Abta extends refund credit note policy

Companies will be able to issue new financially protected, Abta-guaranteed RCNs through to the end of April. The deadline had previously been the end of March.

New credit notes, meanwhile, will be valid up to and including 31 January 2022. Validity had previously been due to run through to 30 September.

Any Abta members previously granted permission to issue RCNs valid up to 30 September do not need to apply again to extend validity through to the end of next January.

Members have been informed of the change, and the association will be alerting all member financial protection contacts. Its RCN guidance note, available via Abta’s member zone, has also been updated.

TTG approached the CAA for clarification on whether it intends to extend Atol protection to RCNs issued after 31 March. The authority declined to comment at this stage.

Abta has previously intimated it would seek alignment with the Atol scheme. The CAA confirmed in late January it would extend Atol protection to RCNs issued up to the end of March.

The latest extension to the policy by Abta comes after On the Beach, which resigned its Abta membership last year, this week called for consumers with outstanding RCNs to be refunded and the regime scrapped.