Travel Payment

[bubbly2000]

Are you covered for a refund if an airline goes bust only if you pay on a credit card, or does it apply if paid with a debit card too?

[murraymints]

think it's only credit cards....credit co acts a wee bit like PayPal....

[hc4361]

Under £100 you can claim a debit card chargeback.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/how-do-i-use-chargeback/

[KJN]

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1080

[New Judge]

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act makes credit card providers “jointly and severally liable” for purchases between £100 and £30,000. This means that if you buy something for that amount and the company you buy from fails to deliver or delivers unsatisfactorily you can claim reimbursement from the credit card provider.

The “Chargeback” scheme for which hc has provided a link is not a legal protection but a scheme operated by some credit and debit card providers. Some Visa Debit card providers also provide protection for purchases up to £30k, but once again this is not a legal protection but a protection provided by individual schemes. All of these schemes cover any purchase, not just airline travel.

The various travel bond schemes such as those provided by the CAA (as in KJN’s link) ABTA and ATOL relate solely to travel and holiday arrangements.

A couple of things to note about Section 75. The banks have been continually challenging its scope. They firstly tried to insist that it only covered purchases made in the UK. This was ruled by the courts not to be so. They then tried to insist that goods and services which were purchased where only a deposit had been paid for by credit card were not covered in full. A ruling on that aspect went against them as well meaning that if you pay for your holiday deposit using a credit card but pay the balance by other means, the entire package is covered by Section 75. Finally, just recently the banks have suggested that only purchases made by the principle card holder are covered by Section 75 and that those made by additional cardholders are not. This, I believe, is still to be ruled on by the courts.

[Buenchico]

This seems to be relevant:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/holidays/article-1678335/Your-flight-rights-airline-going-bust.html

[spudqueen]

If you take out travel insurance as soon as you book your holiday then I think that that would cover it.

[New Judge]

No it will not.

Travel policies do not generally cover losses as a result of airline failures.