THIS week The Sun’s Corona Crew has helped readers claim £72,000 in refunds for holidays lost due to Covid-19.
That means we have sped up to you the return of £130,000 in the past month where holiday firms had been delaying doing the right thing and paying up.
⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates
Delighted Rena Dunsmore, who we helped to get £9,000 back, said: “We are so grateful to the Corona Crew, you are the only light there has been in the tunnel.”
A group of 14 pals whose cruise to mark milestone birthdays was cancelled were overjoyed after we got travel bosses to cough up £25,000.
Admin worker Angela Hildreth and husband Christopher, a company director, 47, from Bexleyheath, Kent, saved for two years for their £9,000 share of the break, to celebrate daughter Tia’s 21st and friend Gary Cook’s 50th.
The group, which also included the Leach and Hayward-Cook families from South East London, had booked with Iglu Travel to fly to Singapore on April 1. They had then been due to spend 12 days on a Royal Caribbean Cruise ship sailing to Malaysia and Thailand before flying on to Bali for five nights.
But the trip was cancelled in mid-March and the group had been trying in vain to get their money back.
This week, after we stepped in, their wait ended.
Angela said: “Thanks so much to the Corona Crew. We’d been trying for weeks and did not seem to be getting anywhere. We’re so grateful for your help.
Cherry blossom
“We’d been saving up and paying for the holiday for two years and could not believe it when the pandemic struck. It was just heartbreaking.
“It got to the point that we didn’t want to go, as there were all these terrible stories about cruises, but then the trip was cancelled and we just wanted our money back.”
Rachel and Nick Falla booked a £15,000 China cruise to mark their 40th wedding anniversary.
Despite the country being the original epicentre of the pandemic, their trip, which had been due to start on April 18 with a flight to Chinese capital Beijing, was not cancelled until March 26.
They then spent 90 days trying without success to claw back their outlay from Imagine Cruises, which had sorted the trip through Silverseas Cruises and Emirates Airlines.
It was only when the Corona Crew joined the fray that the couple got a repayment, in full.
Rachel, 63, a part-time teacher, and husband Nick, 68, a retired head-master, of St Martin, Guernsey, were thrilled. She said: “Thank you so much. I read social media and see we are not alone trying to get our money back, so it has been great to have The Sun on our side.”
Imagine Cruises apologised for the delay in processing the couple’s case and said it had been battling an “incredibly high volume of calls”.
Rena and Tam Dunsmore were left in the dark by their travel agent after their dream £9,000 holiday failed to happen. The pensioners had paid Barrhead Travel for the three-week break to Florida, Chicago and Dublin to tie in with their son Christopher’s wedding in America. Rena, a retired primary teacher, 67, said: “We were told there would be refunds. But after the date when the holiday was supposed to start, in April, we heard nothing.”
Rena and Tam, 73, a retired post-man, from Armadale, West Lothian, had also bought outfits for the wedding ceremony in Florida, which was to be followed by city breaks in Chicago and Dublin on the way home.
Rena said: “It was a bucket-list holiday. My husband really wanted to see the Florida Keys and I wanted to go to Miami. On top of that, our son was getting married. He has now rebooked the wedding for next year but we will have to see if we can make it. There needs to be a coronavirus vaccine.”
Carol Hulme, 66, a retired social- work administrator, had dreamed of seeing the famous Japanese cherry blossom in spring when she and husband Tony booked a £8,596 cruise starting in capital city Tokyo.
But their dream turned to nightmare when they saw the cruise ship they had been due to join, the Diamond Princess, impounded in Tokyo as the global pandemic spread.
Tony, 68, a retired nuclear power- station worker, of Cardiff, said: “We were very disappointed not to be able to travel to the Far East but had no idea it would take so long to get the money back.
“I sent a registered letter and had to ring up to confirm they had got that because no one had even responded. If I called, no one answered, so we were in the dark as to when the money would be returned. But approximately 15 minutes after the Corona Crew sent an email, I received a call from Imagine Cruising saying they would refund my holiday money in full.
“I can’t imagine this would have happened without The Sun’s inter-vention. Thank you very much. I’m so glad I contacted you.”
David and Diane Dale spent £4,130 on their luxury cruise in the Gulf, starting from Dubai.
But just a week before they were due to fly to the Middle East for the 11-day trip on March 16, the tour operator called the whole thing off.
They only got their money back, though, after our crew intervened.
David, 65, a retired jeweller, said: “Thanks very much for taking up our case. It had been four months of worry for us over whether or not we would get the money. There’s so much uncertainty in the travel business at the moment that I wondered whether or not I would ever see the money again.”
