Revealed: Lastminute.com, Teletext Holidays and Ryanair are among the worst for Covid-cancellation refunds - and Jet2, BA and Airbnb are the best

  • Survey asked travellers who'd had trips cancelled if they'd received full refunds
  • Jet2 Holidays has paid out highest proportion of refunds, according to results
  • Fleetway, which has now stopped trading, has paid no refunds to customers
  •   The travel firms that are least likely to have paid out full refunds for trips cancelled due to coronavirus have been revealed.

    A major survey asked travellers who had bookings cancelled by firms whether they had received a full refund.

    And in the results, which cover 64 companies, Lastminute.com, Teletext Holidays, Love Holidays and Ryanair were among the big names rated as the worst for refunds.

    The travel firms that are least likely to have paid out full refunds for trips cancelled due to coronavirus have been revealed. In a study, just eight per cent of Lastminute.com customers said they'd had a refund for a cancelled trip

    The travel firms that are least likely to have paid out full refunds for trips cancelled due to coronavirus have been revealed. In a study, just eight per cent of Lastminute.com customers said they'd had a refund for a cancelled trip

    Twelve per cent of Teletext Holidays customers said they'd had a full refund due to their holiday being cancelled

    Twelve per cent of Teletext Holidays customers said they'd had a full refund due to their holiday being cancelled 

    THE 64 BEST AND WORST FIRMS FOR REFUNDS, RANKED IN REVERSE ORDER...

