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| TUI fly, part of TUI Group Photo TUI |
TUI holidays in the UK, part of the European TUI Group has made it far more difficult for customers to get refunds over cancelled holidays, according to Simon Calder, the travel editor of The Independent.
Calder reports that Under the Package Travel Regulations, Tui - Britain's biggest package holiday company is, like all firms, required to give customers a full cash refund within 14 days of cancelling a holiday. Yet, due to the current crisis caused by coronavirus COVID-19 TUI has been having great difficulty in fulfilling this obligation.
Now TUI is telling customers "If your holiday can no longer go ahead as planned, you’ll receive a refund credit note for the full value of your holiday”. for all holidays that had been scheduled to go before 15th May.
The refund note is valid for a year from the original departure date of the cancelled holiday - which could be many months after the customers actually paid for it, thereby giving TUI an interest-free loan of their money for what Calder estimates as up to 15 months!
Customers are entitled to a full refund of the holiday, however, certain extra's that they've paid for, such as for a seat upgrade are not included and TUI will be keeping that money.
Travellers will be able to claim a cash refund, but only after they've got the credit note, which TUI says will be around four weeks after the departure date. "They have to wait for a refund credit to be issued to make sure that is removed from their booking, before we offer a cash refund to make sure they don’t receive both." a spokesperson for the holiday firm said, adding "Every customer who has requested a cash refund will receive them shortly. We apologise for the delay but we are getting through them."
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