BRITISH Airways and Ryanair are being investigated over whether they broke consumer laws by not offering refunds to customers during lockdowns.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is looking into whether the airlines should have offered money back to holidaymakers who couldn’t legally take flights due to Covid.
During periods of lockdown across Britain, planes were grounded and flights were cancelled under Covid restrictions.
But the airlines did not offer refunds to people that were lawfully unable to fly.
British Airways offered vouchers or rebooking and Ryanair gave customers the option to rebook.
Ryanair told passengers in April last year that they would only get a refund after the Covid crisis was over.
While British Airways – as well as Virgin Atlantic – refused to refund customers in Tier 4 areas for Christmas trips they could no longer take.
But the CMA said the airlines might have breached consumer laws. Legally, customers are entitled to a cash refund within 14 days.
The watchdog added that it has written to both airlines with its concerns over the issue.
It is also investigating whether refunds should have been given to Brits in instances where flights took place but non-essential travel was banned.
CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli said: “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.”
Ryanair said it welcomed the CMA’s investigation.
A spokesperson said: “Ryanair has approached such refund requests on a case-by-case basis and has paid refunds in justified cases.
“Since June 2020, all our customers have also had the ability to rebook their flights without paying a change fee and millions of our UK customers have availed of this option.”
A British Airways spokesperson said the company had issued “well over three million refunds” and has helped millions of customers change their flights.
They said that British Airways has “acted lawfully at all times”, adding: “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 destabilise it, with potential consequences for jobs, business, connectivity and the UK economy.”
It comes as Teletext issued £7million worth of refunds back to customers following an investigation by the watchdog.
The holiday company said it will repay the outstanding money last month after the threat of legal action by the regulator.
It’s understood thousands of holidaymakers are still owed money back from the company.
Ryanair was also told earlier this year that it had to pay up to £350 in compensation to thousands of customers over pilot strikes which happened three years ago.
The High Court ruled in April that airline had to cough up after refusing to compensate holidaymakers for cancelled or delayed flights back in 2018.
While British Airways customers could still claim up to £6,000 in compensation after a cyber attack in 2018 meant hundreds of thousands of customers’ details were hacked.
We explain how to get a refund back from Ryanair over a cancelled trip.
Plus, here’s what to know about booking a holiday during Covid and what your rights are if things go wrong.
Now Portugal is on the amber list, here’s what you need to know about whether you can get your money back on your holiday.