    Travel firm                                

    1. Fleetway*  

    2. STA Travel*   

    3. Air Transat 

    4. TravelUp 

    5. Alpharooms 

    6. Opodo 

    7. Lastminute.com 

    8. Budget Air 

    9. Teletext Holidays 

    10. Jetline 

    11. Shearings 

    12. Vueling 

    13. Holiday Extras 

    14. Villa Plus 

    15. Secret Escapes 

    16. KLM 

    17. Love Holidays

    18. Ryanair 

    19. Princess Cruises 

    20. Turkish Airlines 

    21. Barrhead 

    22. Iglu 

    23. Brittany Ferries 

    24. Air France 

    25. Qatar Airways 

    26. Travel Trolley 

    27. Hotels.com 

    28. Wizz Air 

    29. Lufthansa 

    30. Emirates 

    31. Aer Lingus 

    32. Butlins 

    33. Expedia 

    34. Booking.com 

    35. Riviera 

    36. Eurostar 

    37. P&O Cruises 

    38. Onthebeach 

    39. Virgin Atlantic 

    40. Netflights 

    41. Sykes Cottages 

    42. Haven 

    43. EasyJet 

    44. Saga 

    45. Center Parcs 

    46. Co-operative Travel 

    47. Cottages.com 

    48. First Choice 

    49. British Airways 

    50. Hoseasons 

    51. EasyJet Holidays 

    52. Norwegian Air 

    53. Tui 

    54. Hays Travel 

    55. Virgin Holidays 

    56. Travel Counsellors 

    57. James Villa Holidays 

    58. Travelbag 

    59. Travel Republic 

    60. Trailfinders 

    61. Airbnb 

    62. BA Holidays 

    63. Jet2 

    64. Jet2 Holidays 

    Respondents with bookings cancelled

    74

    90 

    144 

    294 

    303 

    424 

    694 

    127 

    660 

    223 

    73 

    89 

    72 

    224 

    127 

    213 

    1,197 

    2,518 

    85 

    55 

    141 

    681 

    114 

    100 

    63 

    81 

    75 

    79 

    119 

    231 

    141 

    56 

    326 

    197 

    94 

    72 

    417 

    333 

    587 

    83 

    70 

    71 

    2,343 

    130 

    94 

    53 

    53 

    112 

    1,761 

    101 

    197 

    129 

    2,232 

    774 

    527 

    198 

    55 

    55 

    279 

    337 

    184 

    227 

    1,722 

    1,454 

     % who have received full refund from firm  

    0

    11 

    12 

    12 

    18 

    18 

    21 

    30 

    31 

    31 

    32 

    33 

    34 

    35 

    35 

    35 

    36 

    39 

    40 

    41 

    43 

    44 

    45 

    45 

    49 

    50 

    51 

    51 

    51 

    51 

    52 

    56 

    56 

    57 

    57 

    59 

    60 

    61 

    62 

    62 

    62 

    65 

    65 

    67 

    69 

    71 

    71 

    73 

    74 

    76 

    80 

    80 

    81 

    84 

    87 

    87 

    89 

    89 

    Source: MoneySavingExpert.com. *means the firm has now stopped trading – some other firms listed may also have stopped trading. The survey, which had 42,563 consumer responses, was carried out by MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) - its third this year looking at travel refunds.

    It showed that just eight per cent of Lastminute.com (seventh-worst) customers said they'd had a refund from for a cancelled trip. Also faring badly was Teletext Holidays (ninth-worst) on 12 per cent, Love Holidays (seventeenth-worst) on 32 per cent and Ryanair (eighteenth-worst) on 33 per cent.

    Ryanair has strongly defended its track record on issuing refunds for cancellations - saying all customers between March and August who had requested cash refunds have had them processed.

    The misalignment between this defence and poor showings in refund surveys (in previous MSE studies, for instance) appears to result from the airline issuing vouchers to trigger refunds, which some passengers have struggled to process. Under EU law, airlines should only issue vouchers in lieu of refunds with the customers’ signed consent. 

    In addition, Ryanair says there have been issues with refunds for passengers who have booked through screen-scraping websites (more on this in our boxout below)

    Of the 74 respondents who'd had trips cancelled by package holiday provider Fleetway (ranked worst), not a single one told MSE they'd had a full refund – although the firm went into administration in July.

    STA Travel (second-worst) also stopped trading in August. Just three per cent of its customers said they'd had a refund.

    Meanwhile, Jet2 Holidays (64th) and Jet2 (63rd) were the firms that had paid out the highest proportion of refunds, according to the study, with 89 per cent of customers with bookings cancelled saying they'd had their money back with both brands.

    Another big firm that did well in the research was Hays Travel (54th), with 73 per cent reporting they had been refunded by them.

    Out of the 2,518 respondents in the MSE study who said they'd had a trip with Ryanair cancelled, 33 per cent said they had received a full refund

    Out of the 2,518 respondents in the MSE study who said they'd had a trip with Ryanair cancelled, 33 per cent said they had received a full refund 

    RYANAIR DEFENDS REFUND TRACK RECORD  DESPITE POOR SHOWINGS IN SURVEYS...

    Ryanair has strongly defended its refund track record, with CEO Michael O'Leary last month saying that 'every single customer who has requested a cash refund has now received it from March, April, May, June and July'.

    So why does Ryanair keep performing badly in surveys about refunds if it's doing such a sterling job of issuing them? 

    This misalignment firstly seems to be the result of the airline issuing vouchers to trigger refunds and some passengers then struggling to process them.

    In an investigation last month, consumer champion Which? cited the example of one Ryanair passenger who was sent a voucher after his flights to Tenerife were cancelled, but with no instructions on how to exchange this for cash as the link to do this was not included on the voucher email.

    Another passenger whose flights to France were cancelled claimed he received a voucher and clicked the link to reject this for cash - but only received his refund after Which? intervened.

    Michael O’Leary wasn’t aware of these cases when he made his comments

    Which? says under EU law, airlines should only issue vouchers in lieu of refunds with the customers’ signed consent.

    Another issue with refunds, according to Ryanair, is screen-scraper websites.

    The airline said: 'Unfortunately many online travel agents provide Ryanair with fake customer contact and payment details, which resulted in thousands of customers being unable to obtain their flight refunds during the Covid crisis, as many of these unauthorised screen scrapers held their cash for months.

