A “lack of clarity in the law” makes it difficult to secure refunds for customers of British Airways (BA) and Ryanair who were prevented from flying by Covid travel restrictions, the UK’s competition watchdog has said.
In June, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a probe into the airlines over concerns they may have broken the law by failing to offer refunds for flights customers could not legally take during periods of lockdown.
Instead, BA offered customers vouchers or rebooking and Ryanair provided the option to rebook.
After a “thorough examination of relevant law” and evidence gathered during its investigation, the CMA has now concluded passengers do not have a “sufficiently clear right to a refund in these unusual circumstances” to justify continuing with the case.
Consumer protection law sets out that passengers are entitled to refunds when an airline cancels a flight, because the firm cannot provide its contracted services.
But it does not clearly cover whether people should be refunded when their flight goes ahead but they are legally prohibited from taking it.
Announcing closure for the CMA’s probe, chief executive Andrea Coscelli said: “We strongly believe people who are legally prevented from taking flights due to lockdown laws should be offered a full refund.
“We launched this investigation in the hope that we would be able to secure a positive outcome for consumers.
“However, after considering the relevant law and gathering evidence in our investigation, we have concluded that the length of time that would be required to take this case through the courts, and the uncertain outcome, can no longer justify the further expense of public money.
We hope that the law in this area will be clarified.”
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive, Competition and Markets Authority.
“Given the importance of this to many passengers who have unfairly lost out, we hope that the law in this area will be clarified.”
CMA action has led to commitments to refund hundreds of millions of pounds for people whose holidays were cancelled due to the pandemic, including from LoveHolidays , Lastminute.com , Virgin Holidays , TUI UK , Sykes Cottages , and Vacation Rentals.
In April, the Department for Transport issued a taskforce report putting further measures in place to ensure travellers’ money is safe in case bookings are cancelled wherever possible.
This also included plans to reform the enforcement powers of the sector regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, to better tackle consumer law breaches.