Easyjet Holidays has confirmed it has cancelled all bookings until March 24, due to the latest lockdown in the UK.
The move follows a similar decision by Jet 2 earlier this week, which has suspended all services until March 25.
Easyjet had already cancelled breaks up to the end of February as a result of the lockdown announcements made on January 4, but said in a statement:
“Easyjet holidays has today started contacting customers with holidays booked up to and including March 24 to let them know their holiday is cancelled. This is due to the ongoing restrictions on international travel as a result of the current lockdown.
“The holiday firm will provide all customers with impacted bookings some options to select from. Customers can choose to change their holiday online. Or customers can opt to receive Easyjet holidays credit to their online account for a future holiday when they are ready to make another booking either immediately or within the next 12 months, although the holiday can take place beyond this.
“Alternatively, customers can have a refund back to their original payment method used to make the booking. Customers who opt for a refund can be reassured they will receive this in full and Easyjet holidays has been able to process these in an average of 12 days.
“Customers with holidays booked beyond March 25 are covered under Easyjet holidays’ Protection Promise, an industry leading customer policy offering the ultimate protection and flexibility for holidays. Customers can change or defer their holiday online up to 28 days before they are due to travel without incurring any change fees.”
Note that the cancellations relate to holiday bookings – Easyjet said last week that it would continue to maintain “essential connectivity between key cities in the UK” during the lockdown, including domestic services from London, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Belfast and Scotland.
Easyjet to maintain “essential connectivity” between key UK cities during lockdown
In a statement provided to Business Traveller, Easyjet Holidays’ customer director Matt Callaghan said:
“We know this news will be disappointing. But we want to give our customers as much flexibility and choice as possible so they can decide what is best for them. We’re really proud that, where we’ve needed to cancel holidays, we’ve been able to process refunds in an average of 12 days.
“We’ll continue to do the right thing for customers. And for any customers wanting to change their holiday or make a new booking, we’ve got holidays on sale all the way through to March 2022. We know there is light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine. We can’t wait to take people on well-deserved holidays just as soon as it’s possible for us to do so.”
This week Easyjet confirmed it had signed a £1.4 billion five-year term loan facility through the government’s Export Development Guarantee scheme.
