Tag Archives: Department for Transport

Home Office lays out quarantine rules

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Chamber News

The Home Office and Department for Transport published the rules covering quarantine restrictions today.

The quarantine measures require arrivals to the UK to self-isolate for 14 days and will come into force on June 8.

The government insists they are “designed to prevent new cases [of coronavirus] being brought in from abroad and to prevent a second wave of the virus”.

All arrivals “bar a shortlist of exemptions” will be required to complete an online locator form, with contact and travel details and the address where they will self-isolate.

The UK’s Border Force will undertake checks and may refuse entry to any non-resident foreign nationals who refuse to comply.

The rules exclude travellers to and from Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

They will be reviewed every three weeks, with the first review by June 29.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “Protecting the public’s health and avoiding a second peak that overwhelms the NHS will always be our top priority.

“As we get the virus under control here, we must manage the risk of cases being imported from abroad. We owe it to the thousands who’ve lost their lives.”

She insisted: “These measures are informed by science, backed by the public and will keep us safe.

“We will take a number of factors into account within the reviews to satisfy that the risk of imported cases is low.”

These factors will include:

The rate of infection and transmission internationally and “the credibility of the reporting measures international partners have put in place”;

Levels of imported cases in other countries where there are more relaxed border measures;

The degree to which antibody and other testing methodologies prove effective in minimising the health risk.

Patel said: “We will also continue to take account of the impact on the economy and industry.”

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed the government is examining “arrangements known as ‘air bridges’ or international travel corridors which would remove self-isolation measures and safely open up routes to and from countries with low transmission rates”.

These would require agreement with individual countries, he said, adding: “We are working with the transport industry to see how we can introduce agreements with other countries when safe to do so, so we can go abroad and tourists can come here.”

DOT orders airlines to pay out refunds

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DOT orders airlines to pay out refunds
Photo Credit: Oliver Le Moal/Shutterstock

The Transportation Department on Friday issued an enforcement notice, telling airlines that they remain obligated to pay out refunds for flights that they have cancelled.

The order was prompted by an increase in complaints from ticketed passengers who have been denied refunds, the DOT said. Airlines instead are often giving travel vouchers.

“The longstanding obligation of carriers to provide refunds for flights that carriers cancel or significantly delay does not cease when the flight disruptions are outside of the carrier’s control,” the DOT said in the order. “The focus is not on whether the flight disruptions are within or outside the carrier’s control, but rather on the fact that the cancellation is through no fault of the passenger.”

The unprecedented schedule cuts airlines have made in response to the Covid-19 crisis has left the airline industry with a $35 billion refund liability worldwide, according to a recent IATA estimate.

With airlines already struggling due to enormous losses in revenue, IATA has been lobbying governments to suspend refund requirements. Thus far Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Colombia have issued favourable rulings for airlines.

Airlines have also acted individually to make refunds more challenging to obtain. Some have stopped processing them entirely while many others are making it difficult for customers to find information on applying for refunds. In the U.S., United recently altered its refund process so that international ticket holders will have to wait a year to get repaid for a flight cancelled by the airline.

In addition, 33 airlines (as of April 3) have unilaterally suspended refunds through the GDSs or ARC’s Interactive Agent Reporting system, forcing travel advisors to deal directly with the carrier.

Meanwhile, the sheer volume of refund transactions facing airlines that are still processing them in the GDS has compelled ARC to delay its weekly remittance schedule. ARC will now turn over refunds to agencies 10 days after the Sunday end of each business week, rather than five. That decision, said ARC’s managing director of airline services Chuck Fischer, was prompted by the fact that with current refund volumes, many airlines simply can’t go through their procedures fast enough to meet the five-day schedule.

Fischer said ARC doesn’t like that some airlines have cut off GDS refund processing, “but we can’t stop them from doing that.”

IATA, which oversees agent channel billing and settlement for most of the world other than the U.S., has no such reluctance. In an open letter to travel agents Thursday, IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac said that the best solution right now for airlines and agents alike is for governments to suspend refund requirements.

“This would remove the pressure that is currently on agents to issue cash refunds at a time when airlines are making decisions based on their own need to preserve cash,” he wrote.

