Virgin, Love Holidays and Ryanair are some of the worst travel firms for offering holiday refunds during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey MoneySavingExpert.com.
Brits were essentially banned from travelling abroad for over 100 days, meaning many people had to cancel their holiday plans.
During this time, millions of people have been owed refunds for holidays they couldn’t go on- today’s survey suggests that not every travel firm has treated their customers the same.
Results of the survey
The survey ran between 30 June and 6 July and received 77,101 responses. The aim of finding out both how people felt about their ‘refund experience’ and whether they actually got one.
Three big names did particularly poorly. Ryanair continues to live up to its customer service reputation, scoring the worst of the major brands with a net score of -89%. It’s now joined by Virgin (-88%) and Love Holidays (-81%).
Unsurprisingly these three firms were also among the worst in refunding with just 4% of Ryanair, Virgin Holidays and Love Holidays customers saying they'd had a refund to date.
A majority of Virgin Atlantic and Ryanair customers said they'd been waiting more than two months for a refund since first asking.
Alpharooms was rated the overall worst for customer experience and refunds, with a net score of -99%- not one of customers surveyed said they received a refund.
However, not every travel firm has performed badly during the pandemic.
87% of Jet2 and Jet2 Holidays customers who'd had bookings cancelled said they'd had a refund from the firm.
Trailfinders and Airbnb customers were also likely to get a refund, with 85% and 83% respectively saying they'd been refunded.
‘It is time for regulators and politicians to take action’
Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, has been outspoken about the refund issue throughout the pandemic.
He said that the “refund farce” and has left people in distress and “some have seen their mental health impacted” by it.
He added: "It is time for regulators and politicians to take action.
“Even now, after months, less than a third of people in our mammoth survey have received the full (usually) legally required refunds, and it simply isn’t good enough.
“We will be passing a dossier on this to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Civil Aviation Authority and Department for Transport.”
"Of course, we understand the impact of the pandemic on the travel industry sector is devastating. It’s why I’ve long called for forbearance both ways – if people can help by taking vouchers or rebooking then they should.
"Yet how individual firms have treated their customers during this time will long be remembered. And the fact so many firms are flouting the law and treating customers poorly means those that have bent over backwards in a difficult time need applause.”
Travel firms ranked from best to worst in the survey
1. Travel Counsellors
2. Trailfinders
3. Jet2 Holidays
4. Jet2
5. Airbnb
6. Hays Travel
7. British Airways Holidays
8. Haven
9. Center Parcs
10. Saga
11. Disney Holidays
12. Co-Operative Travel
13. EasyJet Holidays
14. Norwegian Air 309
15. HomeAway
16. British Airways
17. American Airlines
18. Eurocamp
19. First Choice
20. Booking.com
21. Hotels.com
22. Riviera
23. Ebookers
24. Travelbag
25. Qatar Airways
26. Travel Republic
27. Villa Plus
28. Tui
29. Cottages.com
30. P&O Ferries
31. Eurostar
32. Expedia
33. P&O Cruises
34. Brittany Ferries
35. Princess
36. Onthebeach
37. Wizz Air
38. Netflights
39. Hoseasons
40. EasyJet
41. Emirates
42. Vueling
43. Etihad
44. Turkish Airlines
45. Holiday Extras
46. Shearings
47. Aer Lingus
48. Air France
49. Loganair
50. Iglu
51. Travel Trolley
52. Secret Escapes
53. Lastminute.com
54. Sykes Cottages
55. Lufthansa
56. STA Travel
57. KLM
58. Love Holidays
59. Budget Air
60. Barrhead Travel
61. Fleetway
62. Virgin Atlantic
63. Virgin Holidays
64. Air Transat
65. Ryanair
66. TravelUp
67. Opodo
68. Teletext Holidays
68. Teletext Holidays
69. Jetline
70. Alpharooms
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