General Chat

We booked a holiday to Cornwall and were offered a voucher to use on a holiday later this year or to ring to transfer to the same week next year. We want a transfer and I have rung the booking agent several times, every day for almost a fortnight. When I have actually got through the messages a couple of times and been told to hold as they are busy, I have given up after HALF AN HOUR! They shouldn't say ring if they haven't the capacity to answer the phone. We have no idea what happens if someone else takes the week we want, as the offer for the same price transfer is conditional on it being the same week! :-S

RolloTheRed
Report
15 Mar 2020 11:18
Unfortunately my finances do not extend to holidays in Vail although I have been skiing there and at Breckenridge. No, I am joint owner of a "condo" at Winter Park.
https://www.winterparkresort.com/media-center/coronavirus-information

Winter Park also has miles of excellent skiing for those who wish to enjoy themselves rather than break their necks. It is very family friendly, the US equivalent to la Plagne in France,

***All of the Col. & USA ski restorts have been ordered to shut down by the State. so regardless of location my holiday would have been nixed. OTOH I have not lost any money on the acommodation. Further due to my habit of getting last minute tickets at bucket prices I have not had to get a refund for the flights either. But for Mr Trump's timely intervention I could well be fighting to get a refund.****

?

RolloTheRed
Report
27 Apr 2020 16:56
The current situation is very far from being an "Act of God" , it is an umnitigated balls up from Wuhan to NYC by way of Paris, Rome and London.

For a few pounds extra you can insure for cancelled trips whatever the reason and then don't depend on the carrier for a refund. Earlier this year we got refunds for flights to Denver no trouble at all.

I never use travel agents anyway.

Now you had one.?

Must be a right pain getting your stories to line up perfectly ;-)

Before lockdowns and the like it was perfectly easy to buy travel insurance seperately from any deals with travel agents or carriers. AFAIK travel agents often offered such insurance though I have no idea how many bought it and what caveats were locked within. Some people do not seem to realise that insurance for health and accidents does not cover cancelled/missed flights.

Very few people thought that the UK would impose a lockdown partly because the optimum time for such an action had passed. Like most of Johnson's executive actions the timing could hardly have been worse, Taking into account delays in presentation of symptoms the consensus is that the "peak" had passed before the lockdown was imposed.

Now we are all imprisoned in this sceptered isle ruled by idiots while the rest of Europe takes needful measures for restoring normal life.

If you are going to write about travel insurance then you should be clear on what you are referring to.

Why would anyone taking out health.accident insurance assume it covered travel. Some insurances don’t cover standalone flights where no hotels etc are included.

I think the civil courts are going to be rocking after this while they work out whether this is an Act of God or not.

Namelessone - because, obviously, none of us can read, or if we can, we don't understand the words! :-D :-D :-D

Travel insurance offers differing levels of cover, i.e. Bronze, Silver and Gold or whatever dedscriptive they choose.

The more you pay the more cover you receive for unforeseen problems.

Very few people I would imagine don't research the events they are insured for before coughing up the premium. You can of course have the underwriters add in extra cover for specific scenarios but Covid19 wouldn't have been any anyone's radar would it?

Some airlines will refund if enough arm twisting is applied.

Package holidays I assume are a different kettle of the proverbial fish. As they purchase individual parts of the holiday from different suppliers such as the airline, the hotel, transfers etc., they are relying on those suppliers being compliant to agree to issue a full refund. That's where people are becoming unstuck.

I do think it's awful that vouchers or alternative dates are being offered, money is needed now to cope with loss of income in many cases. People have long memories and the companies not playing ball will suffer in future - if they haven't gone to the wall this year.

Sue

The companies, too, a reliant upon income to turn over. They may not actually have the money readily available to pay refunds.

They are also reliant upon the goodwill of present and future custom to survive and are doing whatever they can to try to keep this.

MW

:-D :-D

Well daughter had booked a holiday and paid the deposit for a holiday in July

Highly unlikely it will go ahead but they had an email reminding them the balance was due

They have paid the balance because to date the holiday isn’t cancelled

They do by credit card anyway so can claim back if the holiday is cancelled

What they can’t do to protect themselves is cancel and lose the deposit

They are hoping to reschedule for later in the year

Super crutch

I thought it was easier with a package as you had bought one thing - the holiday. I believe it is when YOU have bought the individual components that the problems start. Which is why some of those big internet companies started calling holidays a package when you bought all the parts through them.

My sept holiday is in doubt

I was going to Canada for a month to stay with our youngest sister who went to Canada in 1977 with her hubby and daughter

Sadly BIL passed away two years ago and she made the decision to sell the house that was too big for her and relocate nearer their daughter and back to the area
they had lived in before downsizing to the smaller house that was now too big for her on her own

It’s been a please come out for a couple of years but the knee replacement surgery was a problem to fit in travel

Sooo I thought it was at last going ahead early April but cancelled yet again

It’s very unlikely now I will get to get out to stay with my sister

I hope though it will happen whilst I can still travel

Ain’t getting any younger and with the lockdown less mobile :-(

'Banks block billions in lost holiday repayments' - an informative article appears in today's London Times by Andrew Ellson (Consumer Affairs Correspondent).

That's interesting Dermot.

Two reasons why we all have to be patient at present:

I know someone who works in the Claims Dept for the insurance arm of a bank and out of the usual 20 in her particular office, there are now four working and one of those has to juggle child care. Some staff members of the bank itself are working from home but it has taken time to set up everything. Whether everyone will be able to do so eventually, I suppose, depends on tech staff, leccies and everyone involved in organising it all, and even their numbers may have dropped.

Working for the same bank is a rellie for whom (at last) everything has been put in place for her to work from home - although her output may not be the same as usual with three very young children and an OH essential worker out for the whole day.

Most flights are to Sweden, and most are by BA using their fly/drive package (which means the bookings are ‘holidays’)

February – we were both there for a weekend.

March – I was there for a weekend. On the day that I was flying out I received an email from BA stating that the flight for a trip I had booked for April had been cancelled. And that I would be receiving a refund. A second email followed a few days later which was in the form of a credit note. Subsequently the full amount that I paid was returned to my credit card account.

A close relative booked a compound flight package with Trailfinders. It included being at a friend’s wedding, seeing cousins, etc..
Heathrow/Bangkok/Phuket/Sydney//car hire to drive one way to Melbourne//Melbourne/Sydney/Osaka/Bangkok/Heathrow
This all got canned. By telephone Trailfinders explained how they had to wait until the airlines officially cancelled their flights. And they then offered a choice - refund or voucher.

Trailfinders have been mentioned in newspapers as one of the ‘good guys’. And for me, so is BA.

Probably would have been a different story had all flights and car hires been directly booked with the individual airlines and car hire companies.