David and Diane, 61, a part-time shop assistant, from Congleton, Cheshire, had booked through the Global Travel Group.
A spokesman said: “We apologise for the delay, which was purely down to the time it has taken for payments from suppliers to reach us.”
I’D SOLVE REFUNDS PROBLEM
By ALI SHAH CEO of TravelUp
THERE is still a great deal of anger about how to obtain refunds for cancelled flights and holidays, even though people are starting to travel again.
As the boss of a leading travel agent, I know how annoyed people are and how much money they are waiting for.
The main problem is that many airlines have been unacceptably slow in issuing refunds, both to customers who booked with them directly and to us, as agents, who are claiming money back on customers’ behalf.
That is why I am now campaigning for a reform of the way airlines process travellers’ money for flights.
I am proposing a new model where payment for tickets would be held in a “trust account” and the refunds would be issued quickly if the flights do not depart.
I have written to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), MPs and government ministers and am seeking wider support from industry partners and customers.
If we can persuade airlines to adopt the new system it would solve the refunds problem for good.
At the moment, when a ticket is issued by a travel agent we hand the money straight over to the airline. Airlines hold on to that money, which can be for up to 11 months before the flight is scheduled to depart.
Sadly, over the past few months only a tiny minority of airlines have been returning money in a timely fashion. Many have put in place deliberately complex new refund systems. Some have refused to issue refunds at all and only offer credit notes for future travel.
We have been able to submit more than 90 per cent of the refund applications requested by our customers. A large proportion are still pending.
The CAA is supposed to police refunds and come down on those airlines which break the rules. But it has not been taking strong enough action during the Covid crisis.
As travel agents, we have faced a lot of criticism for our role in not getting money back to customers quicker. I admit that there are things we could have done better.
Like many travel agents, we were simply not prepared for the volume of requests for refunds.
The airlines deserve sympathy for the difficulties they have faced. No one wants to see job losses or businesses closing down.
But for the airline industry to rebuild trust it must make permanent changes to the way it hands back money.
David Fildes, 71, a retired letting agency boss, and wife Christine, 72, of Deeside, Flintshire, gave the Corona Crew a double pat on the back — for help with two refunds, worth in total £4,041.
We got them £631 back from Cruise First for a four-night sailing from Southampton to Hamburg. That holiday was to have been followed by a £3,410 trip with Flight Centre from Manchester to Washington DC, Boston and Chicago over 16 days — and when that was axed, we got the money back on this too.
David said: “Both firms said they had not had money back from suppliers, but we have no idea if this is the case.
“It has taken a long time but thanks to the Corona Crew and The Sun we have now got this money back.”
Another family had been getting nowhere fast in their fight for a refund — from Tui for a trip to New York — when they called in our troubleshooters.
The getaway had been for a recently bereaved 83-year-old widower, who does not want to be named, to bond with his two sons following the death of their mother.
He had originally planned to go with his wife to Tenerife over Christmas and New Year. That was cancelled after her death.
Instead of seeking a refund, he switched the holiday to New York and had wanted to take his sons on the trip, at a cost of £5,636.
One of the sons, from Glasgow, said: “Thanks for all your help in getting my father’s money back. We are grateful to the Corona Crew for helping out.
“I tried on a number of occasions to get Tui on the phone without success. We just wanted a full refund and appreciate your help.”
Our Corona Crew also came to the rescue by helping to prove that one reader had not been on a flight.
Karen Rose, of St Albans, Herts, had been due to fly to Lyon to celebrate her 46th birthday with husband Nigel, 55, a HGV driver, the day after the World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic.
They had been planning to take an easyJet flight to the French city but decided it was not a good time to make the trip.
They had taken out insurance for the £284.26 flight and parking but needed to prove to Nationwide that they had not flown.
Karen, 46, a family support worker, said: “Thanks to the Corona Crew, easyJet finally sent me what I needed — a simple slip to show I had not taken the flight. The insurance firm need that proof, as they won’t pay if they think there’s a chance I’d used the tickets.”
CORONAVIRUS CRISIS – STAY IN THE KNOW
Don't miss the latest news and figures – and essential advice for you and your family.
To receive The Sun’s Coronavirus newsletter in your inbox every tea time, sign up here.
To follow us on Facebook, simply ‘Like’ our Coronavirus page.
Get Britain’s best-selling newspaper delivered to your smartphone or tablet each day – find out more.
GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL [email protected]
Source: Read Full Article