    'To help these customers Ryanair launched its Customer Verification process in July. We call on customers to always book directly.'

    Click here to read more.Meanwhile, the study also found that one in seven of those who'd had a trip cancelled and have got or are seeking a refund had to wait over six months for their cash back.

    Overall, MSE said 15 per cent of those chasing a refund waited over six months – and in many cases, these people are still waiting. Some 38 per cent said they'd waited at least three months.

    Yet MSE points out that the law says you should get a refund for cancelled flights within seven days, and for cancelled package holidays within 14 days, so the vast majority should have been refunded much more quickly.

    Among the big names, 38 per cent said they'd waited over six months for a refund from Lastminute.com as did 37 per cent of Teletext Holidays customers and 33 per cent of Ryanair travellers. Two-thirds (66 per cent) of BudgetAir customers said they'd waited over six months for a refund.

    In contrast, MSE said Airbnb and British Airways Holidays were quick to refund, with 92 per cent of customers waiting less than a month for their money back. Jet2 Holidays (90 per cent) and Jet2 (88 per cent) also did well.

    Meanwhile, researchers also asked respondents about their overall experience of dealing with travel companies while trying to secure a refund or dealing with cancellations - and ranked 61 companies from those offering the best to the worst experience.

    And MSE said it found 'a stark divide in the way different firms treat their customers'.

    For example, it said Lastminute.com is near-bottom of the ranking (59th) with a 'net experience score' of -92 per cent, while Ryanair (54th) is on -77 per cent and Love Holidays (50th) on -68 per cent. Bottom of the pile was Jetline (-95 per cent), followed by Opodo (-94 per cent, 60th).

    At the top of the ranking was Travel Counsellors, which managed an impressive net score of +88 per cent.

    It was closely followed by Trailfinders (+82 per cent, second) and Haven (+78 per cent, third), which saw a marked improvement since MSE's last survey.

    Among the big names, Jet2 (sixth) and Jet2 Holidays (fifth) scored well with +75 per cent and +76 per cent respectively, but the strongest big name was Hays Travel (fourth), which scored +77 per cent.

    When it came to establishing which travellers had the most trouble claiming refunds, the study shows it was those who booked holidays before the pandemic. MSE said for those who booked more recently, firms are making it easier to get a refund.

    Overall, 33 per cent of those who booked since March said they were able to get a prompt refund within two weeks, compared to just 19 per cent of those who booked before.

    Additionally, MSE said they were more likely to have got a refund automatically. Sixty-six per cent of those who booked since March and managed to get a refund said they didn't have to do anything to get their money back, compared to 46 per cent of those who booked pre-pandemic.

    Additionally, MSE said that of those who booked since March, 75 per cent said they were happy with the eventual resolution they reached, and only 12 per cent said they were unhappy.

    Of those who booked earlier, only 57 per cent said they were happy and 23 per cent said they were unhappy.


    Jet2 Holidays and Jet2 were the firms that had paid out the highest proportion of refunds

