Lastminute.com, Teletext Holidays and Ryanair named and shamed after hideous results in major new MSE Covid travel refunds survey – action's needed

We asked those who'd had trips cancelled by a firm and have got or are seeking a refund how long they've had to wait.

Overall,15% told us they'd waited over six months – and in many cases these people hadn't yet got a refund and were still waiting. Some 38% said they'd waited at least three months. The law says you should get a refund for cancelled flights within seven days, and for cancelled package holidays within 14, so the vast majority should have been refunded much quicker. 

Among big names, Lastminute.com (38% said they'd waited over six months), Teletext Holidays (37%) and Ryanair (33%) appeared to be dragging their feet, while two-thirds (66%) of BudgetAir customers said they'd waited over six months. 

At the other end, Airbnb and British Airways Holidays were quick to refund, with 92% of customers waiting less than a month for their money back. Jet2 Holidays (90%) and Jet2 (88%) also did well.

Note that below, the columns include 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 hadn't had their refund yet.

3. Lastminute.com, Ryanair and Loveholidays are among the big names with dire overall feedback, while Hays Travel and Jet2 won praise

We asked survey respondents about their experience overall, asking them to rate it as 'great', 'OK' or 'poor'. We then ranked the 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'. 

Four big names did particularly poorly: Lastminute.com came near bottom with a net score of -92%, while Ryanair got -77% and Loveholidays -68%. Teletext Holidays scored -45%. Bottom of the pile was Jetline (-95%) followed by Opodo (-94%).

At the top, Travel Counsellors managed a net score of +88%. It was closely followed by Trailfinders (+82%) and Haven (+78%), which saw a marked improvement since our last survey. Among the big names, Jet2 and Jet2 Holidays scored well with +75% and +76% respectively, but the strongest big name was Hays Travel, which scored +77%.

As the table shows, there were some big improvements and declines in ratings since we asked the same question in our last survey in July. Top of the drops was Villa Plus, which plummeted 52 percentage points to -69%. Hotels.com and Vueling also saw big drops (both down 18 percentage points on last time). Teletext Holidays moved up 51 percentage points – though it sits at a still-dire -45%. Hoseasons, which reversed its coronavirus refunds policy after complaints to the competition watchdog, moved up 47 percentage points to +10%. 

4.  The travellers who had most trouble are those who booked holidays before the pandemic – if you booked more recently, firms are making it easier to get a refund

We asked survey respondents when they booked their trips that ended up being cancelled, so for the first time were able to compare how travellers who booked prior to the pandemic have been treated compared with those who booked since the start of the pandemic.

Almost nine in 10 respondents (88%) who had their booking cancelled by their travel firm said they booked before March 2020 – when coronavirus was declared a pandemic. The remaining 12% booked between March and November 2020.

Overall 48% of those who booked since March told us they'd so far got a full refund, compared with 51% of those who booked earlier – but of course, they've had longer to chase one. Otherwise those who booked cancelled trips after the start of the pandemic have fared much better:

• They were more likely to have got a prompt refund. Thirty-three per cent of those who booked since March said they'd been able to get a refund within two weeks, compared with just 19% of those who booked before.
  
  
• They were more likely to have got a refund automatically. Sixty-six per cent of those who booked since March and managed to get a refund said they didn't have to do anything to get their money back, compared with 46% of those who booked pre-pandemic.
  
  
• They were more likely to be happy with the outcome. Of those who booked since March, 75% said they were happy with the resolution they reached, and only 12% unhappy. Of those who booked earlier, 57% said they were happy, 23% said they were unhappy.

6. 30% who had bookings cancelled have had to make at least three phone calls – some have spent over five hours on the phone

We asked how easy it was to get in touch with travel firms – and had a huge range of responses.

Overall, 30% of those whose firm had cancelled their booking had had to make at least three phone calls chasing a refund or other resolution, while 16% said they'd spent more than two hours on the phone. Six per cent said they'd spent over five hours making calls.

Firms that ranked highly for overall satisfaction were among those who were easiest to contact – for example, 95% of Trailfinders customers and 93% of Travel Counsellors customers said they'd found it easy to get in touch after their booking was cancelled. Among the big firms at the other end, once again Lastminute.com (6%) and Loveholidays (10%) scored poorly, while Villa Plus and Opodo were at the bottom with an abysmal 5% of customers saying they'd found it easy to get in touch.