‘Fastest refund guaranteed’: UK travel firms compete for custom with unlikely selling points

Forget the best infinity pool or alluring sea view: travel firms are now competing for the summer holidaymakers’ pound with pledges of the least likely cancellation – or the fastest refund.

Airlines and travel companies have been vying to announce fresh commitments to reassure jittery consumers, who are booking flights ever later since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran.

The hostilities have been driving up oil prices, with jet fuel costs rising even more sharply. More worrying for many thinking of a summer trip, as the standoff and blockades around the strait of Hormuz continue, is the prospect of scarcity leading to flights being axed.

Some European airlines such as Lufthansa have already cancelled thousands of flights owing to rising fuel costs, while Virgin Atlantic has introduced a fuel surcharge on long-haul flights.

EasyJet and its holiday business launched a “book with confidence” promise on Friday, ruling out any additional fuel charges, with the airline affirming that it “intends to run” its full summer schedule, carrying more than 50 million passengers.

Meanwhile, travel firm On The Beach committed to same-day refund processing for cancelled flights. The firm said it was the first package holiday provider to pledge to give customers holiday money back in full immediately, or to offer an alternative flight, should disruption strike this summer.

Most large holiday firms, including TUI and Jet2, have – quietly or not – now ruled out additional charges. Jet2 underlined the point last week by saying it had “removed the provision” in its booking conditions allowing fuel surcharges, adding a “no surcharges” strapline to its ads.

The airline and travel industry has been clear it does not anticipate disruption anywhere near the level of the Covid pandemic or its aftermath – but many consumers will have recent memories of struggles to obtain refunds swiftly, or at all.

Caspar Nelson, at On the Beach, said its immediate refund pledge meant customers could “get back to looking forward to their summer instead of worrying about it”.

Many, however, clearly still are concerned. EasyJet said that the travel industry was experiencing later bookings amid heightened uncertainty. Kenton Jarvis, the airline’s chief executive, said: “We understand that global events may affect travellers’ confidence at the moment, but we believe that everyone has a right to book their flights and holidays with confidence.”

Garry Wilson, boss of easyJet’s holidays arm, added that its “operations remain unaffected” and customers could be confident their holiday would “go ahead as planned”.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of Advantage Travel Partnership, welcomed the “bold, positive messages” from travel firms to help convert “strong browsing into bookings”. She said: “The feedback from our travel agents is that consumers are desperate to go away, but the headlines don’t help; the appetite is there but the noise does create some uncertainty.”

Mark Tanzer, chief executive of travel association Abta, said that news of soaring jet fuel prices and potential scarcity would have left people wondering about their upcoming holidays. He said: “We’re keen to assure people that travel is still going ahead, and holidaymakers are getting away on their trips.”

Holidaymakers who have booked packages are usually best protected while abroad, while airlines are also obliged to offer full refunds or provide alternative travel.

The UK government and airline industry have said that they do not currently have any shortage of jet fuel, with imports from the US largely supplementing supplies from the Gulf. However, they have made contingency plans for cancellations – and the International Energy Agency has warned that Europe will face shortages of jet fuel within weeks.

While uncertainty about airline cancellations persists, travel firms have indicated that fears over visiting the eastern Mediterranean appear to have subsided, with renewed bookings to Turkey, Cyprus and Egypt.

Holidaymakers are also anxious about the impact of the EU’s entry-exit system, which should now be requiring visitors to register biometric information at the border, and has already meant some travellers missing flights. Greece has said it will not enforce the checks on British visitors, to minimise the potential for summer chaos.

Wizz Air boss József Váradi earlier this week maintained that despite uncertainty, and the potential for some airlines to go bust if fuel prices stayed high, July and August bookings remained strong: “People are sticking to their summer plans and they say no matter what, ‘I’m going to go.’”