Holidaymakers have been warned not to book with a host of package holiday providers, including Lastminute.com, because of poor refund policies.
Which?, the consumer watchdog, has published a list of 20 companies that could leave customers out of pocket if they are unable to travel as planned.
Other package holiday companies on its “red list” of package holiday include operators such as Love Holidays, On the Beach and Teletext.
Which? said the companies had “shortcomings” with their refund policies relating to coronavirus-related disruption. Companies that did not provide clear information on their booking policies were also rated as red for a lack of transparency.
The consumer group said the policies of operators on the red list were not necessarily in breach of consumer law, although some, including Love Holidays and Teletext, have faced investigations by the Competition and Markets Authority in the past year for failures to refund their customers.
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Which? asked whether companies would give refunds if someone was told to isolate before they travelled. Only three — Exodus, Explore and Discover Egypt — guaranteed refunds in this situation and every other scenario put to them. On the Beach said: “If the [Foreign Office] advises against travel to a destination, our customers can change their holiday destination or dates free of charge, and we will waive any of our admin fees. Our holidays include flights from multiple third party airlines and the decision on whether to operate those flights lies with each airline.”
