Some links to products and partners on this website will earn an affiliate commission.
Low-cost carrier easyJet has announced that it has now grounded its entire fleet as a result of “unprecedented travel restrictions” resulting from the COVID-19 situation. The airline did make clear though that rescue flights will continue for people stranded abroad: “We will continue to work with government bodies to operate additional rescue flights as requested”.
easyJet had already cancelled the vast majority of flights anyway, so today’s announcement doesn’t make a huge amount of difference in the immediate future. More concerning is that the airline is unable to offer an indication of when flights might restart:
“At this stage there can be no certainty of the date for restarting commercial flights. We will continuously evaluate the situation based on regulations and demand, and will update the market when we have a view.”
Does anyone have a crystal ball to suggest how risky it would be to book one of their cheaper deals for booking winter flights?
If you spend at least 100 quid on a credit card, you should get Section 75 protection.
If you spend less than that… well it’s hopefully more like a flutter on the Grand National than anything that would really hurt to lose.
Will flights be operating in winter 2020/21? One assumes so, but nobody knows for sure.
I think the risk is fairly substantial (I don’t believe there is an appetite in Government to fully bail airlines out, with the probable exception of BA if that was required. Less dramatic support measures might see easyJet through though) – but as Craig says, the risk is easily mitigated by using a credit card.
The bigger question I have at the moment is whether deals will get even better in 3-6 months, and I think they will. Once (some) discretionary travel begins again, there will be a big fight to capture as much of it as possible.
Any news on the Marriott leak?