The number of people travelling through Edinburgh Airport over the normally busy summer months has fallen by 91% due to the impact of Covid-19.
785,000 people passed through the airport between April and September, down from 8.4 million in 2019 and well down on initial 2020 estimates of 8.8 million made at the end of last year. The ever-changing situation and near constant changes to quarantine exemptions means forecasting for 2021 is almost impossible.
The numbers demonstrate the stark situation the aviation industry is in, the huge challenge it faces to recover and the importance of finding solutions to aid the airport’s recovery.
Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport said: “It’s been an incredibly difficult time for all of us and the scale of the recovery challenge that faces us is now really hitting home. These figures highlight the huge impact Covid-19 has had and continues to have, something that is being felt across the travel and tourism industries and the economy as a whole.
“Scotland’s recovery will be protracted and tough, and the aviation industry will face similar challenges to ensure it can reconnect the country to the world. There are still many unknowns which make that difficult to chart.”
The airport has previously confirmed the unfortunate loss of almost a third of its workforce due to the continued impact of Covid-19 and the quarantine policy that is in place. Talks continue with the Scottish Government on the prospect of a robust testing regime and the possibility of a pilot scheme to evaluate risk mitigation and protection of public health.
Gordon Dewar added: “We have spent years building growth in our passengers, routes and infrastructure, so to see all of that fall back is a concerning position for us to be in. Losing valued friends and colleagues has been difficult for us and we still face an uncertain future as we continue to grapple with this awful virus.
“Our own recovery will be difficult – we do not expect to break even until 2021 and we face tough choices to ensure we protect as many jobs as we can, and that will always be our main focus. Our business plans have been in a constant state of flux due to circumstances worsening, the introduction of and constant changes to quarantine, and of course all of this feeds into passenger confidence.
“We need to see a robust testing regime which will protect public health, provide reassurance and see travel and tourism begin to rebuild.”
‘Invisible Cities World Tour’ boxes feature a selection of location-themed products
Invisible Cities, a social enterprise that trains people who have previously experienced homelessness to become walking tour guides of their own city, has launched an exciting new subscription box for would-be-adventurers!
Created in collaboration with Strawberry Lemonade Events and Party in the Post, each box is themed on one country and is delivered straight to your door every three months.
Month one sees a curated box that aims to ignite sentiments of Scotland, the birthplace of Invisible Cities.
For tiny travellers and eternal explorers, the first destination box includes:
Invisible Cities World Tour Passport, where pioneers can collect stamps for all the countries ‘travelled’ through the subscription box (Scotland will be the first stamp)
An activity book which includes a recipe card
A Unicorn Cookie Cutter
A colouring page and set of colouring pencils
A unique Scottish game
Exclusive story time with Paul (QR Code)
A Scottish postcard
With inclusivity, compassion and most importantly community at heart, for every box purchased Invisible Cities will be donating activity books and games to children in temporary accommodation as well as those currently living through tough situations.
Zakia Moulaoui Guery, Founder & CEO of Invisible Cities CIC said: “We believe everyone should learn in a fun and engaging way, no matter where they live, or what their circumstances.
“Through our boxes, we want to spark love for travelling in children and raise awareness of some of the issues countries are facing, whether that be homelessness or inequality. Each box is an adventure, it’s unchartered territory, it’s finding a second home – every child should get the opportunity to feel the excitement that brings.”
So, what do our voyagers think?
“We loved the story from Paul. We really need to do his tour in Edinburgh!“ – Nicola (mum).
“I’m really excited to be making cookies with my new cookie cutter. My favourite part of the box is the colouring sheet and I can’t wait to get my next box!” – Jessica (aged 8).
Each box will see games, gifts and unique items to collect, all themed around a new, must-visit country. Available for a one-off yearly subscription of £90 (for four boxes per year), or individually at £24.95, your round-the-world tour is just a hop, skip and a letter box away…
Travellers from Portugal and French Polynesia will be required to self-isolate at home, or another specified address, for 14 days on arrival in Scotland from 4am Saturday morning (5 September).
This is due to a significant rise in cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in these places, and in Portugal’s case the level of test positivity, which means that the risk of importation into Scotland by people who have visited is too high to ignore.
The Scottish Government has carefully examined the scope of applying measures, such as regional targeting, but consider a whole country approach for Portugal is required. While regional variations in the pattern of cases and level of risk can often be identified in different countries, the Scottish Government is not confident there is strong evidence of clear controls in place limiting travel between different areas. A regional approach will be explored for future application but in the interests of safeguarding public health a whole country approach will be applied at this time.
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We are in the midst of a global pandemic and the situation in many countries can change suddenly. Therefore, people should think very hard before committing to non-essential travel abroad.
“With Scotland’s relatively low infection rate, importation of new cases is a significant risk to public health. I would also encourage people who have returned to Scotland from Portugal or French Polynesia in the last few days to be particularly careful in their social contacts and to ensure they stick to the FACTS. I am also concerned by the level of infections in Gibraltar and we will be monitoring the situation there very carefully.
