How travel firms are helping British holidaymakers in Rhodes
Wildfires have swept across the south-eastern part of the island.
Flights rescuing British holidaymakers in Rhodes have begun arriving in the UK, as wildfires ravage parts of the Greek island.
People have complained about a lack of information from travel companies on how the incident will affect them.
How have different firms responded to the emergency?
– Jet2
Jet2 announced it will operate four repatriation flights from Rhodes to bring holidaymakers back to the UK.
They will take hundreds of people to Manchester, Leeds Bradford and Birmingham on Monday evening.
It comes after a flight carrying 95 passengers landed at Leeds Bradford on Sunday evening.
The company has “significantly increased” staff numbers on the island and has been running transfer coaches to take customers to the airport from evacuation centres on Monday.
It has cancelled all flights and holidays due to fly to Rhodes up to and including Sunday and has contacted customers about refund and rebooking options, claiming the company will process a refund “quickly” if a customer requests one.
– Tui
A fourth repatriation flight is under way, with another scheduled for Tuesday morning, after the arrival of three flights in the UK overnight.
Tui said it had cancelled all flights to Rhodes up to and including Friday as well as all flights for customers travelling to impacted hotels up to and including Sunday, with passengers receiving full refunds.
Those due to travel to unaffected areas on Saturday and Sunday can change to another holiday free of charge or cancel for a full refund.
The company said it is still operating empty outbound flights to bring customers on holiday elsewhere in Rhodes home “as planned”.
The firm previously said more than 300 members of staff were on the affected part of the island, and urged customers to keep in touch.
– easyJet
easyJet announced it would operate repatriation flights to bring home British holidaymakers trapped on Rhodes.
Two rescue flights, an A320 and an A321 aircraft totalling 421 additional seats, will fly from Gatwick on Monday, and a third flight will operate on Tuesday.
Nine flights already operating between Rhodes and the UK will also continue alongside them.
Flights are still operating for customers booked to travel to or from Rhodes before July 29, but if they would like to change their plans, customers can change the date of their flight or request a flight voucher.
– Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook is contacting customers due to travel to hotels in Lardos and Kiotari – the areas most at risk – up to and including Monday July 31 with offers of full refunds or the choice to amend their holidays.
The same options will be given to customers travelling to other parts of Rhodes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
The company will contact all customers travelling to Rhodes in coming weeks in order of departure date.
Those due to depart on Thursday will hear from Thomas Cook by no later than 6am the day before to “discuss your options”.
– British Airways
British Airways said it was still operating flights to Rhodes as normal.
However, customers currently on the island needing to come home early can change their return flight free of charge, and anyone travelling out from the UK in the next week can postpone their flight to a later date.
The firm has put a larger aircraft on the next flight from the island to accommodate customers who need to return earlier than planned.
