ABTA Members are doing their best to manage arrangements for customers whose holiday bookings have been affected by the current coronavirus pandemic. If your trip is not imminent, your travel company may not be in touch with you right away. Travel companies will be managing bookings on a rolling basis by departure date, so please do be patient.

ABTA has set out a series of FAQs on the current situation. Please read these as they should allow you to understand how your booking might be affected.

For information about amendments to your booking, refunds for the booking or the availability of Refund Credit Notes, you must speak to the travel company that you have booked with.

 

Advice on travelling

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) currently advises against all non-essential overseas travel for British nationals. However this travel restriction can be removed at any time, so travel companies are doing their best to manage arrangements for customers.

British people who decide that they still need to travel abroad should be fully aware of the increased risks of doing so. That includes the risk that they may not be able to get home, if travel restrictions are put in place.

For the latest updates please visit the Government’s dedicated Coronavirus travel advice page.

Those currently in destination are advised by the Government to return to the UK now and should contact their travel company. They should also be aware that many destination authorities have introduced enhanced health measures including self-isolation procedures, and it is very important that travellers follow the public health advice relating to their local destination. Travellers should comply with these processes and take relevant preventative measures to reduce the risk of exposure. Travellers should also keep up to date on local advice.

For full information relating to the Coronavirus outbreak please visit the Government website, Public Health England and the TravelHealthPro website.

 

Advice to customers whose bookings have been affected

International travel has been brought to a complete standstill by government measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and this has led to hundreds of thousands of holidays being affected.

ABTA would strongly encourage customers to talk to their travel company to discuss alternative travel arrangements. Travel companies are doing all they can to ensure that holidays can go ahead where and when it is safe to do so and will be keen to offer you a range of options so that you can get the holiday you want.

Where no suitable alternative is possible, your travel company may offer you a refund of the money you paid depending on the terms and conditions of your booking and depending on whether or not you booked a package holiday.

If you booked a package holiday, you are entitled to a refund. They completely understand that for those customers that would prefer a refund to rebooking, they may feel frustrated and concerned by the amount of time it is taking. In normal circumstances a refund should be paid within 14 days. But these are not normal circumstances and the 14 day rule is simply impossible for many companies to adhere to.

If you have travel insurance you might find it quicker to apply for a refund under your policy. Your travel company will be able to assist you with the paperwork for this.

 

Why is my refund being delayed?

Tour operators and travel agents are doing all they can to help customers but many don’t have the cash to pay customers a cash refund in a 14 day period, as they have not yet received money back from hotels, airlines and other suppliers affected by the crisis. Forcing them to do so would put many of them out of business, which would mean customers would not get their money back for many more months as the Government-backed ATOL scheme of financial protection could not cope with the sheer volume of refunds. It would also result in significant long-term damage to the UK travel industry.

In many other countries, governments have taken action to temporarily amend their travel regulations and provide additional guidance to allow refunds to be paid over a longer period or to allow refunds to be paid by a holiday voucher. You can find out more about what other countries are doing here.

The European Commission, which is responsible for the relevant regulations, has advised Member states to find “flexible solutions” to demands for refunds on cancelled holidays during the Covid-19 crisis.

ABTA has sought urgent Government help to ensure the rules around refunds are fit for purpose in the current situation and to help ABTA to provide practical and workable guidance to its Members and customers.

In the absence of this Government intervention, and to provide some order to a chaotic situation brought about by the current crisis, ABTA has developed guidance framework for its Members to ensure that if there is a delay in providing a refund, customers don’t lose their rights and protections, and that Members process refunds as soon as they are able to. This is based on a system of financially-protected Refund Credit Notes (RCNs) where the customer’s fundamental rights are preserved, as set out by law (the Package Travel Regulations). Notwithstanding the issuing of Refund Credit Notes, ABTA’s expectation is that Members should refund customers as soon as they are able to.

ABTA has also prepared information for customers, which makes it clear what an RCN is and what information customers should look out for if a company offers you one.

This type of system is similar to those introduced in many other countries and is the framework under which ABTA will guide its Members and hold them to account.

ABTA would like to ask customers to work with them on this; by following the steps below it will help to ensure your rights are protected and that when this crisis is over UK holidaymakers will be able to book and enjoy their holidays in the same way as they have done for many years. For more information, please visit abta.com

 

 

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