“Regular discussions continue with the other three governments in the UK. We continue to closely monitor the situation in all parts of the world and base the decisions we make on the scientific evidence available.
“It is a legal requirement to complete a Passenger Locator Form and provide it to Border Force, whether you have travelled from an exempt or non-exempt country. The requirement for travellers to quarantine for 14 days on arrival from a non-exempt country is vital to help prevent transmission of the virus and to suppress it – not doing so poses a significant risk to wider public health across Scotland.”
Importation of new cases remains ‘significant’ public health risk
Travellers from Greece will be required to self-isolate at home, or another specified address, for 14 days on arrival in Scotland from 4am Thursday morning (3 September). This is due to a significant rise in cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) being imported into Scotland by people who have been in Greece.
Evidence of virus importation, especially from the Greek islands, has led to the country being removed from the exemption list on public health grounds. It is believed prevalence of COVID-19 in Greece currently remains lower than 20 per 100,000, however, a number of cases of the virus in Scotland can be traced back to travel to Greece.
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We are in the midst of a global pandemic and the situation in many countries can change suddenly. Therefore, people should think very hard before committing to non-essential travel abroad.
“With Scotland’s relatively low infection rate, importation of new cases from Greece is a significant risk to public health. I would also encourage people who have returned to Scotland from Greece in the last few days to be particularly careful in their social contacts and to ensure they stick to the FACTS.
“We continue to closely monitor the situation in all parts of the world and base the decisions we make on the scientific evidence available.
“Regular discussions continue with the other three governments in the UK.
“Requiring travellers arriving from a non-exempt country to quarantine for 14 days on arrival is vital to helping prevent transmission of the virus and to suppress it. More details about what this means can be found on the Scottish Government website.
“Wherever people have travelled from – an exempt country or not – it is a legal requirement to complete a Passenger Locator Form and provide it to Border Force officials. Failure to do so can also result in a fine since this, along with any failure to self-isolate where required, poses a significant risk to wider public health across Scotland.”
Chief Medical Officer Gregor Smith said: “There is a compelling public health risk around importation of the virus, especially given the number of imported cases linked to the Greek islands.
“The flow of travel between Scotland and Greece, and the behaviour we have seen from some of those travellers, means that on public health grounds there is a strong case – supported by public health directors – to remove Greece from the exemption list.”
Public health rules for international travel are an important part of Scotland’s wider response to the pandemic to limit the introduction of new chains of transmission.
To allow the appropriate arrangements to be put in place, following the laying of the regulations, the change will come into force at 4am on Thursday 3 September.
All international travellers arriving into Scotland, apart from a very limited number of individual exemptions, must complete a passenger locator form and provide evidence that they have done so on arrival in the UK if requested to do so by a Border Force official. This includes people arriving from countries where quarantine is subsequently not required. Individuals who do not complete the form and present it when asked on arrival may be fined £60. The fine can be doubled for each subsequent offence up to a maximum of £480.
Failure to comply with the requirement to quarantine may result in a fine of £480.
Those travelling abroad should check in advance for any local requirements to quarantine on arrival at their destination. Further information about the foreign travel public health rules, including quarantine requirements can be read on the Scottish Government website.
This includes the existing list of overseas destinations where those arriving in Scotland are exempt from self-isolation.
France and the Netherlands will be removed from the list of destinations exempt from quarantine requirements due to an increased number of cases of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Aruba, Turks and Caicos, Malta and Monaco will also be removed from the exemption list.
The decision made by the Scottish Government, and also made by the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland and Wales as well as the UK Government, is to reduce the risk of the transmission of the virus by those travelling from these countries.
The public health measures will come into effect at 4am tomorrow (Saturday 15 August) and will mean those arriving in Scotland from France, the Netherlands, Aruba, Turks and Caicos, Malta, and Monaco will be required to quarantine for 14 days.
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We have always been clear we are closely monitoring the situation in all countries and that we may need to take action to remove a country from the list of places exempt from quarantine requirements should the virus show a resurgence.
“These are not decisions which we take lightly but on the basis of the evidence it is important that we take action to suppress transmission of the virus and protect public health.”
Public health rules for international travel are an important part of Scotland’s wider response to the pandemic, to limit the introduction of new chains of transmission as Scotland’s own infection rates have been falling.
All international travellers arriving into Scotland, apart from a very limited number of exemptions, must complete a passenger locator form and provide evidence that they have done so on arrival in the UK if requested to do so by a Border Force official. Individuals who do not complete the form and present it when asked on arrival may be fined £60. The fine can be doubled for each subsequent offence up to a maximum of £480.
Those travelling abroad should check in advance if there are any requirements to quarantine on arrival at their destination.
The existing list of overseas destinations where those arriving in Scotland are exempt from self-isolation can be found online.
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has also updated its travel advice to advise against all but essential travel to France, Monaco, the Netherlands, Malta, Turks and Caicos Islands and Aruba.
