Foreign
BRITISH Airways and Ryanair are under investigation to find out whether the firms breached consumer laws by not offering refunds to customers for cancelled flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the companies should have issued refunds for the cancelled trips when planes were grounded due to the pandemic.
Investigators would be writing to both airlines and would also look at whether refunds should have been given where flights took place but non-essential travel was banned due to lockdown restrictions.
During the pandemic, BA offered vouchers or rebookings, while Ryanair provided the option to rebook, the CMA added
Legally, customers are entitled to a cash refund within 14 days.
The watchdog said: “The CMA is concerned that, by failing to offer people their money back, both firms may have breached consumer law and left people unfairly out of pocket.
“It is now seeking to resolve these concerns with the companies, which may include seeking refunds, or other redress, for affected customers.”
CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli added: “While we understand that airlines have had a tough time during the pandemic, people should not be left unfairly out of pocket for following the law.
“Customers booked these flights in good faith and were legally unable to take them due to circumstances entirely outside of their control.
“We believe these people should have been offered their money back.”
The agency added that it should not be assumed either airline has broken the law.
A spokesperson for British Airways said the company had issued more than three million refunds.
”We continue to offer highly flexible booking policies at the same time as operating a vastly reduced schedule due to government-imposed travel restrictions, and we have acted lawfully at all times.
“It is incredible that the government is seeking to punish further an industry that is on its knees, after prohibiting airlines from meaningful flying for well over a year now.
“Any action taken against our industry will only serve to destabilize it, with potential consequences for jobs, business, connectivity and the UK economy,” the spokesperson said.
It comes after the CMA launched enforcement action against several package holiday firms, forcing them to agree to offer cash refunds to customers.
In May, package holiday firms Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms agreed to hand back 7 million pounds (9.9 million dollars) to customers who saw their holidays cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It follows similar agreements made by LoveHolidays, Lastminute.com, Virgin Holidays and Tui UK, after thousands of customers complained that the companies had failed to refund them for cancelled trips.
The travel sector has been one of the hardest-hit during the pandemic.
It has faced the most scrutiny from the CMA, which wrote to more than 100 firms reminding them of their responsibility to process all refunds within 14 days by law for any cancellations.(dpa/NAN)
June 09, 2021 @ 11:55 GMT
Tags: British Airways Ryanair facing probe for lack of COVID-19 refunds
