Proactive Investors - Passengers are owed £4.5mln from just six airlines in the UK based on outstanding court claims, according to consumer researcher Which?, with over half of this owed by Wizz Air Holdings PLC.
British Airways, Tui AG, easyJet PLC, Ryanair Holdings PLC and Jet2 PLC also owe passengers money, with the six collectively facing thousands of outstanding judgements, which show no record of having been paid.
How much airlines owe:
- Wizz Air - £2,166,044 in 1,601 judgements
- Tui Airways - £1,261,897 in 313 judgements
- easyJet - £611,436 in 884 judgements
- Ryanair - £549,892 in 840 judgements
- British Airways - £96,042 from 82 judgements
- Jet 2 - £1,434 from 4 judgements
“Nobody should have to fight their airline in court for a refund, expenses or compensation,” Which commented, slating the Civil Aviation Authority’s dispute resolution scheme for not doing enough.
Which? explained that passengers were entitled to refunds and expenses if flights were cancelled or delayed under UK law and could do so through the CAA’s AviationADR scheme, introduced in 2016.
Cases have clogged up the courts though, Which claimed, with the scheme was also found to have “failed” customers who were entitled to money back.
Commenting on the unpaid claims, Wizz air passenger Russel Quirk suggested airlines were attempting to “Stonewall” customers in order to make them give up on trying to reclaim money.
Wizz Air gained the title of the UK's worst short-haul airline, as shown by a Which? customer survey, scoring a 48% customer satisfaction score, below Ryanair at 52% and British Airways at 56%.