Rory Boland, Which? Travel Editor, said:“It’s understandable that the government wants to restrict travel to these countries at this time, but the burden of this decision disproportionally falls on holidaymakers – thousands of whom are likely to be left significantly out of pocket because their airline will refuse to refund them.
“Unlike tour operators, airlines now routinely ignore FCO travel warnings and refuse refunds because, they argue, the flight is still operating. Some major airlines, like Ryanair, won’t even allow customers to rebook without charging a hefty fee.
“The government wants us to act responsibly and not travel to countries with an FCO warning, but it needs to make it clear to airlines that they too need to act responsibly and not ignore government travel advice in an effort to pocket customer cash.”
Some airlines are still failing to refund passengers
Ryanair, Virgin Atlantic and Tui are failing to refund passengers in agreed timeframes, breaching recent commitments to the regulator that they would speed up their refund process.
Which? has seen evidence that the airlines are reneging on promises they made to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) about how they would improve their refund processes, including from some passengers who have been left out of pocket since March.
The findings come after the CAA reviewed airlines’ behaviour and identified several carriers that weren’t paying refunds ‘sufficiently quickly’, but opted not to take enforcement action after receiving commitments from the airlines to improve their performance.
However, Which? found that Ryanair, Tui and Virgin – all identified by the CAA as not processing refunds fast enough – are falling short of the promises they made to the regulator, prompting concerns from Which? that the regulator’s enforcement powers may not be fit for purpose.
The CAA told Ryanair it wasn’t satisfied that it was taking 10 weeks or longer to process refunds, and that airlines offering vouchers should also be offering passengers the choice of a cash refund. Following the regulator’s review, Ryanair published a commitment on its website that all refund requests up to the end of May would be cleared by 31 July.
But Which? has heard from Ryanair passengers who are still waiting for refunds from March, and who are still trying to get cash refunds after they were initially sent vouchers despite requesting cash refunds.
Virgin Atlantic told the CAA its maximum waiting time for refunds is 120 days, but some passengers have been trying to get refunds from the airline for longer than four months.
The consumer champion heard from two passengers who have been waiting over 130 days for refunds for flights that were cancelled in March.
Tui was reprimanded by the CAA for issuing vouchers and then making customers wait a further 28 days before they could apply for their money back. Tui told the CAA that “on average, cash refunds will be processed within 14 days”.
However, despite telling the regulator it is no longer automatically issuing vouchers, Tui still states on its website that customers must wait for a voucher before they can claim a cash refund.
Which? has heard from a passenger who is yet to even receive the voucher that she needs to claim her refund – or received any other communication from Tui – after her flight was cancelled in April.
Following its review, the CAA said a number of airlines have committed to speeding up the time it is taking to process refunds without requiring enforcement action, and that it would continue to monitor those airlines and continue to push for further improvements.
It said it would consider if enforcement action was appropriate if airlines failed to meet their commitments. However, it also highlighted that its enforcement powers are not well suited to swift action, and that it can take a considerable period of time for a case to come before the courts.
Which? is concerned that if airlines are continually allowed to openly break the law on refunds through this crisis, it will set a precedent that sees airlines continue to treat passengers unfairly without fear of consequence or sanctions.
Airlines have repeatedly been given the benefit of the doubt, but some have treated the regulator’s efforts to secure voluntary commitments with indifference. It is clear that more needs to be done to give the CAA the clout to effectively hold airlines to account.
Which? is calling for the government to enhance the CAA’s existing powers to allow it to more easily take swift and meaningful action against airlines that have repeatedly been exposed for disregarding the law and their passengers over the course of the pandemic.
The consumer champion believes this should be the first of a series of reforms to the travel industry, to help ensure the future of international travel from the UK and to help restore consumer trust in the sector.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:“Time after time, Which? has exposed airlines breaking the law on refunds for cancelled flights due to the pandemic and treating their passengers unfairly, and we’re concerned that they now feel empowered to do as they please without fear of punishment.
“Passengers must be able to rely on a regulator that has effective powers to protect their rights – especially at a time of unprecedented turmoil. The government needs to step up and ensure the CAA has the tools it needs to hold airlines to account, or risk consumer trust in the travel industry being damaged beyond repair.”
Kirsty Ness requested a cash refund from Ryanair immediately after her flights were cancelled in late March, but on 20 April she received a voucher instead.
Kirsty has called Ryanair several times to cash in the voucher, but she has yet to receive her refund.
Palliative care nurse Jeanette Howard was sent a voucher for her Ryanair flights to Alicante that were cancelled on 20 March, even though she had applied for a cash refund.
She says she’s called the airline ‘on a daily basis’ since late April to ask to exchange the voucher for cash, but she’s still waiting for her money back.
Ryanair did not respond to Which?’s request for a comment.
Jeff Palmer and his wife were due to fly with Virgin Atlantic to Vegas on 9 April. He first requested a refund from Virgin on 31 March after they cancelled his flights, and told Which? he has tried ‘every method under the sun’ to contact them.
