O/T Anyone still looking forward to taking holidays abroad?

[howdydoo]

Brin, I've just had a refund from Ryanair for flights cancelled 14 weeks ago.


“The government shouldn’t step in to bail them (British Airways) out. They should let them go bust. And the likes of Virgin Atlantic and others should be able to step into the shoes, take over their slots and offer a much more cost effective, in our opinion, better airline.”

Richard Branson, 22 June 2009

Latest update on MSE


What does the CAA say?

CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty 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."

What do the airlines say?


A Ryanair spokesperson said: "Ryanair has already processed over €750 million in refunds and vouchers since mid-March, which is over 60% of Ryanair's total backlog of Covid cancellations in March, April, May and June.

"We expect to clear over 90% of the remaining backlog of refund requests by the end of July. However, thousands of customers are being blocked from receiving their refund due to unauthorised third-party screen scrapers providing Ryanair with fake email addresses or virtual credit card details that do not belong to customers.

"We call on the CAA to take action and introduce urgent regulation to ensure that these unauthorised intermediaries provide airlines with accurate customer details so we can process their refunds."

We've contacted Virgin Atlantic for comment, and will update this story when we hear back. When we originally published the results of our latest travel survey, a spokesperson told us: "As a direct result of the global travel restrictions, we have had to cancel a vast number of flights and continue to be inundated with enquiries, including refund requests. Our absolute focus remains on supporting all of our customers to amend, rebook or cancel plans.

"We would reassure all customers that if they've requested a refund for a cancelled trip, it will be repaid in full, and the work to process refunds is our priority."