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CAA apologises to Thomas Cook customers still waiting for refunds
The Civil Aviation Authority has apologised to more than 50,000 Thomas Cook customers for for delays issuing refunds.
It blamed fraudulent claims and incomplete claim forms for adding to the delays.
Director Paul Smith said £160 million has been refunded since the firm collapsed on September 23, and he promised the CAA is ‘working tirelessly’ to process remaining payments.
The CAA had originally promised to refund passengers within 60 days, but about a third of those who were among the first to register on October 7 are still waiting for their money.
"This is the biggest refund operation in UK travel," said Smith. "We have paid out already about £160 million and expect over the next couple of days to get that up above £180m.
"We have had to put some extra checks in because we were concerned about fraud. And we had some challenges with the data we received from the company. We are sorry for those people we have not yet been able to pay."
Some claimants have provided incomplete forms, and he urged them to update the details as soon as possible.
"We really want to make these payments as quickly as we can because it is money people are entitled to," he said.
Some 300,000 claims have been received so far, 215,000 of which have been confirmed as valid, according to the BBC. However, this figure includes about 90,000 direct debit customers in October whose money was automatically returned.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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