He received emails telling him it would be 90 days, then 50, then another 14, before receiving a refund for his flight but not his wife’s – despite it being part of the same booking. He told Which? he has contacted them several times since, and still no sign of a refund for her ticket.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said:“The huge volume of refund requests we have received, combined with the constraints on our teams and systems during the pandemic, has meant that refunds have been taking longer than usual to process, and we sincerely apologise for this.
“Since April, we have been focussed on making improvements wherever possible. We’ve boosted the size of the team dedicated to processing refunds five-fold, with over 200 people now directly involved. This has increased our capacity to process a greater number of refunds, more quickly and we continue to minimise the wait time for existing refund requests.
“Thanks to the progress made, we are steadily reducing the maximum processing time for each new Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays cash refund. For customers requesting a refund in August, we expect the maximum processing time to be 80 days, from the date the refund is requested. For those requesting a refund in September, we expect it to take a maximum of 60 days, and then reduce to 30 days for refunds requested in October, before returning to normal levels.
“Up until recently we have been committed to processing existing refunds within a maximum of 120 days, from the date the refund is requested, and we inform each customer when this is done by email. The timeframe begins from the date the refund is requested and acknowledged by a customer agent, not the date the flight is cancelled.
“We are aware that there are a portion of Virgin Atlantic bookings with pending refund requests which were incorrectly inputted and unfortunately now exceed 120 days for processing. This was an administration error and as soon as this was identified we urgently investigated. We are resolving this as a priority and any customers affected will have their refund processed as soon as possible.”
Kath Lowe’s Tui flight from Manchester to Tenerife was cancelled on 29 April, but she hasn’t received a voucher – or any other communication – from Tui and until she does she can’t claim a refund.
She says she’s tried calling Tui on many occasions but she’s never managed to get through to its call centre.
A Tui spokesperson said:“Customers with cancelled flight only bookings which were due to depart before 11 July were issued refund credit vouchers, and could then apply for a cash refund via our online form. These refunds were processed within 28 days.
“Customers with cancelled flight only bookings which were due to depart from 11 July onwards will automatically receive cash refunds. These refunds will be processed within 14 days.
“We’re really sorry to any customers who may have experienced delays in receiving their refund.”
Tui has also confirmed a voucher was sent to the case study in May but speculated it may have been lost in junk mail. They’ve now requested for this to be cancelled and a refund to be issued.
The CAA said:“We will review any supplementary evidence provided to us by Which? – beyond the 12,000 submitted to us during the review – but we will need to see individual examples in order to consider what further action is needed with the airlines.
“Throughout our review, alongside information received from airlines, we also used information from consumers and consumer groups, as well as mystery shopping from our consumer protection team, to determine what commitments were needed from airlines to improve performance.
“If we had not received such commitments during our review, then our next step would be to consider formal enforcement action. However, this enforcement process can take a significant period of time without providing short-term results for consumers. For example, the enforcement action we commenced against Ryanair in 2018 is not expected to come to court until at least 2021.
“While our initial review has finished, we have been clear that we will continue to monitor performance and should any airline fall short of the commitments they have made to us, we will take further action as required.”
But Which? says the CAA is failing the consumers it is supposed to protect
Review considered actions by airlines during the coronavirus pandemic
Civil Aviation Authority action has led to airlines making commitments to improve performance without requiring formal enforcement action
Quality of service and performance from most airlines has improved in response to bilateral engagement and the review, leading to refunds now being paid out faster
Civil Aviation Authority warns other European and international airlines that the consumers right to a refund must be protected
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has been reviewing the refund policies and performance of UK airlines and three of the largest international operators to the UK. A further five international airlines were included due to the level of consumer feedback and concerns that refunds were not being paid during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Civil Aviation Authority review is based on its own investigations, as well as information provided to us by consumers across email and social media, as well as through consumer bodies including the Competition and Markets Authority, the Northern Ireland Consumer Council and Which?.
At the start of the review, some airlines were not paying refunds, with others facing potential backlogs of numerous months.
We investigated airlines’ policies and practices to establish whether they were placing barriers in the way of consumers requesting refunds, through unclear messaging, difficult to navigate customer services and under-resourced call centres.
While we recognise that the coronavirus pandemic was an unprecedented situation for the aviation industry, our consumer team has worked to protect consumer rights and to influence airlines to change their processes and practices in order to improve performance in providing refunds.
The Civil Aviation Authority now has evidence that shows that since it launched its review, and its wide-ranging engagement programme with airlines, all UK airlines are now paying refunds. Call centre wait times have reduced, in some cases significantly, and customer service messaging has provided greater clarity on consumers’ rights to a refund for cancelled flights.
Our review found that a number of airlines were not performing adequately. We have gained immediate commitments from these airlines to improve their performance and the time taken to provide refunds to consumers, without requiring enforcement action.
This is the most immediate way of providing benefits to consumers as enforcement processes can take a considerable amount of time to complete given the potential for legal proceedings. We have previously called for stronger, more immediate, powers to act to protect consumer rights.
