CAA Thomas Cook refund claim: How to get your money back and who is eligible to apply

Thomas Cook customers have been struggling to apply for refunds after the claims website failed to cope with demand after it opened.

Tens of thousands of people who entered their details on the site reported receiving error messages shortly after the claims section went live at 6am on Monday.

It means thousands of claims have not been submitted, with many customers being told to "try back again later today" after the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it had experienced "unprecedented demand".

However, with hundreds of thousands of customers eligible, here's everything you need to know abut making a claim.

The CAA launched the refund process this morning, with the claims section for Atol-protected holidays going live at 6am.

Claims can only be made through this process and only the lead passenger on the booking can make a refund claim.

On the website it states that different types of bookings will have different claims processes, for example a credit card payment will be a different process to a direct debit.

There are three different scenarios at the bottom of the page for you to choose from, and you must choose the one that applies to you to launch the form.

It also advises that the collapsed Thomas Cook owned and operated the following travel companies:

You will not be able to claim a refund if your holiday was protected by Freedom Travel Group. If this is the case, Hays Travel Group will contact you with advice.

The claims section went live for those with future bookings for Atol-protected holidays to apply for a refund.

This relates to more than 360,000 bookings covering trips due to be taken by 800,000 people.

Atol-protected customers who were already abroad when Thomas Cook collapsed can also claim for the cost of replacing the parts of their holiday which were financially protected, or out-of-pocket expenses for delayed flights.

The CAA said more than 11,500 claims were successfully submitted by 11am on Monday.

If you did not book through Thomas Cook, you can still claim for the parts of the holiday that were covered by the collapsed travel company.

The claim form is only applicable to Atol protected holidays. There is advice about what to do on the CAA website if your booking was not Atol protected.

The CAA is aiming to pay refunds within 60 days of receiving a valid form.

But if your booking was made by direct debit, a refund should automatically be processed by October 14.