dispute over cancelled holiday

stationaryace

Smiley82 wrote: »

Out of interest - why does everyone keep saying that the OP's daughter could have lost her holiday?

If one passenger decides not to travel, providing it's all paid for, and not cancelled by the person pulling out, then can't the remaining passenger just continue with the trip, albeit by themselves? Providing the accommodation etc is paid for already, why would the hotel care?

because most 19 year olds who plan to go away on holiday with a friend aren't going to want to go away on their own. i know a few exceptions, but mostly going away with friends=fun, going away on your own=scary (especially when you only have 5 minutes to decide if a week abroad by yourself will be fun or lonely/bore you senseless).

Mark_Hewitt

stationaryace wrote: »

because most 19 year olds who plan to go away on holiday with a friend aren't going to want to go away on their own. i know a few exceptions, but mostly going away with friends=fun, going away on your own=scary (especially when you only have 5 minutes to decide if a week abroad by yourself will be fun or lonely/bore you senseless).

Absoultely. I have a friend who does quite happily go all over the world on his own and enjoys it. But most people are not like that. I would certainly not wish to go on holiday by myself and I'd expect the majority share that view.

So if she is saying "well you should have gone on your own", that is not reasonable. Nor is requiring her not to go on the holiday either.

She took the best course of action in taking someone else.

Plus it's not as if her sister had a "free" holiday. Expenses while you are away are significant.

Smiley82

Okay, fair points....thanks for explaining

I thought people were saying that she would have 'lost' her holiday - i.e. she wouldn't have been able to go.

Completely understand her wanting to go with someone, it's always nicer to share a holiday with a friend, and being left in the lurch at the last minute is definately not a true friend!

old_motters

eevie wrote: »

My biggest problem is she says her insurance said it won't pay beacuse someone took her place and she did say that the doctor thinks she may have glandular fever. She did not say she got a doctors certificate to say she was unfit to travel, I don't know if she has or hasn't. Would she be able to get one hours or a day or two after the event or later on say it is confirmed that she had glandular fever (does glandular fever automatically prevent you from travelling?), or do you have to be physically unable to travel at the time ie 6.15 on wed Morning? She did not ask to seek medical attention and as mentioned her parent did not attend straight away. She did say on the morning that she had been unwell for a while and was intending to go for tests. TBH i also think she is a bit of a fibber which does not help the situation.

Would her insurance company discuss paying out if she could not recover the money?

If she chose the legal route would she sue the lead booker or the person who took her place?

Many thanks for all of the replies

Feeling unwell for all of 6 hours when she asked friends for Festival tickets :rolleyes:

If she was genuinely ill and could get a doctors note to prove it, I think she may still have a valid claim for the insurance. It shouldn't matter that a sister of a friend took her place as long as no money changed hands. Also, do you have any evidence she actually spoke to the insurance company?

I don't believe it's your job to give the girl a life lesson but I do think you should stand your ground. She was going to leave your daughter to travel alone or not at all... I would be enraged if someone did that to my family.

greenface

Ask her what would she do if your daughter would have pulled out >
Would she give your daughter a full refund if she chose not to go if she couldnt find anyone else to travel>
She is totally unfair and no real mate if she can do this to her friends
interesting one this
just for info was this a flight abroard holiday (probably is ) just often other things can be issue Passport /criminal record/ fear of flying etc.

Mark_Hewitt

It does seem to be quite a common occurence, with a few instances of this appearing on the forums over the past few weeks.

i.e. Friend A books and pays for holiday on behalf of themselves and Friend B.

Friend B decides at the last minute that they don't want to go after all and expects Friend A to give them their money back, even though there is no way they can get it. Usually accompanied by Friend B saying that they could fraudulently claim on the travel insurance.

berec1

About to leave for a trip myself, just noticed this - if you have access to her facebook page can I suggest that you take some screenshots now of her posts about the festival and her activities since yesterday? They're all too easy to delete once you tell her that you've seen the posts - so by getting shots of the posts now you have the backup if a dispute does blow up after the holiday and she's conveniently removed all mention of wanting festival tickets by then.

Et voila, useful documentation if she does start talking about fraudulent insurance claims, small claims court, involving her parents or anything else.

Easiest way to do a screenshot is to press the Print Screen button on your keyboard when the facebook page is showing on your computer screen, then open MS Word, change page setup to "landscape" (shows the page better) and then (i) right click and select Paste or (ii) select Edit from the menu at the top of the page and select Paste on that drop down menu, that should paste the screen onto the Word document. Do as many screenshots as you need, then save the document. Others may have better suggestions if my methods don't work on your computer..

Hope your daughters have a lovely holiday.

eevie

I suggest that you take some screenshots now of her posts about the festival and her activities since yesterday? They're all too easy to delete once

Thanks for the warning
When she telephoned yesterday I was quite annoyed at her and very stupidly did mention the facebook thing, and yes you are right she has now deleted them. But fortunately I did have them screen printed and I have even printed them in case my computer packs up!

ifonlyitwaseasier

eevie - i'd suggest asking a travel agent the "hypothetical" question that if someone was "unwell" on the morning of a flight and couldn't go would they get a refund, as we pretty much can guess the answer when she asks again tell her the answer and that she should look on it as a lesson learnt (ie not to mess her friends about)

i hope your daughters are having a great time!

Smiley82

eevie wrote: »

Thanks for the warning
When she telephoned yesterday I was quite annoyed at her and very stupidly did mention the facebook thing, and yes you are right she has now deleted them. But fortunately I did have them screen printed and I have even printed them in case my computer packs up!

Smart thinking, well done!