Other European airlines were not initially within the scope of our review due to discussions taking place between National Enforcement Bodies, European governments and the EU Commission. Engaging with these other EU airlines at that point would have potentially cut across these other discussions.
However, we have today written to a further 30 major European and international airlines that operate services to and from the UK to highlight the results of our review, and to warn them not to deny consumers their right to a refund. We will not hesitate to take further action against any airlines where necessary.
Commenting on the review, Richard Moriarty, Chief Executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “The airlines we have reviewed have responded by significantly enhancing their performance, reducing their backlogs, and improving their processing speeds in the interests of consumers.
“Although we have taken into account the serious operational challenges many airlines have faced, we have been clear that customers cannot be let down, and that airlines must pay refunds as soon as possible.
“There is still work to do. We have required commitments from airlines as they continue the job of paying customer refunds. Should any airline fall short of the commitments they have made, we will not hesitate to take any further action where required.”
Summary statements for each airline are available on CAA website at the link below:
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:“The regulator is failing the consumers it is supposed to protect. The reality is that people are still owed millions of pounds in refunds, are facing financial and emotional turmoil, and continue to be fobbed off by a number of airlines who have been brazenly breaking the law for months.
“These airlines will now feel they can continue to behave terribly having faced no penalty or sanction.
“It is obvious that the CAA does not have the right tools to take effective action against airlines that show disregard towards passengers and the law, but more worryingly, it’s not clear the regulator has the appetite to use them.
“The government must use this opportunity to bring in much-needed reforms, including giving regulators greater powers to take swift and meaningful action, but consumers need assurances that these will actually be used against lawbreaking companies.”
The Prime Minister has announced a consultation into the Highway Code. The consultation applies across England, Scotland and Wales and comes as the UK Government unveiled its ‘most ambitious plans yet to boost cycling and walking’.
Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, says the changes are needed to encourage people to walk and cycle more.
A key feature of the proposals is the idea of a ‘hierarchy of responsibility’, with road users who cause the greatest harm having a greater responsibility to reduce the threat they pose to others.
There are also proposed changes at zebra crossings and junctions to give pedestrians priority and additional narrative on the dangers of speeding. At the heart of the proposed changes is the belief that “the purpose of the Highway Code is to promote safety on the road, whilst also supporting a healthy, sustainable and efficient transport system.”
Jenni Wiggle, Interim CEO, Living Streets, said: “The Highway Code currently treats all road users – from children walking to lorry drivers – as if they are equally responsible for their own or other people’s safety. However, people walking cause the least road danger but are often left paying the price.
“Pedestrians account for a quarter of road deaths, with the latest figures showing increases amongst vulnerable groups: children and older people. Road users who have potential to cause the greatest harm, such as the drivers of large motor vehicles, should also take the greatest share of responsibility to reduce the danger they pose.
“The renewed focus on unsafe speeding is welcome and incredibly timely. Lockdown saw a minority of people viewing quieter roads as an invitation to drive recklessly. Not only does speed kill but it creates an environment where only the brave dare use our streets to walk or cycle.
“Whether we choose to drive or cycle, we are all pedestrians. These proposed revisions will benefit all of us.”
Living Streets is part of the Walking and Cycling Alliance which has been calling for improved infrastructure for walking and cycling, along with changes to the Highway code.
Living Streets supports the plan to encourage more walking and cyclingwhich was announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday.
Living Streets Jenni Wiggle commented:“This announcement is fantastic news for walking and cycling. Investing in safe, convenient and attractive conditions for walking and cycling brings a range of benefits that will help deliver the Government’s priorities around obesity and climate change.
“Walking is the most accessible form of exercise and can help people maintain a healthy weight. Yet our streets don’t support walking. Placing walking and cycling at the heart of our transport system will allow us to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic stronger and is essential for transport decarbonisation.
“Low traffic neighbourhoods, better crossings, 20mph limits, School Streets and segregated cycle lanes can all help reshape our streets into ones that promote healthier travel choices. Measures to reduce traffic in neighbourhoods and provide local authorities with new powers to enforce new schemes will further boost their effectiveness.”
But Ryanair says it’s just ‘another baseless survey of two men and a dog’
People are suffering serious financial and emotional distress as they struggle to claim refunds for flights and holidays cancelled due to coronavirus, a damning dossier of more than 14,000 refund complaints compiled by Which? has revealed – but a Ryanair spokespersoncalled the Which? report ‘yet another baseless survey of two men and a dog’.
The complaints – which have been passed onto the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as part of its review of how airlines have handled cancellations and refunds in recent months – are collectively worth more than £5.6 million and detail the significant toll that delayed and denied refunds are taking on customers’ lives.
The findings come as Which?’s campaign, ‘Refund Us. Reform Travel.’, demands that airlines urgently refund any passengers still owed money for cancelled flights and holidays.
Under the Denied Boarding Regulations, if a UK or EU airline (or an airline flying from an airport in the UK or EU) cancels your flight, you should be refunded within seven days.
