Passengers furious at airlines' voucher policies in Covid crisis

In the first flush of the pandemic, millions of British travellers tried to be reasonable. With holiday hopes dashed and airlines and travel companies facing ruin, they agreed to accept vouchers instead of refunds. But now a great many say their benevolence has backfired as they are confronted with a nightmare maze of unexpected charges and hurdles when they try to use them to book new breaks. Some of those who are trying to rebook breaks are being charged unexpected extras or being hit with complex rules that make it difficult to redeem those vouchers. Restrictions on what they can be used for hinder like-for-like replacement of the original holiday. Many are particularly aggrieved because they were denied any choice by their provider, even though consumer regulations entitle them to claim a full refund. Martyn James from the consumer complaints website Resolver, said: “It’s outrageous that people who chose to help airlines by taking vouchers are now being told they can’t redeem them for cash if they can’t or aren’t able to use them.” He said: “There’s a real sense of anger about the behavior of certain airlines, given the problems with customer service and ignoring of refund rules that took place when lockdown began. If the industry wants to tempt us back on the planes, it needs to play fair.” BA was among a number of airlines to remove the refund option from its website in March, persuading passengers they needed to apply for vouchers instead.<br/>