Monarch, one of the UK’s most popular airlines, has ceased trading, affecting hundreds of thousands of people both here and abroad. Today, we share our consumer rights guide for those affected when an airline goes bust.
Monarch, Britain’s fifth-biggest airline, has collapsed. By going into administration, 110,000 people were left without a flight home and 300,000 future bookings have been cancelled.
The Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have since announced that all passengers currently abroad will be flown home. The CAA has chartered 30 planes to bring affected holidaymakers home and advising those due to fly with Monarch not to travel to airports as those flights will not be operating.
As people started to arrive for their flights in the early hours of this morning, what should have been a time for excitable anticipation as they looked forward to their holidays turned into a scramble for information and a hurry to book other flights.
Grounded holidays
Denise was interviewed by the BBC this morning at Manchester Airport. She said that while she was able to afford another flight (at an extra cost of £600 when she had already spent well over £1,000 on the original booking), others, especially families who would be expected to pay up to three times what she did may have trouble doing so.
As news broke, passengers started to share their experiences and thoughts on social media.
#monarch have ceased trading. No holiday today.
— KirstyPearce (@kirstypearce1) October 2, 2017
Just arrived at the airport to be greeted with this #monarchairlines #monarch pic.twitter.com/sLt69iEnr0
— Paul V (@paolo1978) October 2, 2017
#monarch due 2 fly out with them in 48hrs Feel sorry for all employees & for the stranded people abroad. Lot worse than losing our holiday pic.twitter.com/hYZXAAWkry
— Rhonda Robinson x (@rrobbo1) October 2, 2017
Thankfully, the government has already said that Monarch passengers currently overseas will not be charged for their flights home. This will be a huge relief for those 110,000 people affected. We advise any Monarch customers to visit monarch.caa.co.uk for the latest information on arranging their flight home.
What are your rights?
As all future flights have been cancelled, Monarch passengers should explore their refund options as soon as possible. If your flight has been purchased as part of a package you should be ATOL protected. This means you should receive a refund. However, if your flight was bought separately, you may still be able to claim the cost back through your travel insurance or credit card issuer. This does, however, depend on your circumstances.
Monarch passengers can find out their flight rights now the airline has announced it has ceased trading in our Consumer Rights guide.
Have you been affected by the Monarch news? What have you done about it?