JET2 have announced that they are restarting their flights and holidays on June 17.
The announcement was made on the travel company’s social media pages, despite the order from the government over the weekend to Brits not to travel abroad “indefinitely”.
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The restrictions were initially in place until April 15, but this weekend the FCO announced: “The Foreign Office indefinitely advises against all non-essential global travel.”
As a result of their decision, all trips booked through Jet2 until June 17 are now cancelled as a result of the pandemic.
A statement on their Twitter page said: “In view of the ongoing uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken the decision to recommence our flights and holidays programme on June 17th.
“This means for customers travelling before this date, unfortunately your flights and holidays will not be operating.
“We will be contacting all affected customers to discuss their options, one of which is rebooking to a later date. We are contacting all customers in departure date order which we believe is the fairest way to handle this.
“The number of calls we have been receiving is unprecedented so you do not need to make contact with us. Please do bear with us, and we thank customers in advance for their loyalty, understanding and patience.”
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While there is no indication that the Foreign Office will have lifted its travel restrictions by June 17, the announcement will allow Jet2 to create a temporary cut-off point for allocating refunds and rebookings for customers with holidays booked for this summer.
The new FCO guidance from the weekend had been criticised by the consumer watchdog Which?, who said that it could cause problems for Brits trying to get refunds, as there was no particular end date for the travel ban.
It left travel agents scrambling to decide how far in advance they would offer alternative arrangements or refunds in light of the new guidelines.
Roly Boland, editor of Which? Travel, told iNews: “The travel warning should be extended to a definitive date, which can be reviewed if needed, so that travellers have some much-needed clarity around refunds, rebooking or claiming on insurance.”
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Families who had booked holidays for this summer are already struggling to get refunds for their booked holidays from travel companies and airlines, with a number of operators only offering credit notes.
Others have been forced to call a phone number for a refund after the option was removed from the website, only to face long phone queues or being unable to get through to anyone.
Last month, Jet2 launched their holidays and flights for summer 2021, as many Brits decide to give up on their holidays this summer and focus on next year.
The travel company’s package holidays and flights have gone on sale this week, featuring destinations in Spain, Greece, Turkey, Portugal and Italy among others.
Paul Charles, an aviation expert and head of the travel consultancy The PC Agency, recently told Sun Online Travel that when we come out of the pandemic, holidaymakers can expect to see some incredible deals.
He said: “At the moment I think it’s far from people’s minds. They want to hunker down and make sure the people they love are safe.
“But it will come, it will bounce back and the silver lining is that there will be great deals at some point.
“When the confidence returns and airlines can start flying again, they will have terrific deals on offer for consumers.”
