While British Airways and Ryanair are laughing, unhappy fliers lose out again

Watchdog says ‘law does not provide passengers with a sufficiently clear right to a refund’ on flights they were legally unable to take as a result of pandemic restrictions, writes James Moore

No refunds here: CMA says it isn’t clear that passengers legally unable to fly through the pandemic have a right to refunds (Simon Calder)

The wings of Britain’s aircraft passengers have been well and truly clipped by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has decided to play a very British game of pass the buck when it comes to the vexed subject of refunds.

In June the watchdog, with some fanfare, launched a probe into British Airways and Ryanair over their failure to offer refunds to people booked on a specific category of flights: those that went ahead but which their passengers could not legally take as a result of the Covid regulations in force at the time.

BA offered customers vouchers or rebooking. Ryanair provided the option to rebook but without its customers incurring the customary rebooking fee. Thanks guys!