You and Yours

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You and Yours: Flight refunds; Charity shops; Airbnb rentals

Flight refunds; Charity shops; Zoom bombing

Flight refunds; Charity shops; Airbnb rentals

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, Flight refunds; Charity shops; Airbnb rentals

People facing long waits for refunds for cancelled flights.

Airline passengers complain of lengthy delays in getting refunds for flights cancelled because of the Coronavirus.

Airline passengers who opt for a cash refund rather than a voucher are facing lengthy delays. After thousands of flights were cancelled because of the Coronavirus, passengers should have been able to get their money back. But listeners have been contacting You & Yours to complain that they have yet to receive anything. Some feel that airlines are 'tricking' them into accepting vouchers instead.  Research from Which? suggests 8 in every 10 Ryanair customers who have asked for refunds are still waiting. Ryanair says cash refunds are taking a lot longer than usual because they are having to process 10,000 times the usual volume of cancellations, and have fewer staff available. It says vouchers are being distributed more quickly because they are automated. Anyone who does not use their voucher within 12 months may still apply for a refund after this time. 

Charity shops have lost a lot of business in the lockdown, just like the rest of the high street. Now they're preparing to reopen on June 15th - but how will they manage it, with so many staff shielding and an expected deluge of donations? 

Plus we hear from an AirBnB host who has decided to let her property to Edinburgh City Council for social housing. The market for AirBnB has folded at the moment, along with so much else. In popular tourist cities, homes that were being let on websites like Airbnb are now being advertised as long-term rentals. In Edinburgh, the city council is encouraging hosts whose incomes have dropped to let them use their properties for social housing for a fixed monthly income over a minimum of three years. 

Presented by Winifred Robinson
Produced by Natalie Donovan

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