Aviation minister causes further confusion over Refund Credit Notes
Aviation Minister Kelly Tolhurst has caused yet further confusion around Refund Credit Notes after telling ministers at a Transport Select Committee meeting that consumers would have to check their contract with the tour operator to see if they were financially protected.
ABTA is recommending members offer RCNs as an alternative to cash refunds for holidays they’ve been forced to cancel due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It insists that they will be ATOL protected if a tour operator goes bust before they’re cashed in or exchanged for a holiday, but when asked at today’s meeting if this was the case, Tolhurst said: "That will depend on the contract between the customer and the tour operator."
However, it’s unlikely any tour operator contracts refer to RCNs as these have only been issued since March when the Foreign Office advised against all non-essential travel, prompting millions of holiday cancellations.
ABTA has been asking the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for months to confirm that RCNs have the same ATOL protection as package holidays, but so far BEIS has refused to do so.
However, Tolhurst said her department is discussing with the Treasury the possibility of underwriting vouchers. Acknowledging that the governments of some other countries have already taken action, she said she was ‘working at pace’ on this with HMT.
Following the meeting, Kane Pirie, leader of the Right to Refund campaign, said: "The cat is out of the bag now. Refund Credit Notes are not all ATOL protected. In contrast, all ATOL certificates are. We see no benefit to customers in accepting a Refund Credit Note even if their tour operator refuses to refund. Indeed, we see material risk as their ATOL protection is now as clear as mud.
"We have warned from the beginning that only the CAA can confirm ATOL protection. ABTA’s delusions of grandeur, a trade club dressing up as a regulator, have been exposed. We urge ABTA, yet again, to please reconsider their position on this, for the good of their members as well as the public."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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