Holiday cancellation due to family illness

lukebav1982 · 13 May 2015 at 2:02PM

Hi,

My wife and I have a 1 week holiday booked to Sorrento on 6th June. We booked this in February through Expedia, with flights seperately through Easyjet.

Unfortunately my mother in law has been going through cancer treatment for the last 6 months and very recently her condition has worsened, meaning that she will not be with us for very much longer.

Obviously we therefore wish to cancel our holiday plans.

We had travel insurance at the time of booking the holiday, which expired but we have since renewed this. We also mad both the holiday booking and flight booking on credit card.

The Expedia booking states that the hotel is not refundable and cannot be cancelled.

I was wondering the best course of action to be taken to try and get a refund from all parties?

Many Thanks,

Luke

Caz3121 · 13 May 2015 at 2:12PM

Flights - you can either cancel and reclaim some taxes or look to change the dates
Hotel - non-refundable so nothing back there
Travel Insurance will be your port of call, the issue could be the wording of your policy. Some will not cover cancelling for someone that is not travelling if they had pre-existing conditions unless they were declared at the time
Booking on credit card does not affect anything, the credit card would be jointly liable with the supplier but the supplier is still happy to provide the service you have purchased
Best case - taxes from Easyjet, remainder from insurance (less excess)
Worst case - taxes from Easyjet only

callum9999 · 13 May 2015 at 2:26PM

The chances of being covered by the insurance seem to be pretty much zero to me - I can't imagine there being a single standard insurer out there that would cover cancelling for someone with a known serious condition at the time of booking getting worse.

Depending on what you've booked and how much they are, trying to rearrange the dates for next year could be an option. Easyjet is unlikely to budge but the hotel might.

chancesare_2 · 13 May 2015 at 3:34PM

As above ^.

The illness was known at time of booking. Without being blunt, unless there is a death close to your travel date I don't suspect you will be covered.

Obviously_the_best · 13 May 2015 at 6:19PM

I think about the only option you have is to ask your travel insurers very nicely if they can help.

Lizzie2995 · 25 May 2015 at 5:43PM

My mother died when I was due to fly with Easyjet. They were very kind and let me re-book flights at a later date. It is worth a call followed up by copy if death certificate. A big company showing compassion at times like this can mean a lot, i'm sorry for your news.

McKneff · 25 May 2015 at 5:59PM

Is it not possible to still go, is her condition likely to see her off in the next 3 weeks.
Even if she passes away while you are away, there really is noting you could do and rushing back whould be futile.

Just a thought.

tug · 28 July 2015 at 12:23AM

We had booked a flight to Mallorca in November for travel in April 2015. My mother in law became ill just before the holiday and we cancelled. She subsequently died in May.
I claimed on my multi trip travel insurance and received only £19 due to £100 excess for each of us. They advised me to claim the £26 APD tax from the airline, Jet2.
Jet2 sent me £1, saying they charged a £25 "admin fee".
So a total of £20 received on a loss of £260 seems a poor result!

mraardvark · 18 May 2017 at 9:43AM

My wife has just been diagnosed with cancer - we had three holidays booked prior to the devastating diagnosis - Beziers with Ryanair and AirBnB - got full refund from both. EasyJet and Booking .com to Sardinia - both say no refund - claim on your insurance. And New York at the end of August, with Virgin Atlantic, through Crystal Travel and accommodation through AirBnB. Got full refund from AirBnB but Crystal Travel and Virgin Atlantic say that as my wife is not currently in hospital they won't refund, even though we provided a written confirmation from the medical practitioner that she would be unable to travel, and we should claim on the insurance - no mention even of the refund of APD- totally callous or what!

PeacefulWaters · 18 May 2017 at 10:20AM

totally callous or what

I am really sorry to hear about your wife. I've spent the last six months knowing I've got cancer.

But a refund is what insurance is for. Not what "non-refundable" bookings are for.

Anything a firm gives you over and above nothing is generous.

There's also the other side of things. I'm a dead man walking. I can't get any insurance that will cover my cancer. But I'm booking flights and accommodation knowing this. My family don't expect refunds if something happens while I'm away.

leylandsunaddict · 18 May 2017 at 11:04AM

mraardvark wrote: »

totally callous or what!

No, just business. People cancelling for serious illness, deaths etc happens multiple times everyday. Business cannot afford to refund everyone that has non refundable rooms or flights tickets. If you want the luxury of having refundable ones then you need to book and pay for them accordingly. Businesses shouldn't have to refund non refundable purchases. They can offer a gesture of goodwill should they choose to, but you buy insurance to cover for the non refundable elements. That is who you need to claim from, and you just submit an APD claim to the airline.

I'm sorry about your wife. Cancer is the pits, and I'm sure most people have been touched by it at some point in time. I know I certainly have.

Holiday cancellation due to family illness

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