paid for a service or an item, so you should do this straight away. Claims opened after that period may be refused.

Most travel insurance policies do not provide cover if an airline goes bust.