Last month, the CMA said the OTA had failed to meet a previous commitment to return in excess of £7 million in outstanding Covid refunds to more than 9,000 customers.

The authority confirmed on 12 February the OTA still owed more than £1 million to some 2,600 customers, despite signing formal undertakings with the CMA in December.

The CMA gave Lastminute seven days to pay all outstanding refunds or face legal action; it also vowed to explore other legal channels if Lastminute failed to meet its commitment to refund any new package holiday customers within 14 days, as per the Package Travel Regulations.

However, on Friday (26 February), the CMA said Lastminute had now paid back a further £1 million in outstanding package refunds, "in line with commitments it gave to the CMA".

This means that, in total, "Lastminute.com has issued more than £7 million in refunds due to action taken by the CMA," said the authority.

Any customers still awaiting refunds have been advised to contact the OTA using a new dedicated form which had been due to go live on Lastminute’s website on Friday.