Holidaymakers who did not choose Covid refund face new battle

Thousands of travellers who agreed to rebook cancelled holidays – or accepted replacement vouchers – are facing a second wave of heartbreak as they find they can no longer take the trip they planned but the travel firm will not refund them. Over the spring and summer, airlines and travel firms implored customers to accept vouchers or a rebooking, rather than the full refund to which most were entitled. In many cases, travel firms either refused a refund in the hope customers would accept a voucher or rebooking instead, or made it much easier to rebook than get money back. While Guardian Money advised readers to hold out for the refund to which they were entitled, plenty, understandably, did not, and are finding it has come back to haunt them. This could become the next big battleground as people who accepted replacement cruises, ski holidays and a host of other trips find themselves in the same situation. Rory Boland, the editor of Which? Travel, says consumers’ rights vary depending on what they accepted from the travel provider. “In most cases, those with cancelled package holidays will have been issued a refund credit note rather than a voucher, which is financially protected and can eventually be exchanged for a cash refund when it expires,” he says. “That’s not the case for other vouchers, though, including airline vouchers, which have no such protections. Most carriers have also ignored EU guidance, suggesting they should allow vouchers to be exchanged for cash if they aren’t used. Trust in the travel industry has suffered considerably, in no small part down to how operators and airlines have treated their customers this year. These actions won’t help.”<br/>