The DOT’s enforcement notice pushes back against such airline efforts. The department stated that it considers any contract of carriage provision by an airline that denies refunds for cancellations or significant schedule changes to be a regulatory violation. (The DOT does not specifically define “significant schedule change.” A DOT spokesperson said it is determined on a case-by-case basis.) The notice applies to both U.S. and foreign carriers that operate in the U.S.

The department said that for now, it will hold off on enforcement action against airlines that have provided travel vouchers in lieu of refunds to travellers with cancelled flights, but only if they meet three conditions:

• Carriers must contact passengers to tell them they have an option for a refund.

• They must update contacts of carriage to make refund rights clear.

• They must brief all relevant personnel on the circumstances in which refunds should be made.

Coronavirus: Government decision on refunds expected next week

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AI in the Travel and Tourism Industry – Current Applications | Emerj

A UK government decision on whether to suspend the consumer refund rules of the Package Travel Regulations is not expected until next week.

The decision by the Department for Business (BEIS) remains in the balance following a meeting of Abta, the CAA and officials of BEIS and the Department for Transport (DfT) on Thursday.

Travel Weekly understands this is likely to have marked the final discussion on the issue.

ABTA has warned the government of “mass failures” and “an industry-wide collapse” if the PTR requirement to refund consumers for cancelled bookings within 14 days is adhered to.

A decision is urgent, not least because Tuesday, March 31 will mark 14 days since the UK Foreign Office advised against all overseas travel – triggering immediate cancellation of more than two million protected bookings.

The total value of refunds owed has not been made public, but Travel Weekly has been told “it’s a colossal number” which threatens wholesale insolvencies.

The government is aware this would deprive most consumers of early refunds and leave the DfT to pick up the bill as the CAA and Air Travel Trust (ATT) which underwrites Atol consumer financial protection is still dealing with the failure of Thomas Cook last September.

The Cook collapse cost the ATT £481 million and the government an additional £156 million, the UK’s National Audit Office revealed last week, with the final bill still to be assessed.

Abta wants a suspension of the legal requirement to refund consumers in full within 14 days of cancellation, requiring a temporary change to the PTRs.

The association and the CAA have been urging the DfT and BEIS to act for a fortnight.

Abta has partially taken the matter into its own hands, advising members to delay refunds and issue ‘refund credit notes’ on ATOL-protected bookings, initially up to July 31.

It wants BEIS, which oversees the PTRs, to make this legal and the DfT – which oversees the ATOL scheme – to confirm protection for the delayed refunds should travel businesses go bust.

Travel Weekly understands government ministers and officials are concerned delaying refunds “is not good news for consumers”.

An industry source said: “They get this [proposed refund credit note] regime will deliver refunds more quickly to people but are worried about how to explain it to consumers.”

Concern that the EU may react to a breach of European rules is also troubling officials despite Britain leaving the EU. All EU regulation remains in force until at least the end of the year.

The source suggested: “The very fact Abta is still in detailed discussions with the government on this is positive.

“Officials understand this is not the industry bleating or crying wolf, but it is a difficult decision for them. Abta is trying to pull off a balancing act.”

The source suggested: “The DfT knows Abta is not over-egging it. They saw how much flak the government took over Thomas Cook.”

The problem is also set to grow worse. The initial Foreign Office advice against all non-essential travel was for 30 days. More bookings will be cancelled as the advice period is extended, adding to the sums to be refunded.

The source said: “The pressure is going to build as time goes on. It’s a rolling problem.”

Abta has said it will stand behind the refund credit notes as a guarantor up to July 31. But for the delayed refunds to work, the DfT [through the CAA] needs to stand behind refund credit notes issued for Atol bookings.

The source noted: “It will only work if Abta and the CAA underwrite it. The CAA is in an invidious position, but it’s not in its interests to have the industry destabilised.”

If BEIS does not modify the PTRs, Abta would “have no choice” but to proceed in advising members to delay cash refunds and provide refund credit notes in their place.

Abta has also asked the government to insist airlines return to refunding customers or their agents for cancelled flights as part of any aid provided to carriers.

It said: “Government-funded assistance should be directed as a priority to the payment of refunds to trade intermediaries and the consumer.”

The CAA is responsible for enforcing the rules on airline refunds under EU Regulation 261 on air passenger rights.

The source said: “The CAA is trying to get action by the airlines by consensus first. The CAA and DfT are working with the same airlines to try to get people home and that is the priority.”