The 70 best and worst firms for travel refunds: new MSE survey – Virgin and Loveholidays join Ryanair at the bottom

The survey ran between Tuesday 30 June and Monday 6 July and had 77,101 individual responses about travel firms. The aim was to find out how people felt about their 'refund experience', by asking them to rate it as 'great', 'OK' or 'poor', and whether they actually got one. Three big names did particularly poorly. Ryanair continues to live up to its customer service reputation, scoring the worst of the major brands at a net score of -89% (worked out as the 1% who rated it 'great' minus the 90% who deemed it 'poor'). It's now joined by Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays on -88% and Loveholidays on -81%.

Unsurprisingly, these three firms were also among the worst at refunding people, with 4% or less of their customers saying they'd had a refund to date. A majority of Virgin Atlantic and Ryanair customers also said they'd been waiting more than two months for a refund since first asking.While not a statistical random sample of the UK public, this huge survey does paint a strong picture of what's going on in travel refunds. Here are the detailed results. 

1. Loveholidays and Virgin join Ryanair with dire feedback as the worst big firms for refunds, while Travel Counsellors, Jet2 and Hays Travel gain customers' applause

We ranked firms by taking the percentage of those who had a 'great' experience with the company and subtracting the percentage who had a 'poor' experience to give a 'net experience score'. 

Of firms that received at least 100 responses, travel agent Alpharooms came out bottom with a net score of -99%, followed by Jetline (-97%) and Teletext Holidays (-96%).

At the top, Travel Counsellors managed an impressive net score of +84%. It was closely followed by Trailfinders (+81%) and both Jet2 brands (+79%, +77%), all of which have shown a big improvement since the last time we did this survey, in May. 

Here's Martin's view on these companies' performance on travel refunds.

2. Virgin plummets with the worst decline – First Choice and Tui see substantial improvement

This is the second travel refund cancellation survey we've done since the coronavirus crisis began. In our early May survey we had 27,000 responses and while many firms haven't improved or fallen by very much since then, there have been some substantial changes, as shown in the table above. Top of the drops was Virgin Atlantic, which plummeted from -51% to -88% (a -37 percentage-point change) drawing it level in disgrace with its fellow Virgin Holidays brand, also at -88%. Big airlines Aer Lingus and Lufthansa also had significant falls in their net score (-30 and -29 percentage points down on last time).

On the other hand, there were some positive movers. First Choice improved its score from -60% to +5%, while Trailfinders improved by +49 percentage points, and Riviera by +47 points.Unsurprisingly, firms that have recently prominently changed their stance (often after pressure from the Competition and Markets Authority) to offer customers refunds saw a jump too.

These include Tui, which was up from -60% to -21% (see Tui refunds information), Hoseasons, up from -68% to -36% (see Hoseasons U-turns on refunds) and Holiday Extras, up from -92% to -65% (see Holiday Extras U-turns on refunds). Sykes Cottages' U-turn on refunds yesterday (Monday 6 July), came after this poll was concluded. 

3. Less than 1 in 20 customers of Ryanair, Loveholidays and Virgin Holidays have had a refund so far compared with 31% on average, yet Jet2 has refunded in 87% of cases

As you might expect, our survey tended to find that firms that performed well in terms of net score were better at providing customers with refunds.

We asked customers who'd had bookings cancelled by firms whether or not they'd had a full refund and found that overall, less than a third (31%) had. Of those who had got a refund, most had got it quickly, with 60% having received it within a month. Forty-six per cent of those refunded got it automatically without having to do anything to claim it.

Alpharooms and Air Transat were the worst performers, with not one of their combined 326 survey respondents saying they'd received a refund for a trip the firms had cancelled. Teletext Holidays and Virgin Atlantic had a refund payout rate of 1% among those who'd had trips cancelled. Big firms Ryanair, Loveholidays and Virgin Holidays barely did any better, with only 4% of their customers saying they'd had a full refund.At the other end of the spectrum, 87% of Jet2 and Jet2 Holidays customers who'd had bookings cancelled said they'd had a refund from the firm. Trailfinders and Airbnb customers were also likely to get a refund, with 85% and 83% respectively saying they'd been refunded.

