Travel refunds: your questions answered

An experience suffered by hundreds of thousands of people this year

Hundreds of thousands of UK travellers have had their plans disrupted this year.

First came the volcano dust over most of Europe, leaving some people stranded abroad for weeks. Then the Goldtrail tour operator collapsed.

BA was hit by numerous strikes and more have been threatened by staff employed by BAA, which owns some of the UK's biggest airports.

We asked for your questions about claiming compensation if your travel plans had been affected and Sean Tipton, of the travel association Abta has answered them.

You cannot claim compensation for delays, Sean Tipton warns

Just the thing air travellers do not want to see

Update: three answers in the first published version of this article said air travellers could not claim compensation for delays to their flights.

In fact the law changed in November 2009. The European Court of Justice ruled that air passengers may be able to claim compensation if their flights are delayed for more than three hours, just as if the flights had been cancelled.

The Court's ruling can be read here.

However at the time of writing (August 2010) the UK courts have referred the matter back to the European Court of Justice at the request of UK airlines who oppose the ECJ's judgement.

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