Ghana International Airlines jilts wedding guests

The collapsed Ghanaian airline which left a bride's family at home in the UK has backtracked on its promise to return their cash. Rupert Jones reports

Britons who booked flights with Ghana's national airline are still waiting for refunds more than eight months after it ceased operations, Guardian Money can reveal.





Those affected include Beryl Lynch, who ended up missing her daughter's wedding in Ghana's capital Accra last month because of the fiasco. Jennifer Cunningham, a teacher who lives in Enfield, Middlesex, had to tie the knot with none of her family present. Other guests unable to get there included Cunningham's own daughter and her two younger sisters, who were to be her bridesmaids.





The family are angry that Ghana International Airlines (GIA) appears to have reneged on promises to return their cash. They have also been rebuffed by Lynch's credit card company, Lloyds TSB, even though card issuers are jointly liable for the failure to provide goods or services.





Money first highlighted the curious case of GIA last June, when we told how bride-to-be Jennifer Headley (as she was then) and members of her family were among hundreds – possibly thousands – of Britons who feared they could be left out of pocket in the wake of the airline's apparent collapse.





We told how Headley was getting married in Accra on 29 December, and was supposed to have dozens of guests flying out from the UK, many of whom had also booked hotels. The wedding did go ahead, but Lynch and her husband, and the bride's two sisters and 24-year-old daughter, have had to make do with watching the video and flicking through the photos.





Back in June, the family expressed frustration at the lack of information about GIA's status – a problem that continues to this day. The website of the majority government-owned airline, which operated daily flights between Accra and London Gatwick, no longer works, and its Wikipedia entry states that it ceased operations in May last year. Guardian Money found a recent article on a Ghanaian news website that claimed the country's government was yet to determine the future of the "comatose" GIA.





In February last year, Lynch, who lives in Edmonton, north London, paid £2,460 for four return flights, £2,000 of which she put on her credit card. They were due to fly out on 18 December.





Joy Francis, Cunningham's sister, says they were repeatedly given assurances that the matter would be sorted out before Christmas, which meant they would still have time to get out to Ghana for the wedding. That was part of the reason why they did not fork out for tickets with another airline.





Our June article quoted the Ghana High Commission in London as saying GIA was "making arrangements to send funds over to London for various people to be refunded". We have also seen a letter from GIA's interim management committee which states that "the processing of refunds will begin from 6 July, 2010". And an email to Cunningham from the same committee, dated 17 November 2010, states that "the Ministry of Transport will be transferring the said amount together with those of other refund claimants to your respective agents by third week of December 2010".





But this week the family, and many others, are still waiting. "We were told we would have to hang fire and that the money would be in before Christmas. We thought we would still be able to get out there on time," says Francis, who lives in north-east London. By 22 December, with still no sign of their cash and no replacement flights on offer, Francis and the others who were due to fly out reluctantly decided they could not afford to spend thousands more on getting to the wedding, on top of what had already been spent. "We were being quoted £900 each, flight only, which was ridiculous. We couldn't go."





Cunningham, who is now back in Enfield, says the whole thing left her very depressed, adding: "My mother is suffering from high blood pressure because of this. It's not on at all."





Lynch booked her tickets with Edmonton firm A&M Travel, which told Money it had been told that the Ghanaian government would be refunding people. It adds: "We don't know what is happening."





Yusuf Janjua at south London-based Liberty Travel, which was the booking agent for GIA and forwarded the payments to the airline, says: "It's very frustrating. We have made all possible efforts to get the money back. The latest information from the interim committee is that the money has reached right up to the cashiers … They are saying they are about to send the money to all the UK travel agents very shortly. The problem is, they have been making these statements since November. [There have been] promises and promises, and nothing is happening."





Janjua says Liberty Travel covered its passengers with "scheduled airline failure insurance" (SAFI), and has been in contact with the Ghana High Commission and the Civil Aviation Authority, but adds: "These smart people [at GIA] – they didn't go into liquidation, they just grounded the flights. Because of that SAFI couldn't protect them." Janjua says the whole episode has "tarnished our image in the African community".





After getting nowhere with the airline, Lynch last month made a claim against her Lloyds TSB credit card. Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act the card company is jointly liable for a failure to provide goods or services. But a bank spokeswoman says this part of the act "does not apply in situations such as this, where customers use a credit card to buy airline tickets via a travel agent".





She adds: "While we sympathise fully with the distress and inconvenience that the cancellation of Ghana International Airlines flights has caused Mrs Lynch, we understand all monies will be refunded by Liberty Travel in due course. We would therefore recommend Mrs Lynch pursues her claim with A&M Travel. We can confirm Mrs Lynch has incurred no additional interest costs on this payment. We apologise that we could not do more to help on this occasion."





Stranded by snow? Know your rights





Guardian Money is hearing dozens of complaints from air passengers directly caught up in the snow disruption before Christmas that closed several airports including Heathrow. We also continue to hear from readers who had flights cancelled but have been denied compensation under EU rules.





If your flight was cancelled due to snow, or you chose not to travel after waiting five hours, you are entitled to a full refund. The airline should pay the refund within seven days, but that often isn't happening. Claims for assistance as a result of delays, such as food and hotel costs, are also being denied.





Benedetta Bassetti, from York, contacted us saying British Airways had still not repaid her the £506 she paid to fly from Heathrow to Rome on 17 December. The original flight, plus a second the next day, were both cancelled due to snow.





"We were not allowed to request refunds using the website because the link had been made inactive. When we phoned the company, we got an automated short message and then it hung up. We finally got through on 27 December, and BA promised a refund within a week. Since then I've repeatedly tried to call but they just hang up. We still have not been paid – the whole thing is disgraceful," she says.





A spokesman for BA says the majority of customers who made direct bookings should be able to claim a refund at BA.com. "However, in certain circumstances, where changes have been made to the original booking, it is not possible to request a refund online," he says. After looking into Bassetti's case, he apologised for the inconvenience caused. "The request was authorised, but unfortunately, there was a delay in payment due to an isolated administrative error. The refund has since been processed and the full amount should be credited to the customer's account shortly." Miles Brignall