Coronavirus Travel Rights

Quick questions

Travel firms SHOULD refund you for cancelled trips – though many are dragging their feet

As a general rule, if you've paid for a trip and then the travel firm cancels, you should be due a refund. Yet that hasn't always proved easy with cancellations due to the pandemic. While coronavirus has been devastating across the travel industry, firms have been treating customers in very different ways – as shown by a major MoneySavingExpert.com survey.

Even if some firms are being slow to refund customers though, your right to a refund is clear:

• With most cancelled flights, you're due a full refund within seven days. Most cancelled flights will fall under EU flight delay rules (which still apply this year despite Brexit, and cover all flights leaving the UK or EU as well as flights to the UK/EU on a UK/EU airline). These state you're entitled to choose between:
  • EITHER a refund for the flight that was cancelled.
  • OR an alternative flight (airlines call this re-routing) to your destination.

We've seen some airlines pushing customers towards getting a voucher instead, but you are absolutely entitled to a refund in this situation. In theory and according to the law this should also be paid in seven days, though aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Authority has acknowledged current circumstances are making it "very challenging" for airlines to sort it that quickly – and in practice, it's likely to take longer right now.

• With cancelled package holidays, you're due a full refund with 14 days. Package holidaymakers whose trips are cancelled are also entitled to all their money back under the Package Travel Regulations.
  
  Technically you're due this refund within two weeks, but in practice at the moment it's likely to take longer – and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute has told us insisting on a 14-day turnaround may be tricky at the moment, given the volume of refunds travel firms are grappling with at the moment. So it may be advisable to show forbearance and not push the law as far as it can technically go on the timescale. But the important thing is that you are due a refund.
  
  

• With other travel bookings (hotels, car hire etc), the rules are less specific but you SHOULD still get a refund. While flight refunds are covered by EU rules and package holidays by the Package Travel Regulations, there aren't such specific rules with such clear timescales for other travel bookings, such as car hire or hotels.
  
  Generally speaking, if the service you have booked isn't provided, you should be refunded – and that's a principle the competition watchdog has clearly supported. Enforcing it may be tricky though, especially if the firm is abroad where local laws may be different to those in the UK – so there are no guarantees.

If you've booked a future trip and it's NOT been cancelled by the firm you booked with, then your rights are more complicated – it depends to some extent on what travel restrictions are in place and what insurance cover you have.

NB: Here we're only talking about trips which HAVEN'T been cancelled by the firm you booked with. If your trip has been cancelled, see above for full help on how to get a refund.

Some airlines, hotels and other firms will let you cancel or rebook

It's worth checking directly with your airline or hotel even if your original booking was on a non-refundable basis, as some have introduced special cancellation or rebooking policies to help those affected by coronavirus. And even where firms haven't introduced special policies, it's worth asking anyway if there's any flexibility, as in some cases they'll be willing to let you cancel or rebook.

Beware though – even where there's flexibility, you may have to give notice to cancel or rebook, as some firms charge fees for last-minute changes.

Here's what firms have told us they're doing (although this changes regularly, so you'll need to check with companies directly for the most up-to-date information).

BA's letting many cancel flights in exchange for a voucher – but think carefully before accepting

British Airways is now allowing anyone who has a flight booked which is due to depart up until the end of January 2021 to cancel it for free and claim a voucher for its value to be used on future bookings. (If you've booked since 3 March 2020, you can do this for flights due to depart up until 30 August 2021.)

You'll be able to use the voucher on flights which depart up until 30 April 2022. (For full info, see the BA website).

It's important to be aware that if BA cancels a flight, you're legally due a full refund. Yet if you voluntarily agree to a voucher for a non-cancelled flight, BA has confirmed you lose your right to a refund.

So if your flight is still currently set to go ahead, you'll need to weigh up whether you want to ask for a voucher now or wait to see if it's cancelled later on, meaning you could ask for a cash refund.

While BA says it tries to give customers as much notice as possible if their flight's cancelled, at the moment its schedules are constantly under review and whether your flight goes ahead will depend on a range of factors, including different countries' travelling restrictions – so there's no definite timeframe for when you'll find out if your flight's been cancelled.

However, BA says you can request a voucher right up until check-in for your scheduled flight closes. So if you don't want to travel and would prefer a cash refund, you could wait to see what happens to your flight – if it isn't cancelled and you're not owed cash, you can still request a voucher.

For BA loyalists who can afford to, taking a voucher is a decent thing to do. Plus if you may choose not to travel anyway, even if the flight's on and your destination's not covered by Foreign Office warnings, this offers extra flexibility. And as these are price-based vouchers, not vouchers for identical flights, if you'd booked expensive peak-season flights and now want to rebook to a cheaper time or destination, there could be a real advantage in going for the vouchers.

But it cuts both ways. There's no guarantee you'll get a decent deal if you rebook, and you could be better off flying with another airline – so for many, taking cash may make more financial sense.

Holiday not cancelled? Your refund rights depend on what lockdown rules are in place

In some cases, your holiday may still be running or your accommodation open, but you may be unable to go due to lockdown restrictions either at your holiday destination or in your local area. The key to your rights here is the legal status of the restrictions which are stopping you travelling:

If travel's illegal under coronavirus rules, you're likely due a full refund

The good news is in this situation the CMA says you should expect a full refund. Its guidance states that consumers should get their money back if they're not provided with a service due to lockdown laws, or can't access what they paid for "because, for example, lockdown laws in the UK or abroad have made it illegal to receive or use the goods or service".

It's important to note however that CMA guidance isn't a definitive interpretation of the law, and this is a new scenario which hasn't been tested – so while you can direct your holiday accommodation provider to the guidance, complain to the CMA or even pursue legal action, there are no guarantees.

While some holiday firms, such as Marriott and Travelodge, have said they'll offer refunds in this situation, with others it's less clear-cut. For example, some Premier Inn customers initially reported being denied refunds, though Premier Inn now says it WILL consider refund requests on a case-by-case basis.

It's also worth noting it may be harder to prove that you're prevented from travelling due to lockdown rules if the restrictions relate to where you live. In this situation, when you speak to your holiday provider it may be worth providing evidence of the specific reason you're unable to travel.

If you're still allowed to travel, you've no automatic right to a refund

If you are still permitted to go on your holiday under official restrictions and guidance – for example, you're from a tier one area and are holidaying in an area that's also under tier one or tier two restrictions – it's important to understand you don't have any automatic right to a refund if you choose not to go.

If your holiday's still on or the hotel's still open, your refund rights will simply depend on the terms and conditions you agreed to when you booked. Of course, these may still let you cancel for free or move your trip, and some firms are also offering extra flexibility to all their customers at the moment due to coronavirus, so it's still worth checking what your options are.