Aviation: Repayments

(asked on 17th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with representatives of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on (a) introducing regulations to ensure that customer funds cannot be withheld by airlines and (b) ensuring airlines comply with CAA's requirements when issuing refunds for cancelled flights.


Answered by
Kelly Tolhurst Portrait
Kelly Tolhurst
This question was answered on 22nd July 2020

The Department and the Civil Aviation Authority has been clear that airlines should not deny consumers their legal right to a refund, if it is requested.

On 1 July 2020 the Civil Aviation Authority provided an update on its website about its review into the refund policies of airlines during the coronavirus pandemic. They are reviewing the refund policies of all UK airlines, as well as a number of international airlines that operate flights to and from the UK. The review is considering how airlines are handling refunds for flight-only bookings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department has also recently acted to ensure that if ATOL-protected holidaymakers who have package holidays including a flight accept refund credit notes rather than a cash refund for their cancelled holiday as a result of COVID-19, they will be protected by the ATOL scheme if necessary even if the company they have booked with later collapses.

By providing confidence to holidaymakers that their refund credit notes are protected if they choose them over refunds, this will mean customers are able to support the travel sector’s recovery from the pandemic by accepting a refund credit note.



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