Are consumers protected when flying?

Summary

Which? research found: 

• Consumer confidence in airlines is low. Two-fifths (39%) of consumers who flew in 2022 lacked confidence that airlines would treat them fairly if things went wrong in the future.
• Two-fifths of flyers (41%) had a problem with their most recent UK flight in 2022, this included losing baggage, delays and cancellations. 
• Delays to passengers’ flights was the biggest problem for flyers in 2022- cited by 73%.
• Half (47%) of those who paid by debit card thought their debit card would protect their flight booking.

The research suggests consumers aren’t being adequately informed of their flight refund/cancellation rights and some are unintentionally flying without protection. More needs to be done to inform consumers of their rights and ensure they are adequately protected when flight disruption occurs, this includes airlines meeting requirements and consumers understanding what additional protections are available and what they offer in order to make an informed decision. 

Which? is calling for reforms in this sector to improve existing protections, strengthen the enforcement system, including the powers of the aviation regulator, and ensure consumers can have greater confidence in the airlines they deal with. Find out more about our campaign to transform travel.

Poor consumer confidence in airlines - not surprising given past levels of disruption

Travel has started to return to pre-pandemic levels with 63 million passengers flying in and out of the UK between April and June 2022. With recovering levels came travel chaos and come Easter consumers experienced a significant number of flight disruptions due to staff shortages, strikes and cancellations. In a recent survey of 1,000 adults who flew between January and October 2022 from a UK airport, we found two-fifths (41%) of consumers had a problem with their most recent flight, such as flight delays, cancellations and lost baggage.

With the high number of reported problems, it is unsurprising that two-fifths of consumers (39%) who travelled from a UK airport in 2022 lacked confidence that airlines would treat them fairly in the future if things went wrong. This rose to half of passengers (49%) when looking at those whose most recent flight was delayed.

Alongside this, those who didn’t book their flight as part of a package holiday were more likely to lack confidence in future airline treatment (45%) compared to those who booked a package holiday (31%). Also those who booked their most recent flight through a third party were more likely to lack confidence in future airline treatment (44%) compared to those who booked directly through the airline (36%).

Consumers do not believe airlines are adequately or clearly informing them about their rights when flying

With consumer confidence being low, it is more important than ever that the airlines responsibly inform consumers of their rights and protections when things go wrong. Unfortunately, there is evidence that airlines do not always act in the best interest of passengers and over the past year Which? has found several cases where airlines neglected to inform passengers of their rights and left consumers significantly out of pocket. This current research supports these findings and found that, when presented with a list of rights, a quater of flyers (28%) didn’t believe the airlines informed them of their rights prior to flying in 2022. This is also the case after passengers have experienced delays. Of the 149 people who suffered a cancellation or a delay of more than two hours, 35 believed airlines did not meet the requirements for cancellation or delays, such as informing them of their rights to assistance. This new evidence supports our calls for airlines to do more to improve their communications around people's rights when flying.

Most consumers are protecting themselves against flight problems, but misconceptions leave some travellers at risk

For the most part, consumers safeguard against the eventuality of disruption with 45% of people flying in 2022 using credit cards to book their most recent flight and a third (37%) taking out travel insurance to cover the flight. However, there are still consumers who aren’t appropriately protecting themselves and we observed this was sometimes due to payment and insurance misconceptions.

Our research flagged two misconceptions that consumers make about what measures can protect a flight booking. One is that some consumers think that travel insurance doesn’t protect their flight booking. The second is that some consumers think paying for the flight with debit cards will protect their flight booking. Neither of these assumptions are not necessarily true. Let’s take each of these in turn:

1. Travel Insurance

Taking out travel insurance could protect consumers and could allow them to claim money back or be compensated in the event the flight was disrupted. Yet one in 10 passengers who took out travel insurance to cover their most recent flight didn’t think it would protect their booking if something went wrong (e.g. the flight was cancelled before the day of travel etc). This suggests that some consumers think travel insurance is only there to protect them when they are actually on their flight or once they are on their holiday abroad.

2. Debit Cards

Credit cards may provide additional financial protection to consumers so they can get their money back or be compensated in the event their flight is disrupted. Whereas debit cards offer limited protections and the consumer isn't guaranteed a refund for their flight. One in 7 (15%) passengers surveyed paid for their most recent flight using a debit card and didn't take out any travel insurance to cover the flight at the time of booking.  Worryingly, half (47%) of these people thought that paying with a direct debit card would protect their flight booking. With debit cards not guaranteeing financial protection for consumers,  some people are unintentionally flying without a safety net and they could lose their money if something went wrong with the flight.