A package holiday refund is due within 14 days of the contract being terminated, under regulation 14(3) of the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, read on legislation.gov.uk on 17 September 2026. A flight-only refund under UK261 Article 8 is due within seven days. Different companies, different clocks, and fixed flight compensation is a separate claim.
Fourteen days. When a tour operator cancels a package, or you terminate it because the flight inside it has gone, regulation 14(3) of the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 says the refund "must be made to the traveller without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days after" the contract is terminated. We read the text on legislation.gov.uk on 17 September 2026. The clock starts at termination, not on the day the flight was meant to leave.
A flight bought on its own runs on a different clock. Article 8(1)(a) of Regulation 261/2004, retained in UK law as UK261, gives "reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full cost of the ticket". Seven days, from the airline. So a family on a package and their neighbour on a flight-only booking for the same cancelled aircraft are owed money by different companies on different deadlines.
The package clock is the longer one because the organiser is refunding the whole holiday, hotel and transfers included, not just the seat. The gov.uk guidance on package refunds puts it plainly, "If package holiday organisers cancel your holiday you are entitled to a full refund within 14 days of the cancellation date". Every figure on this page carries the date we read it, the reason is in our methodology.
Three separate pots, three separate debtors. Only one of them is the holiday price.
| What you are owed | Who pays | Deadline | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refund of the package price | The organiser named on your package contract | 14 days from termination | PTR 2018, regulation 14(3) |
| Refund of a flight-only ticket | The operating airline | 7 days | UK261, Article 8(1)(a) |
| Fixed cancellation compensation | The operating airline | No statutory deadline, claim after the cancellation | UK261, Articles 5 and 7 |
| Damages for a holiday that did not match the contract | The organiser | No fixed deadline | PTR 2018, regulation 16 |
Yes, and the regulation says so. Article 3(6) of UK261 reads "This Regulation shall not affect the rights of passengers under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018". The package rules protect the price you paid. UK261 answers for the airline's own conduct. One does not switch off the other.
The fixed compensation only arrives if the airline cancelled late and cannot prove extraordinary circumstances. Under Article 5(1)(c) nothing is due if you were told at least two weeks before departure. Between two weeks and seven days, the airline escapes only if the re-routing it offers gets you there less than four hours late. Under seven days, that window shrinks to two hours. The amounts in Article 7(1) of the retained UK text are £220 for flights of 1,500 km or less, £350 between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and £520 beyond that. The EU text on EUR-Lex keeps EUR 250, EUR 400 and EUR 600. Our EU261 guide walks through the distance bands and the extraordinary circumstances test.
One carve-out matters. The second sentence of Article 3(6) says UK261 "shall not apply in cases where a package tour is cancelled for reasons other than cancellation of the flight". If the hotel fell through and the organiser pulled the whole package while the flight would have operated, the airline owes nothing. Your claim is against the organiser alone.
Because both regimes say the overlap gets deducted. Regulation 16 of the 2018 Regulations tells the organiser to deduct compensation received under "the Union passenger rights legislation or the international conventions" from any compensation or price reduction it owes, "to avoid overcompensation". Article 12(1) of UK261 mirrors it from the airline's side, "The compensation granted under this Regulation may be deducted from such compensation".
The word that matters is compensation. A refund is not compensation. The refund of the package price is your own money coming back. The £220, £350 or £520 is a fixed sum for the disruption, owed whether the seat cost a little or a lot. Those are different losses, so nothing is deducted between them. The deduction bites when you also ask the organiser for damages under regulation 16 for a holiday that was cut short or ruined, and the airline has already paid the fixed sum for the same disruption. Then the organiser can net off what the airline paid.
Travel insurers apply the same logic from a third direction, which is the subject of insurance deducts what the airline paid. Keep the airline's payment letter. Every other party will ask for it.
That is not your problem in law. The gov.uk guidance, last updated 14 May 2021 and still live on 17 September 2026, says the refund "should be provided irrespective of whether the company you booked with has received funds from other companies involved in your trip, such as airlines". The 14 days run against the organiser whatever the airline has or has not done.
You also do not have to take a credit note. The same page says "You have the right to a cash refund. You don't have to accept a Refund Credit Note, or rebook for another date", and that a note already accepted can be exchanged for cash at any time.
What you cannot get from the organiser is extra money when the cancellation was outside its control. If it cancelled under regulation 13 for unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, it owes the full refund but "is not liable for additional compensation". If you terminated under regulation 12(7) for the same reason, regulation 12(8) gives you a full refund but no additional compensation either. The price comes back, the damages do not. ATOL protection is for the case where the organiser fails financially, it does not speed up a slow refund from a solvent one.
Run the two claims in parallel from day one. They go to different companies and neither waits for the other.
Regulation 14(3) of the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 requires the refund without undue delay and in any event within 14 days after the package travel contract is terminated. That is the organiser's deadline. A flight bought on its own is refunded by the airline within seven days under UK261 Article 8(1)(a).
From termination of the contract. If the organiser cancels, that is the day it tells you. If you terminate because the flight was cancelled, it is the day you give notice. Record the date, because the organiser counts from it and so will anyone you complain to later. Asking for the refund does not restart the clock.
Yes, when the airline cancelled with under two weeks' notice and cannot prove extraordinary circumstances. Article 3(6) of UK261 preserves package rights and the compensation claim runs against the operating airline. The exception is a package cancelled for a reason other than the flight, where UK261 does not apply at all.
Not from the refund of the price. Regulation 16 and Article 12(1) allow deduction only between compensation and compensation, to avoid paying the same loss twice. The package price is your own money returned, the airline's fixed sum is for the disruption. A deduction applies if you also claim damages from the organiser for the spoiled holiday.
No. The gov.uk guidance says you have the right to a cash refund and do not have to accept a Refund Credit Note or rebook for another date. If you already took a note, the same guidance says it can be exchanged for cash at any time. Ask for cash in writing and quote the 14-day rule.
You get the full price back within 14 days. What you do not get is extra compensation from the organiser, because regulation 13(3) removes that liability when it cancels for unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. The airline's compensation is judged separately under Article 5(3), and a strike by its own staff is often not extraordinary.