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Volcanic Eruption – Your rights and refunds

Are you entitled to a refund?

As we previously wrote in Money Worries For Stranded Passengers, the unexpected expense and disruption caused by the recent Volcanic eruption has undoubtedly affected people’s finances in many cases. Here is a guide to your rights, refunds, compensation and employment matters relating to these events.

Refund Policies

If your trip was delayed or cancelled, you should either have been offered alternative transport or an alternative holiday. If that is unsuitable you should be entitled to a full refund of all elements of your package deal.

If you arranged a holiday with separate flights and accommodation, refund policies may differ. Customers are still able to claim money back for their flights, as the airline, under the Denied Boarding Regulations, must offer the choice of a refund or re-routing at the earliest opportunity.

However, accommodation costs are not included in the refund – that is the responsibility of the  accommodation supplier, should they agree.

Any flights that were delayed by five hours or more should still qualify for a refund if you chose not to travel on the delayed flight. If you took a connecting flight and had already made part of your journey you should be entitled to your money back for any unused flights and get a free flight back to your departure point.

If you booked your outward and inward tickets separately and both were cancelled you are eligible for a refund. However, if your return flight goes ahead but you missed it due to the outbound cancellation, you should get a refund for the cancelled flight but may not for the return flight, particularly if the tickets were bought through separate airlines.

The Association of British Travel Agent’s (ABTA) recently released a letter from the ABTA Chief Executive to customers whose travel plans were disrupted.

The European Commission Vice President for Transport said:

“This is a situation which is causing immense difficulties for passengers travelling throughout Europe. It can be considered a very exceptional circumstance. Nevertheless, it is important to remind passengers and airlines that EU passenger rights do apply in this situation:

In an exceptional circumstance such as this, passengers are not however entitled to additional financial compensation that would be the case where delays or cancellations are the fault of the airline.”

What about Work?

As Martin Lewis’ money saving tips suggest, If stranded, even though it’s not your fault, employers are often within their rights to dock your pay for unauthorised leave, according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

However, it is good advice to keep your employer informed of your circumstances and take any opportunity to work remotely, if of course this is possible due to the nature of your work.

For more information about your rights and refunds contact your travel operator or airline directly or visit The Association of British Travel Agents.

Payplan

If you are struggling to meet your monthly expenses, contact Payplan today for free, confidential debt advice.

Written by on April 27th, 2010

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