4. Airbnb quick to refund, but yet again it's Virgin Atlantic and Ryanair keeping the majority waiting two months or more (and some are still waiting)

We also asked how long people had to wait to get a refund, or how long they had been waiting. Again, the firms that tended to do well in the overall net score were quick to refund, and those that did badly, either slow or just not refunding.

Airbnb was quick to refund with 87% getting a refund within two weeks. Also quick were big firms Jet2 Holidays (57% within two weeks), British Airways (56%) and Jet2 (55%).

Note that below, the columns include both those who got their refund in the time stated, and those for whom it's been that long since they started their claim, though they don't have their refund yet.

And while those customers who have to wait are still better off than those who got nothing, the worst performing firms for delay time were Iglu and Budget Air. For both, 83% of their customers had waited more than two months for a refund (or it's been that long since they started their claim).

Virgin Atlantic (69% two months or more, 9th worst) and Ryanair (59%, 20th worst) were the poorest performing of the big firms here. 

5. Customers who got refunds or got to rebook were more than twice as happy as those who got vouchers

Not all of the respondents in our survey have got a refund or other resolution yet. But of those who have, unsurprisingly, there's a huge disparity in happiness levels between those who got full refunds and those who reached other resolutions.

About 75% of those who got refunds said they were happy, as did 70% of those who rebooked for a future date. But only 29% of those who accepted a voucher or credit note said they were happy, with another 42% saying they thought this was a 'reasonable' solution.

And unhappiness reigns for those who have had to fight tooth and nail to get a refund, with a whopping 50% of those who went via their card firm or travel insurer saying they're unhappy or very unhappy – despite getting money back.

MSE's quick tips to get your money back

The exact process to follow if your booking is cancelled and you want to get your money back will vary depending on the type of booking you have (flight, hotel, package holiday etc).

Before asking for a cash refund, consider if you NEED one. At the moment, many firms are struggling. This means it's safer to demand a refund rather than settle for a voucher, in case the firm collapses before you can use it. But it's also worth considering whether you're in a position to show forbearance.

Having said that, if you're sure that you do need a cash refund, here are a few tips to follow:

1. Speak to the firm first and use its refund system. Always start this way. Give it a chance, use its systems.

2. If that fails, warn that you'll take it further. If you can speak to the firm and it isn't helping, warn it you'll speak to your card firm (this costs firms – it's cheaper if they do it themselves, so give them the chance).

3. If the firm won't give you money back, ask your card provider. Speak to your card provider to ask it to do a chargeback – where it asks the firm's bank for the money. Though some firms may later try to claw this back and you will have to go through a further dispute process.

If this doesn't work, your final action would be to take the legal route, perhaps through a county court.

Important! To be eligible for a refund, it's usually the case that the firm needs to cancel the booking rather than you doing it, as if you cancel, unfortunately there's no guarantee you'll get a refund. Plus, you're unlikely to be covered by travel insurance, providers of which would usually regard you cancelling as a 'disinclination to travel'.

However, some firms are now being more flexible and are letting customers rebook. For full cancellation rights and help, see our Coronavirus Travel Rights guide.

What do the firms say?

There are many firms that have performed negatively, but we have highlighted three big ones in this article – so felt it was appropriate to give them a right of reply, and justify themselves, which also likely sets the tone for other firms in a similar position.

A Virgin spokesperson said: "As a direct result of the global travel restrictions, we have had to cancel a vast number of flights and continue to be inundated with enquiries, including refund requests. Our absolute focus remains on supporting all of our customers to amend, rebook or cancel plans.

"We would reassure all customers that if they've requested a refund for a cancelled trip, it will be repaid in full, and the work to process refunds is our priority."

A Ryanair spokesperson said: "We are pleased to have made such significant progress over the month of June in eliminating the backlog of cash refunds due to the Covid-19 flight cancellations. Over 90% of passengers who booked directly with Ryanair and who requested a cash refund for travel between March and June will receive their refunds before the end of July."

A Loveholidays spokesperson said: "We recognise that during these exceptional times, the experience customers have had with us wasn't as efficient as any of us would have liked and we've been unable to deliver the high levels of service we endeavour to give. We appreciate that this is a worrying and uncertain time for many of our customers and apologise for issues that they have faced with refund payments."