Posted on August 18, 2010 by Fiona Hilliard

Thousands of British travellers face the prospect of having to rearrange their summer vacations… sound familiar?

No, you’re not having a ‘groundhog’ moment, yet another UK travel group has indeed gone bust.

Airline industry officials were last night rallying to make sure that all 13,000 Flight Options/Kiss holidaymakers who found themselves abroad got home as planned.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said customers due to leave before 6pm tonight should travel to airports as planned. “Because the company has failed at the height of summer, the CAA is also putting in place arrangements to allow people to travel out on their holidays for the next 24 hours, to minimise confusion and protect passengers,” it said in a statement. The majority of the 60,000 other customers who booked flights in the Mediterranean including Greece and Turkey, Egypt and the Canaries for September are in line to receive refunds.
The company’s demise means over 200,000 people have been affected directly by the collapse of a travel company this summer. Flight Options’ downfall comes just weeks after Goldtrail went to the wall in mid July.  Sun4U, a similar operation also finished up last week.

Spare a thought for the holidaymakers caught up in Kiss’s collapse who may have had the misfortune to have previously booked with Goldtrail. Kiss covered many of the same routes as the doomed holiday company, so it’s very plausible that many passengers would have re-booked with Kiss.

Speaking to TravelWeekly, Gary Ash, chief executive of Flight Options said:”I am devastated by this unfortunate turn of events. Over the past nine months we have been fighting in a difficult market.”

Affected customers can contact the CAA on 00441614445811 or 00441614445811. Those seeking advice about refunds under the Atol scheme should visit the CAA website or call 0844 571 7262.