An unholy trinity of strikes, bad weather and bankruptcy has combined forces this Christmas to make it difficult for most of us to get much further than our front doorsteps. But if you do get stuck at home – when you should be speeding off to, say, Paris for Christmas – you shouldn’t assume you’ll end up out of pocket. Here’s what to do if your plans have been ruined by the problems at Globespan, Eurostar, or British Airways.
The good news is that the planned British Airways’ cabin crews Christmas strike has been cancelled (although there may be strikes in the New Year). This means that anyone with flights already booked should fly, unless the weather prevents it. Unfortunately it also means that anyone who booked an alternative flight as back up when the strikes were announced will be out of pocket, unless their new carrier lets them cancel (unlikely). British Airways does not have to compensate you and neither does your travel insurer.
More misery awaits those whose holidays have been affected by Globespan’s collapse into administration. All flights are grounded and the administrators are not obliged to refund travellers. On the plus side, if you bought your flights through a travel agent that holds an Air Travel Organisers Licence (ATOL), you should be able either to rebook or to claim a refund.
And if you paid for your flights with a credit card, and they cost more than £100, you should be covered under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. That means you can claim your money back from your credit-card provider. Unfortunately, if you can’t pursue either of those routes there is no other way to get your money back: most travel insurance excludes bankruptcy.
It’s not just those attempting to take to the skies this Christmas who have had their travel plans disrupted. Eurostar passengers have faced massive delays and cancellations as the snow stopped trains last weekend. But at least Eurostar is making sure no one is left out of pocket.
The company is offering full refunds or rebookings (within two months) to passengers who were booked on services on Saturday 19, Sunday 20 and Monday 21 December. On top of that Eurostar are offering an additional free return journey and £150 compensation to anyone who was on the 9053, 9057, 9059, 9063, 9163 services on 18 December and the 9035 and 9043 on 19 December.
And that’s not all: if you were delayed by more than an hour you are entitled to a complimentary one-way journey in the same class of travel as your original ticket, or a 50% discount on a return fare. And if you were delayed by more than 120 minutes you can get a free return ticket.
Eurostar is even reimbursing travellers for “reasonable out-of-pocket” expenses to include hotel accommodation, transport and meals for all those who found themselves stranded. Anyone who wants to make a claim should write to Traveller Care, 2nd Floor, Kent House, 81 Station Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 1AP.