    TRAVEL FIRMS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST FOR OVERALL REFUND EXPERIENCE

     Firm 

    1. Travel Counsellors 

    2. Trailfinders 

    3. Haven 

    4. Hayes Travel 

     5. Jet2 Holidays

    6. Jet2 

    7. Disney Holidays 

     8. BA Holidays

     9. Center Parcs

    10. Airbnb

    11. Saga 

    12. EasyJet Holidays

    13.  Riviera 

    14. British Airways

     15. Qatar Airways

    16. First Choice 

    17. Tui  

    18. HomeAway 

    19. Norwegian Air 

    20. Cottages.com  

    21. Hoseasons 

    22. Brittany Ferries

    23. Booking.com 

    24. EasyJet 

    25. P&O Cruises 

    26. Eurotunnel 

    27. Princess Cruises 

    28. Travel Republic  

     29. Emirates

    30. Eurostar

    31. Hotels.com

    32. Wizz Air 

    33. Netflights 

    34. Aer Lingus 

    35. Air France 

    36. P&O Ferries 

    37. Holiday Extras 

    38. Sykes Cottages 

    39. Expedia 

    40. Onthebeach

    41. Lufthansa 

    42. Teletext Holidays 

    43. KLM

    44. Secret Escapes

    45. Virgin Atlantic

    46. Alpharooms -58 +41 

    47. Travel Trolley 

    48. Virgin Holidays

    49. Barrhead 

    50. Love Holidays 

    51. Villa Plus

    52. Vueling 

    53. Air Transat  

    54. Ryanair

    55. STA Travel (1)

    56. Budget Air 

    57. TravelUp

    58. Iglu 

    59. Lastminute.com 

    60. Opodo

    61. Jetline

    Responses 

    297 

    466 

    106 

    1,052

    1,834 

    2,016

    105 

    307 

    171 

    626 

    156 

    266 

    153 

    2,299 

    115 

    161 

    2,904 

    126 

    148 

    101 

    154 

    222 

    710 

    3,057 

    509 

    119 

    108 

    341 

     338

    145 

    210 

    125 

     116

    223 

    135 

    109 

    186 

    186 

    516 

    509 

    155

    863

    291 

    160 

    771 

    448 

    110 

    656 

    180 

    1,451 

    331 

    122 

    168 

    3,471 

    110 

    148 

    356 

    757 

    900 

    508 

    264 

    Net score

    88 (+4 from last survey)

    82 (+1) 

    78 (+24) 

    77 (+13) 

    76 (-3) 

    75 (-2) 

    67 (+15) 

    63 (0) 

    62 (+9) 

    60 (-9) 

    60 (+8)   

    40 (+9) 

    33 +(31) 

    24 (+12) 

    22 (+28) 

    22 (+16) 

    21 (+42) 

    18 (+1) 

    18 (-5) 

    18 (+40) 

    10 (+47) 

    8 (+40) 

    7 (+3) 

    7 (+46) 

    -1 (+30) 

    -4 (new result) 

    -5 (+28) 

    -5 (+7) 

     -7 (+41)

    -14 (+10) 

    -15 (-18) 

    -21 (+13) 

    -24 (+11) 

    -26 (+42) 

    -26 (+43) 

    -30 (-6) 

    -31 (+34) 

    -31 (+47) 

    -37 (-8)

    -37 (-4) 

    -38 (+40) 

    -45 (+51) 

    -48 (+31) 

    -54 +(23) 

    -57 (+30) 

    -58 (+41) 

    -58 (+16) 

    -58 (+29) 

    -67 (+20) 

    -68 (+13) 

    -69 (-52) 

    -70 (-18) 

    -73 (+15) 

    -77 (+12) 

    -79 (-1) 

    -84 (-1) 

    -86 (+3) 

    -88 (-15) 

    -92 (-15) 

    -94 (-1) 

    -95 +3 

    Source: MoneySavingExpert.com.  It said: 'Net score calculated by subtracting % of respondents who rated their experience as "poor" from % who rated their experience as "great". The % who rated their experience "OK" is not factored in. The 100 response threshold is why most of the firms included are national brands, rather than smaller, independent companies.' (1) has now stopped trading.

    Meanwhile, 30 per cent of respondents in the survey who had bookings cancelled said they had to make at least three phone calls to their travel firm.

    A further 16 per cent said they'd spent more than two hours on the phone chasing a refund or other resolution and six per cent said they'd actually spent over five hours making calls.

    Unsurprisingly, MSE said firms that were ranked highly for overall satisfaction were among those who were easiest to contact.

    For example, 95 per cent of Trailfinders customers and 93 per cent of Travel Counsellors customers said they'd found it easy to get in touch after their booking was cancelled.