Package holidays are protected by the Package Travel Regulations, which entitle you to a full refund within 14 days if your holiday is cancelled. However, many of the biggest carriers have been openly breaking the law amid an unprecedented volume of cancellations caused by the pandemic.
Since asking affected passengers to report their airline to the CAA through its online tool on 22 May, the consumer champion has received and submitted over 14,000 reports in just under six weeks, of which over 12,600 have been analysed to establish trends in the data.
Those who reported to Which? that they had been denied a refund are out of pocket by an average of £446.40, and have collectively spent a total of 52,000 hours – almost six years – trying to chase their airline for the money they are due.
Collectively, the 12,602 people whose reports were analysed told Which? they were owed £5.63 million in refunds. These reports provide a snapshot of the scale of the problem, with the industry’s own estimates from April this year suggesting that up to £7 billion of consumers’ money is owed in refunds.
The most reported airline was Ryanair, accounting for four in 10 (44%) of the complaints made to Which?, with passengers reporting a combined total of £1.15 million owed. Half of those (50%) reported spending more than five hours of their time trying to contact the airline for a refund.
Despite being the third largest operator flying out of the UK, behind EasyJet and British Airways, Ryanair owes over £400,000 more than the two market leading airlines, with its £1.15 million total equating to one in every five pounds that was reported to Which?.
Easyjet was the next most complained about airline, accounting for one in seven (14%) complaints. Customers told Which? they were collectively owed more than £663,000 in refunds, with three in 10 (29%) telling Which? they are yet to receive a response from the airline with regards to a refund.
Virgin Atlantic was the third most complained about, with seven per cent of complaints saying the customer was waiting for a refund from the airline. Over £915,000 is collectively owed to Virgin Atlantic customers who complained to Which?, with the average refund amounting to £1,031.61.
Three in 10 (29%) customers who reported Virgin Atlantic to Which? told the consumer champion they had spent over five hours trying to claim a refund, while a further three in 10 (31%) had spent over 10 hours.
Tui and Etihad customers spent the most time chasing a refund, with four in 10 (both Tui and Etihad – 39%) spending over 10 hours contacting their airline to ask for their money back.
Additionally, nearly half (45%) of Tui customers who made a report to Which? told the consumer champion they had not received a response from the company at the time of submitting their report.
Airlines have cited huge volumes of refunds and limited staff available to process them as an explanation for the delays in refunding customers, however a number of airlines have done a significantly better job of returning money to their customers in a shorter time frame while operating under similar circumstances.
A Which? survey of airline customers in May who had had flights cancelled found that four in 10 (39%) BA customers surveyed had received their money back within the legal time frame, while three in 10 (29%) Jet2 customers who responded were refunded within the seven day window. This was in comparison to only five per cent of Ryanair customers telling Which? they received a refund within the legal time frame, and one in seven (14%) Easyjet customers.
Which? also invited people to report the impact that being denied a refund on their lives has had, as the pandemic has left hundreds of thousands of households in difficult financial circumstances and worried about their health and that of their loved ones.
Lynn Fox, 42, was made redundant in March after her employer went into administration, before her self-employed husband was left without work due to the pandemic.
They had remortgaged their house in January to pay for a once-in-a-lifetime holiday with Virgin Holidays to Florida costing £6,700. But when Virgin cancelled the holiday, Lynn was unable to contact the company and requests for a refund went unanswered.
Both Lynn and her husband have been relying on Universal Credit and told Which? that without the money they were owed, they feared they may struggle to pay their mortgage for the next year. However, after Which? contacted Virgin about her story, she received an email saying her refund is now being processed.
In response to Lynn’s experience, a Virgin Holidays spokesperson said:“Virgin Holidays understands the difficulties that the Covid-19 crisis poses to our customers with upcoming travel plans, and we are offering as much flexibility as possible for those whose trips are affected.
“Our absolute focus remains on supporting all of our loyal customers, whether that’s to amend, rebook or cancel plans. As a direct result of the Covid-19 crisis and the global travel restrictions imposed, Virgin Holidays has had to make significant holiday cancellations and we continue to be inundated with an unprecedented volume of refund requests, while working through a backlog, and unfortunately these are taking longer than usual to be processed.
“Our customer centre and finance teams have been working from home with limited infrastructure, so in order to accelerate the process, we have boosted the size of the team handling refunds. These additional staff are receiving training to use the required systems, which is increasing our capacity to process refunds.
“We would reassure all Virgin Holidays customers that if they’ve requested a refund, it will be repaid in full, and the work to process refunds is our priority. Payments are being prioritised based on how long the customer has been waiting for their refund, working in order from March 2020 onwards.
“We are committed to completing each refund at the earliest opportunity, but we would assure customers that payment will be processed within an absolute maximum of 120 days, from the date the refund is requested. We are making every effort to reduce this timeframe wherever possible in these extraordinary circumstances and thank all of our customers for their patience.”
Which? also heard from Laura McAdam, 26, who needed to fly back to her family home after losing her job and worrying about becoming homeless.
