A watchdog has warned that airlines are providing misleading information about Covid testing procedures, which might result in travellers being turned away from flights.
According to Which?, most agents representing five major UK airlines – British Airways (BA), easyJet, Jet2Ryanair, and Tui – were unable to deliver clear, consistent, or correct responses during a mystery shopping exercise.
If the passenger had followed the instructions offered by the agent, they would have been turned away from their flight in nearly half of the calls.
There is no recourse for reimbursement if a traveller does not match the entrance requirements and is unable to board their aircraft.
The UK and devolved governments set the regulations for testing for people returning to the UK, whereas foreign governments set the criteria for UK travellers arriving in other countries.
When Which? contacted a number of major UK airports, they all acknowledged that it is up to airline ground employees to police these laws and determine whether or not someone should be permitted to board a flight.
All of the airline's Which? contacted stated that it is the responsibility of the passenger to ensure that they meet the conditions for boarding and that if they do not, they may be denied boarding and have no recourse for a refund.
Which? called the customer care lines of BA, EasyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, and Tui three times each, posing as passengers and asking the same four questions concerning testing requirements when flying to mainland Portugal.
Passengers travelling to mainland Portugal were obliged to undergo a test at the time of the study, regardless of past infection or vaccination status. Only PCR tests were allowed for entry to Portugal, not lateral flow testing, and only children under the age of two were exempt.
In seven of the 15 calls, the consumer watchdog's mystery shoppers received erroneous or inconsistent information.
Agents gave information that would have resulted in customers being turned away from their flight in four of the calls - two to BA and two to Tui. Only two agents, one from Jet2 and the other from Tui, were able to accurately answer all of the questions.
Two Tui representatives and one BA representative told the undercover investigators that vaccinated passengers did not need to take a test before flying, with one of the Tui representatives noting that minors under the age of 12 were exempt. Children under the age of four are exempt from the exams, according to another BA representative.
These replies were wrong at the time of phoning, and clients who followed the advice would have been denied boarding, leaving them to foot the bill for the whole flight or vacation.
A British Airways representative also advised one mystery shopper that they didn't need to bring any documentation on vacation as long as they uploaded their test data to BA ahead of time.
Although the advice may have been sufficient to allow the passenger to board the flight, it is unlikely that it would have permitted them to enter their destination country.
Only two airline representatives, from Jet2 and Tui, correctly answered all of the questions.
Despite the fact that lateral flow tests have been a common travel requirement for some time and are of the same type distributed by the NHS for rapid coronavirus testing at home, six of the agents' Which? spoke to – two BA reps, two easyJet reps, one Jet2 rep, and one Ryanair rep – said they had never heard of them.
When the undercover researchers managed to speak with Ryanair representatives, they were urged to ‘Ask the country,' ‘Check the Government website,' ‘Call the embassy,' or ‘Visit Ryanair's website,' among other things.
Every EasyJet agent contacted by Which? advised customers to phone airports for information, and claimed wrongly that airport staff, not easyJet ground staff, examine passengers' Covid documents.
Another easyJet agent provided one of the mystery shoppers a number they claimed was a Covid-19 advising line, but it turned out to be the coronavirus helpline for businesses and the self-employed run by HM Revenue & Customs.
Travellers should avoid calling their airline for Covid-19 travel advice and instead visit the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) website, which is the greatest source of information on testing requirements and travel guidelines, according to Which?
Which? “When airlines are responsible for deciding whether a customer may board their aircraft or not, it is critical that their staff have a complete and correct understanding of the rules,” said Rory Boland, travel editor. If travellers follow the erroneous advice, they may be responsible for the full cost of their flight or vacation.
“The most reliable place to look for information on testing requirements for travel to your destination is the FCDO’s website – here you’ll find the most up-to-date information regarding entry requirements, traffic light changes, and other critical information before you travel.”
A spokesman for British Airways said: “Our colleagues are trained to advise our customers that they are required to check they meet the entry and testing requirements of the country they’re visiting.
“While we don’t believe the issues raised in Which?’s three calls are representative of the hundreds of thousands we handle, we’ve reminded colleagues to keep referring customers to gov.uk to avoid unintentional confusion.”
An easyJet spokeswoman said: “We continually review the information we equip our agents with and provide them with ongoing and extensive training, and so we continue with this to ensure that agents are providing accurate and consistent advice to customers.
“However, we always remind customers that ultimately it is their responsibility to ensure they meet entry requirements and will continue to advise customers to check the local government requirements prior to departure.”
A spokeswoman at Jet2 said: “Our contact centre teams are dealing with an unprecedented number of inquiries, whilst at the same time dealing with ever-changing travel advice from the UK Government which often comes with little or no notice.
“We would like to thank Which? for bringing this to our attention. We will take steps to address this issue, despite the fact that we give a consistent message for our teams to use, as well as regular training.”
A Ryanair spokesman said: “This is more fake news from Which? All Covid-19 travel requirements are fully set out on Ryanair’s website and are emailed to all passengers 24 hours prior to travel. We do not expect our call centre agents to be experts on the multiple Covid travel restrictions, which apply across 40 different countries.”
Tui said: “This research highlights the complexity of frequently changing entry and testing requirements.
“We always strive to provide the best service possible for our customers, and our agents are trained and updated with new information on an ongoing basis.
“Extra training to support fight-only queries is being provided, and, to help customers further, detailed and current entry requirement information is available on our dedicated Covid hub.”
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