    Among the big firms, Lastminute.com (six per cent) and Love Holidays (10 per cent) scored poorly, while Villa Plus and Opodo were at the bottom with five per cent of customers saying they'd found it easy to get in touch.

    MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis said: 'Enough is enough. Firms big and small – including household names Ryanair, Lastminute.com and Teletext Holidays – have seemingly ignored the law and regulations, and left many customers frustrated, angry and out of pocket.

    'This has a real impact on people's wellbeing, adding to the stress – both financial and emotional – many are already under.

    'Frustratingly, in this, the third time we have run this large survey, some firms have made very little improvement – with many people still waiting for their refunds half a year later. 


    'Of course, the impact of the pandemic on the travel industry has been huge, and I've regularly called for forbearance both ways – if people can help by taking vouchers, or rebooking, then they should. But the law is clear on when you're entitled to a refund, and how long it should take, and some of the biggest names in travel have simply not complied.

    'We will again pass the results of this survey to Government and regulators. They need to step up their action. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has already started intervention with a number of firms, and last week noted it would step up that action. Let's hope that bears fruit quickly. I'd urge those who've had trouble with a particular firm to ensure you report it directly to the CMA as well.

    'It's important too to note that some firms have gone above and beyond in 2020, even amid the most difficult circumstances the travel industry has ever seen. Travel will return in 2021, and my hope is that when travellers are booking next year, they remember the likes of Travel Counsellors, Trailfinders, Haven, Hays Travel and Jet2 – and reward them with their repeat or possible first custom.'

     Of course, the impact of the pandemic on the travel industry has been huge, and I've regularly called for forbearance both ways – if people can help by taking vouchers, or rebooking, then they should. But the law is clear on when you're entitled to a refund, and how long it should take, and some of the biggest names in travel have simply not complied 
    Martin Lewis, MoneySavingExpert.com 

    Teletext Holidays said: 'As a travel brand that prides itself on always providing the best value to our customers we offer a wide range of product options for both flights and hotels.

    'Over 90 per cent of our customers choose to fly with low-cost carriers because of the convenience and value they offer, during this pandemic period, we have seen that whilst these airlines provide great value they have been the worst in refunding our customers money to us, with some refusing altogether.

    'This has created significant delays in our ability to refund these customers, leading to an extremely stressful ten months for both our staff and customers. We continue to chase low-cost airlines tirelessly for refunds on our customers behalf in order to rectify this situation.'

    A Ryanair spokesperson said: 'Ryanair has issued over €1.5bn in free moves, cash refunds and/or vouchers to the millions of passengers whose flights were cancelled between March and August. All customers between March and August who have requested cash refunds have had them processed.

    'Unfortunately many online travel agents provide Ryanair with fake customer contact and payment details, which resulted in thousands of customers being unable to obtain their flight refunds during the Covid crisis, as many of these unauthorised screen scrapers held their cash for months. To help these customers Ryanair launched its Customer Verification process in July. We call on customers to always book directly.'

    A LoveHolidays spokesperson said: 'Despite the severe challenges caused by Covid-19, we are refunding all hotel and transfer elements of cancelled bookings within 14 days of the cancelled departure date, and from January we will be accelerating these refunds further as we improve our processing process.'

    While a spokesman for TravelUp said: 'We apologise to the small number of customers who have experienced difficulties with refunds this year and welcome this feedback. We have successfully issued over 54,000 refunds to the value of £48m which is not reflected here - but it is disappointing when anyone is not satisfied with our service.

    'The majority of any outstanding TravelUp refunds are for flight-only bookings where we act as the agent. We have to secure the fares back from airlines but some are continuing to withhold money for cancelled flights. This has been a big problem for us and our customers this year.

    'That is why TravelUp is lobbying for a change in the way airline refunds are processed. We want fares to be held in a secure third party trust account until departure. That way, if flights are cancelled in the future, passengers would get their money back immediately.'

    MailOnline has also approached Lastminute.com, Air Transat and Alpharooms for comment. 

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