Is your airline or holiday company claiming ‘force majeure’?

I had a flight booked from the UK to Canada with Air Transat in June which has now been cancelled. They don’t specifically mention Force Majeure but cite ‘exceptional circumstances’ as the reason for not offering a refund – like many they are offering me a credit to be used in the next 24 months.

I have attempted to direct them towards the EU regulations, but the only option they’ve provided in response is for me to refuse the credit/voucher and take it up with my insurance provider.

I had booked a self catering holiday in Wales which obviously had to be cancelled The holiday company has kept back £100 for cancellation fee and booking fee. They are saying its an administration fee. Have sent letter threatening to take them to court but not had a reply. It will probably cost me more to take them to court if I lose but its the principle and so annoying!

Extract from Regulation (EC) No 261/2004

Article 15

Exclusion of waiver

1. Obligations vis-à-vis passengers pursuant to this Regulation may not be limited or waived, notably by a derogation or restrictive clause in the contract of carriage.

2. If, nevertheless, such a derogation or restrictive clause is applied in respect of a passenger, or if the passenger is not correctly informed of his rights and for that reason has accepted compensation which is inferior to that provided for in this Regulation, the passenger shall still be entitled to take the necessary proceedings before the competent courts or bodies in order to obtain additional compensation.

In other words, the airline cannot vary their contract terms and conditions to avoid obligations under this Regulation, nor can you sign away your rights, either through agreement by accepting a lesser form of compensation (e.g. a flight voucher), or by omission because the airline forgot to tell you about your right to a cash refund.

On 4th October 2019, we booked two seats for return flights with Ethiopian Airways; outbound Manchester – Cape Town 27th March ; return Victoria Falls – Manchester 23rd April . Business class. including £282.04 Opodo ‘Cancel for Any Reason Guarantee’.

In the days prior to our flight, we were advised by Freedom Africa that our land tour in Africa had been cancelled because of the Coronavirus. Government restrictions were in place and FCO warned about ‘all but essential travel’. South Africa was closing its borders and anyone entering the country would have to go into 14 day quarantine.

These factors gave us no option but to cancel our flights. This we tried to do initially with Opodo. It was not possible on your website. We spent many hours on the phone trying to get through but with no success – just the message ‘call back later’.

Prior to 27th March, we went on the Ethiopian Airways website and also spoke to an adviser, who insisted that the airline was unable to cancel our booking, as it had been made through Opodo.

We have tried and tried to contact Opodo, botrh their telephone lines are not being answered but we keeop receiving requests to accept vouchers which we do not want. We have written 3 letters to their Customer service department asking for refund. They have not been answered.

We booked with Opodo because of your reputation for service and reliability. We accept these are unusual times and therefore a degree of common sense and flexibility are needed. When passengers, through no fault of their own are unable to cancel flights,in spite of making repeated attempts, the stance your company is taking is wholly unacceptable.

On 25th Feb, I booked a 10 day package holiday with Canadian Affair. I paid the deposit of £974.56 the same day. The balance of £3878.22 was due on 19 March. Prior to that date, the Canadian border was closed. Clause 22 of their t&c’s allow a customer to cancel without penalty in the event of “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances”. I phoned Canadian Affair and a supervisor told me that it was an act of force majeure. She (wrongly) referred me to clause 11 as her evidence but this only covers compensation (which I was not claiming).
I therefore paid the balance of the holiday and Candian Affair have now told me the holiday is cancelled but are only offering me to re-book now or receive a credit note valid for 24 months. When I said I didn’t want either and wanted my money back (clause 23 allows me to have a refund) they sent an email which stated “The application for a cash refund in these circumstances has been further clarified by ABTA over the last week where it advises that the cash refund date to be advised to the customer is the final date of the travel providers current bonding year with the CAA, in Canadian Affairs instance this date being 31 March 2021”.
The matter has now been escalated in Canadian Affairs and I’m waiting a response.

I booked flights via skyscanner with a company called BudgetAir, they refused me a refund on cancelled flights (Bangkok Airways) and stated I must pay £55 per person cancellation fee. They sent me vouchers through on email (which I’m not sure if its for full amount or minus the £55 admin fee) which I replied to stating that I had arranged a chargeback through American Express and that I’d actually received the money back into my account and also stated that I refused the credit note. I woke this morning (31/5/20) to find the money has gone back to BudgetAir !!! I called Amex who said “If a company asks for the charge back, we don’t get involved with legal terms, we just pay back”

I have complained to skyscanner and Bangkok airways as Budget Air are a partner of theirs to see if they can help me.

I checked on CAA website and under the heading “Flights outside the EU on a non-EU airline”

I found this passage;-

Delays and cancellations
Your rights when your flight is delayed or cancelled varies depending on the terms and conditions of your contract with the airline. Most airlines base their terms and conditions on those recommended by the International Air Transport Association. This means that when delays happen, most airlines have a contractual obligation to offer passengers a choice between a later flight, mutually agreed alternative transportation or a refund.

PLEASE HELP ME

Hi John booked a holiday through a company called Snowcoach who are coach company who run holiday for skiing and snowboarding. They are now trying to deny its a package holiday but under the regulations it would be classed as one. They are claiming we’re entitled to no refund due to their force majeure clause. The stated this to the bank when I did a charge back on my debit card and it was accepted as reasonable by the bank and so was refused. Any help would be much appreciated as there are a lot of us in the same boat with this company.

Air Transat (Booked CIA Canadian Affair) are only offering a voucher for 24 months. My email for my cancelled flight in June mentions force majeur as the reason. My complaints have been dismissed giving me the only option of taking the voucher or attempting to recover the money through travel insurance / credit card company.