XL holidaymakers still stranded

Thousands of holidaymakers who booked their flights with the collapsed airline XL are still desperately trying to get a flight back home.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) that runs the ATOL travel protection scheme has been organising flights back to the UK for the stranded passengers.

The CAA said it had arranged 158 flights - carrying 37,150 passengers.

All ATOL-protected travellers will be able to travel back on flights organised by the CAA.

However, the CAA said the whole repatriation is expected to take several more weeks as some travellers are still in the middle of their holidays.

Reasonable price

Those who didn't book their holiday as part of a package and therefore aren't ATOL-protected are also being offered spaces on flights at a reasonable price.

CAA EMERGENCY HELPLINE

• Customers abroad: +44 (0) 2891 856547
• Customers in the UK with advance bookings: 0870 5900927

One passenger who still doesn't know how she is going to get home is Kerry Lovegrove from Wolverhampton.

The 24-year old is staying at her father's holiday home in Cyprus with her boyfriend and should have been travelling home on Sunday.

They booked the flights direct from the XL website and are not ATOL-protected.

"Money is a bit short - we've just bought our first home and we haven't got a lot of spending money," she said.

"We're worried about the cost of getting home - at the moment we're looking at spending £500 each on one-way flights home."

XL NUMBERS

• 85,000 people left abroad
• 50,000 booked on XL packages covered by Atol
• 25,000 booked with other tour operators
• 10,000 booked independently on XL flights
• Information provided by the CAA

A spokeman for the CAA said that the best advice for travellers in the same position as Kerry was to go to their nearest airport and speak to a member of staff at one of the UK tour operators' desks.

They then need to request a seat on one of the CAA repatriation flights.

XL had 21 planes grounded on Friday, leaving some 85,000 people abroad.

The airlines operating the returning flights include BA, Monarch and Astraeus, which flew in from destinations including Tenerife, Orlando and Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt.

The CAA also said the firm had 200,000 advance bookings.

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