Wizz Air has said it will restart holiday flights from Luton airport to Portugal in mid-June and to Greece in July in the hope that Covid-19 travel restrictions will be lifted.
Announcing five new routes, the low-cost airline said from 16 June flights would depart from the London airport to Faro in Portugal, with prices starting at £25.99, and to Corfu, Heraklion, Rhodes and Zakynthos in Greece from the start of July.
My flight to Europe is cancelled. All I’m being offered is an alternative flight or vouchers. Is this legal?
No. But that hasn’t stopped a number of airlines doing exactly that. All flights on EU carriers within, or into the EU, and all flights leaving from an EU airport, are protected by the EU’s “denied boarding” rules, which require a full refund in seven days when flights are cancelled.
The problem for consumers is that enforcing these rights is proving very difficult. After initially promising to refund passengers within 20 working days, Ryanair has now said passengers should accept vouchers valid for 12 months, or wait until the Covid-19 pandemic is over for a refund.
Refunds at British Airways are only being processed by customer services which, of course, is impossible to contact. easyJet, initially only offered refunds through customer services but now has a web portal to request refunds.
Note: the EU cancellation rules do not apply to non-EU carriers where the flight started outside the EU – for example, a Korean Air flight from Seoul to London.
In the face of a no-refund policy, what should I do?
Taking the offer of replacement vouchers in the current climate is highly risky given the airline may not be around in six months. While some will be happy to accept vouchers, many will not.
Coby Benson of the specialist flight compensation lawyers, Bott and Co, advises passengers to submit their refund request in writing, using the following text:
I understand that my flight [fight number] on [flight date] has been cancelled and I therefore request a full refund pursuant to articles 5(1)(a) and 8(1)(a) of EC Regulation No.261/2004. You are reminded that the refund must be made within seven days. For the avoidance of doubt, I do not accept a travel voucher.
If the airline does not respond or does not agree then the passenger can either issue court proceedings or use Alternative Dispute Resolution.
If your flight cost more than £100 and was booked using a credit card, you can hold the card provider jointly liable. When things calm down we suspect many passengers will be forced down this route.
My flight operated as scheduled but I was unable to go on it. What then?
The fact that the government advised against all but essential travel means travel insurance policies should pay foreign trip cancellation claims provided you bought your policy before the pandemic was declared on 11 March.
Miles Brignall
Wizz Air has introduced new rules, including compulsory face masks for passengers and staff as well as gloves for crew, to make people feel more confident about flying.
It will also give sanitising wipes to travellers and no longer provide magazines. The airline says it encourages travellers to observe physical distancing at the airport but it will fill middle seats on aircrafts if there is enough demand.
Alexandre de Juniac, the director general of the International Air Transport Association, said during the group’s weekly briefing there was no evidence that leaving the middle seat empty would improve passenger safety.
Owain Jones, the managing director of Wizz Air UK, said: “Although travel is currently restricted by government regulations, we are planning for the easing of restrictions as the situation improves and our customers are able to start travelling again.”
UK nationals will be able to fly, assuming travel restrictions are lifted. The UK Foreign Office currently advises British nationals against all but essential international travel.
Portugal and Greece have started relaxing their lockdowns, although travel restrictions remain. Greece’s tourism minister, Haris Theoharis, said last month the sector hoped to be open for business in July.
European flights have come to a virtual standstill during the coronavirus lockdowns, with only a few services operating for essential travel, such as people being repatriated, going to work or to transport medical supplies.
Budapest-based Wizz Air became the first airline to resume commercial flights to and from Luton last Friday, and also restarted flights from Vienna. Most of the more than 100 passengers arriving at Luton from Sofia, Bulgaria, on a Wizz Air flight on Friday were seasonal farm workers.
The Dutch airline KLM also said on Tuesday that it had resumed operations to a number of its European destinations. It is now running a daily flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona, Budapest, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan, Prague, Rome and Warsaw.
KLM said from 11 May travellers must bring face masks that cover their nose and mouth. It expects to keep this measure in place until the end of August.
Anyone not wearing a sufficient face covering will receive a mask from KLM. If its stock runs out, the traveller will not be allowed on the flight.
Most other airlines remain grounded including British Airways.
Ryanair, Europe’s biggest airline, said it flew just 40,000 passengers in April and expected traffic to remain minimal in May and June. The Irish carrier said its passenger numbers dropped 99.6% from April last year, when it flew 13.5 million people. It operated 600 flights over the month, including a number of rescue and medical missions on behalf of EU governments.
Ryanair announced 3,000 job cuts among pilots and cabin crew last week and warned that flights would remain grounded until at least July.