Laura told Which? she suffers from severe depression and anxiety, and that she eventually stopped chasing Easyjet after spending approximately 12 hours trying to get a refund, as the distress was taking a toll on her on top of everything else going on in her life.
Laura said Easyjet only gave her the option of rebooking or accepting a credit note, and that all her emails to the airline went ignored. She told Which? the £120 – which she is still waiting to be refunded – would make a huge difference to her given how little money she has to live on.
However, after being contacted by Which?, Easyjet said it has contacted Laura to apologise for the inconvenience caused and asked for her refund to be processed immediately.
Alisya Boyraz, 22, and her partner were due to relocate from the UK to China for work in February, having quit their jobs and arranged to move out of their home in January.
However, after Emirates cancelled their flight in March they had to postpone their move – losing their jobs, the apartment they had secured in China, and a significant amount of their savings in the process. They are now also out of pocket by over £1,080 for their cancelled flight, as the travel agent she booked with, Travel2Be, has not refunded them yet.
Alisya told Which? that their Chinese visas have now expired meaning if they do not make it to China, they will have lost a further £1,300 spent on legal fees for the move. They are now having to rely on friends and family for somewhere to live, and that her partner is still out of work, months on from the flight being cancelled.
Alisya said the money owed to them would make a significant difference to their lives while her partner is out of work, and would help cover some of the money lost as a result of their move being postponed.
Which? believes the stories it has already submitted clearly make the case for tough action against airlines that continue to flout the law. But as international travel begins to resume from the UK, Which? is calling on people to continue to submit their complaints to pass on to the CAA to ensure the regulator does not let travel companies return to normal with no consequences for their actions over this period.
The CAA must now take urgent enforcement action against airlines that are failing to pay refunds, rather than continuing to let them get away with illegally withholding customers’ money given the huge financial and emotional toll it is having on thousands of people’s lives.
Which? also believes the serious problems people have faced in recent months have demonstrated that major reforms to the travel industry are necessary. The consumer champion will set out in the coming months steps that the government should take in order to restore consumer trust in the travel sector.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said: “We are hearing from thousands of passengers who are still waiting for refunds months after flights and holidays were cancelled.
These people are often in desperate circumstances of their own and have told us the stress of being left out of pocket has significantly impacted on their emotional wellbeing and their finances.
“As a first step to restoring lost trust in the travel industry, it’s important that lawbreaking companies are not let off the hook for their actions during this period. The regulator must act swiftly on this evidence and take strong action against those airlines that have repeatedly been exposed for flouting the rules.”
An Etihad spokesperson said:While every effort is being made to process refunds, there have been occasions where it took longer to handle requests. This has been due to the extremely high number of calls and claims received.
“In addition to offering full refunds, we also introduced a generous travel credit option for use against future travel. Extra resources were also brought in to ease the situation, resulting in considerably improved service levels.
“We regret any inconvenience or distress faced by our customers and we thank them for their continued patience and understanding.
An Easyjet spokesperson said:“As the UK’s largest airline, easyJet carries more passengers than other airlines which means we have also had to make more cancellations during this period.
“Throughout this Covid period, we’ve continued to offer our customers a refund option, in addition to free changes or a voucher. We’ve also ensured that the refund request is easy and straightforward, via a dedicated refund webform online. All of these entitlements can be accessed through our online Covid Help Hub.
“We are processing refunds for customers and aim to do so in less than 28 days. But in these unprecedented times, the volume of cancellations compounded by local lockdown restrictions leading to reduced staffing levels in our customer contact centres, means that processing of refunds is taking longer than usual. To help our customers, we have invested extra resources into the call centre to help reduce our queue as quickly as possible.”
A Ryanair spokesperson said:“This is yet another baseless survey of two men and a dog from Which?.
“Ryanair has already processed over €500m in refunds and vouchers since mid-March, which is over 40% of Ryanair’s total backlog of Covid cancellations in March, April, May & June.
“The process time for cash refunds is taking longer due to unprecedented volumes and the fact that we have fewer staff available due to social distancing measures.”
A Tui spokesperson said:“We remain sorry for the delay to customers and have apologised to customers directly who were particularly impacted by the delays during the height of lockdown.
“The world closed around us, retail stores closed and teams had to work from home; we simply couldn’t keep up with the volume of customers we had to help. In total we’ve cancelled holidays for nearly 1.5 million customers.
“We worked day and night to resolve this by building new systems to support retail customers digitally and set up 1000 Retail Advisers to work from home so they could manage cancellations remotely. Once our new systems were built customers were able to request refunds online.
“Since we’ve made these changes, our phone lines have an average call waiting time of 15 minutes, online forms are actioned in real time and customers are refunded within 14 days.
“We really appreciate the continued patience and understanding of our customers.”
In response to the CAA data analysis, Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said:“Virgin Atlantic understands the difficulties that the Covid-19 crisis poses to our customers with upcoming travel plans, and we are offering as much flexibility as possible for those whose trips are affected.
“We’re helping customers with upcoming travel plans to rebook on an alternative date free-of-charge, with the option to change their destination, all the way until 30 September 2022.
