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The Musengezi family’s experience shows how Covid chaos has laid bare the limited, complex rights of air passengers who book through an agent rather than directly with an operator.
Under the EU Denied Boarding regulation, now part of UK law, carriers are required to refund within seven days. But flight-only bookings through an agent depend on its contract terms.
DWT’s state: “Refunds can take anywhere between two and six weeks and in some extra-ordinary circumstances up to six months.”
Sidwell says the company told him his refund may have been processed but not to them and they were waiting for a third-party supplier to do this.
Watching a white-tailed eagle soar above the glistening pewter waters of the Inner Hebrides from the deck of a cruise ship freshly-brewed coffee in hand is one of those moments only holidays on the sea can deliver.
Being out on the waves, feeling the gentle roll of the water, is like no other sensation. And the good news is that cruises could start up again very soon if we stick to trips around the British Isles, that is.
After almost a year of government advice against cruise holidays, Maritime Minister Robert Courts this week put the industry on the same footing as domestic tourism, signalling a restart from English ports from May 17.