Package Holiday Refunds – Whatever Would Have Been, Would Have Been

As we hit the two-year anniversary of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, more and more cases are beginning to drift through the court system with facts arising from the devastating impact on global travel caused by the novel coronavirus. Consumers, schools, travel agents, tour operators, airlines, hotels and insurance companies are all major actors in this extraordinary drama.

Indeed, 'extraordinary' is the mot juste for one interesting battleground which has seen recent skirmishes: claims for refunds under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, where package holidays have been cancelled by the traveller for pandemic-related reasons, and the organiser has charged a cancellation/termination fee, or kept hold of a deposit.