Jet2 is asking UK tourists to return from Spain early - here’s why

Jet2 has asked some of its customers on holiday in Spain to return to the UK days before their scheduled flights, or risk having to find their own way back home. The travel company has suspended flights and holidays to Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza, up to and including 9 August. Meanwhile its flights to mainland Spain have already been cancelled while the firm will continue to send empty outbound flights to the country in order to bring customers home until 3 August. What sparked the decision? The decision from Jet2 was based on economic concerns over operating flights with fewer travellers, following the government's amended advice on travel to the country to go ahead for essential travel only. This advice will now result in fewer people flying into the country, meaning the flights from the UK - which are used to pick up travellers currently in Spain and return them back home - will no longer be economical for the company to run. However, the government has advised that travellers currently in Spain or the Balearic and Canary Islands do not need to leave the country ahead of their planned return dates. The government has only advised against current non-essential travel to the country and for those returning to the UK from Spain to self isolate for 14 days. Travellers caught in a ‘tug of war’ Editor of Which? Travel, Rory Boland, called the situation between government advice and travel company policies a "tug of war" in which holidaymakers are now stuck. He said, "The government had said people on holiday in the Balearic and Canary Islands don't need to return early, but Jet2 has decided that they should. "Jet2 must now urgently clarify whether this is a requirement or a choice, and make it clear to customers whose package holiday has been cancelled what their rights are to a partial refund for the remainder of their trip." What has Jet2 said about the situation? A spokesperson for Jet2 said, "We are contacting customers who are currently in these destinations to advise them of their options regarding flying back to the UK. "We appreciate that some of our package holiday customers were due to stay on holiday for longer than this and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. "It is important to note that we are responding to a very fast-moving situation with updates coming from the government with little or no notice, and we have had to make decisions about our programme accordingly. "We can assure these customers that we will be in touch with them to resolve any issues that they may have."