Respect customers will get home says CAA
The Civil Aviation Authority has assured customers of gay travel company Respect Holidays that those already abroad will be flown home at the end of their holiday.
Respect’s parent company Lidana Ltd, which also traded as Wildwind Holidays, was a small, specialist direct sell travel company operating inclusive holidays to Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Ibiza, Sitges and Mykonos.
The CAA, under its ATOL (Air Travel Organiser’s Licensing) scheme, is making arrangements for holidaymakers currently abroad.
A spokesman for the CAA told PinkNews.co.uk:
“We think that there are about 40 people with advance bookings who will get a full refund.
“The number already abroad is not very large, but we will bring them back when their holiday is over.
“Those already on holiday do not need to rush to the airport or anything like that. We will contact them and they will come back at around the time they were supposed to.”
The CAA said anyone due to travel with Lidana Ltd should submit a claim to them.
Claim forms are available on the ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk.
All holidays have been cancelled so customers should not go to UK airports.
Earlier this week gay-owned Throb Holidays announced that it had gone out of business.
“As a result of the collapse of XL Airways/XL Leisure Group (who were our main flight provider) we have unfortunately been unable to contain the damage this causes us in both the immediate term and in the future, where the lack of flight capacity we would have relied upon from XL Airways for new reservations makes continuing trading impossible,” the company said in a statement on its website.
“Our thoughts and concerns are of course for all our customers caught up in this and we hope that you can understand that this was not a decision taken lightly after 14 years of responsibly serving the gay community.”
XL collapsed on Friday. Most of the estimated 90,000 tourists affected are covered by the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (ATOL) scheme.