“As a direct result of the crisis and global travel restrictions, we have had to make significant cancellations to our flying programme, with a selection of core routes recommencing from 20 July 2020.
To provide immediate peace of mind, where a flight is cancelled, we’re automatically providing a customer credit equal to the value of the trip. This credit can be used to rebook on alternative dates, allowing for a destination change and name change, for travel all the way until 30 September 2022.
“If the rebooked travel date occurs before 30 November 2020, we’ll also waive any potential fare difference. This process gives customers the flexibility and time to decide their future travel plans with Virgin Atlantic when they are ready to do so.
“Our absolute focus remains on supporting all of our loyal customers, whether that’s to amend, rebook or cancel plans during the Covid-19 crisis. We continue to be inundated with an unprecedented volume of refund requests, while working through a backlog, and unfortunately these are taking longer than usual to be processed.
“Our customer centre and finance teams are working from home with limited infrastructure, so in order to accelerate the process, we have boosted the size of the team handling refunds. These additional staff are receiving training to use the required systems, which is increasing our capacity to process refunds.
“We would reassure all customers that if they’ve eligibly requested a refund, it will be repaid in full, and the work to process refunds is our priority. Payments are being prioritised based on how long the customer has been waiting for their refund, working in order from March 2020 onwards.
“We are committed to completing each refund at the earliest opportunity, but we would assure customers that payment will be processed within an absolute maximum of 120 days, from the date the refund is requested. We are making every effort to reduce this timeframe wherever possible in these extraordinary circumstances and thank all of our customers for their patience.
Passengers arriving in Scotland from 57 overseas destinations that have similar or lower levels of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection than Scotland will no longer need to quarantine. Travellers from the 14 UK overseas territories will also be exempt.
This public health measure will be lifted on Friday (10 July) for those arriving from countries and territories where the risk of importing COVID-19 is sufficiently low – with 26 European nations among them, including Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Malta.
Passengers arriving from these countries will still be required to complete the online passenger locator form prior to travel and to supply contact details, travel details and the address of the final destination where they will be staying. Travellers arriving into Scotland via an English port or airport, or direct to the country, will still need to quarantine if they have been in a country which is not on the exemption list.
A further review will be conducted on the 20 July.
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “Having carefully considered the public health impact of proposed exemptions we will lift the quarantine requirements from a limited number of countries where the risk of importing COVID-19 is sufficiently low.
“These exemptions will take effect on Friday, at the same time as those being introduced for travel into England and Wales.
“As we have lowered the level of the virus in Scotland, we must manage the risk of more cases coming into the country, particularly from areas where infections are more prevalent than here. That makes decisions about lifting quarantine requirements particularly difficult.
“Anyone travelling should follow public health advice at all times including wearing face coverings, avoiding crowded places, washing hands and surfaces, staying two metres apart and self-isolating if you get symptoms and immediately registering for a test.”
Passengers arriving in Scotland will no longer need to quarantine provided they have not been in a non-exempted country in the previous 14 days.
Public health rules for international travel are an important part of Scotland’s wider response to the COVID-19 pandemic – to limit the introduction of new chains of transmission of the virus as the country’s own infection rates are/have been falling.
The measures were initially introduced across the UK and applied to travellers arriving from all countries outwith the Common Travel Area (CTA)
Exempting additional countries, including Spain and Serbia, will be considered at three weekly review points with the next review being 20 July.
Data received from the UK Government indicates that the prevalence of the virus in Spain is 0.33% which means 330 people per 100,000 have the virus. In Scotland that figure is 28 people per 100,000.
Those travelling abroad should check in advance if there are any requirements to quarantine on arrival at their destination.
The list of overseas destinations where the self-isolation requirements for those arriving in Scotland will be lifted on Friday are:
Andorra; Antigua and Barbuda; Aruba; Australia; Austria; The Bahamas; Barbados; Belgium; Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba; Croatia; Curaçao; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Dominica; Faroe Islands; Fiji; Finland; France; French Polynesia; Germany; Greece; Greenland; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Hong Kong; Hungary ; Iceland; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg; Macau; Malta; Mauritius; Monaco; The Netherlands ; New Caledonia; New Zealand; Norway; Poland ; Réunion; San Marino ;Seychelles; St Barthélemy; St Kitts & Nevis; St Lucia; St Pierre and Miquelon; South Korea; Switzerland; Taiwan; Trinidad & Tobago; Turkey; Vatican City State and Vietnam.
The fourteen UK overseas territories also on the list of exemptions are: Akrotiri and Dhekelia; Anguilla; Bermuda; British Antarctic Territory; British Indian Ocean Territory; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Ireland is already exempt as part of the Common Travel Area, as are the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:“Retaining quarantine restrictions on these countries could lead to Scottish holidaymakers being left out of pocket.
“Those who have already booked package holidays from an English airport may not be able to claim a refund because the holiday will now go ahead.
“It’s important that those affected get an opportunity to rebook at a later date and don’t have to pay the price for England and Scotland having different quarantine lists.”
