Help with my holiday to Thailand since FCO advice please.

statusquo1

Hi all,

My wife and i are due to fly to Koh Samui , Thailand on the 10th May, but in light of the FCO advising against all but essential travel to the whole of Thailand we don;t know if we are going to be able to go.
I booked the trip from travelbag.co.uk in July 2009 and have paid in full.
What are my rights with regards to refunds. It is a tailormade holiday with flights (Etihad) 14 nights accomadation and transfers included.
Hopefully the FCO will change their advise and we will be able to travel but i think nothing will change and want to know where i stand legally before i contact travelbag.
Sorry for waffling but we really needed this holiday and want to rebook somewhere else if we can't go to Thailand, but need our money back first.

Thanks in advance,

Col.

norangeduck

I don't have any advice, but I also hope they will change their mind - i fly on 24th June - so have more time than you - but what I hear is that if you avoid the areas where the protests are happening you proberbly wont even know what is going on - of course, with the FCO advising against travel - you wont be able to get any travel insurance - which will be a problem -

What im considering doing if it all continues is to keep my flights but fly out again to a neighbouring country.

Best of luck - hope it all settles down

BritRael

If you're flying into BKK and straight on to Samui you will probably know nothing of the unrest in BKK. However, if you watch Sky or CNN you'll probably now be thinking that WW3 is about to start (which is exactly what they are hoping for). There is a heavy police presence (just as there is in London when we have demos) in case of trouble, but for the most part these are very peaceful protestors. They are also in isolated areas (which are easy to avoid); and it certainly is not effecting 'the whole of BKK' as is being reported.

For current info take a look at this site:-

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1898657&start=135

It's great for tourism in general but in this tense time you'll be able to get more accurate info than in the media.

If you decide to travel, have a great time

wac

Good Morning

I have a holiday booked to Phuket via Bangkok flying out on 5/6..
I spoke to Travel Bag and they are just saying wait to closer to the date.
They will then either offer a refund or an alternative break.
My main concern of travelling would be the insurance being void
dont fancy travelling halfway across the globe without any...

statusquo1

Thanks everyone. Will i get a full refund though or just the flights then have to claim off insurance for my accomadation?

I know in Koh Samui it is buisness as usual, thats why its so annoying but because my ins. will be void i daren't travel.

Voyager2002

I am sure that some kind of insurance will be available. After all, journalists and aid workers are there, and are almost certainly insured against most perils.

The point is, on-line search engines will be useless and so you will need to speak with brokers or whatever and be aware of any exclusions that might affect you.

Alan_Bowen

Most straight forward travel policies will be void if you travel against FCO advice. Of course the BBC has insured their journalists but a cost of thousands of pounds a year. Frankly the FCO changed the advice last week to cover the whole of the country rather than just the capital because they believe there are genuine risks in travelling there, not least the strong possibility the airport will close and you will trapped and unable to get back, and no possible insurance claim.

What you get back depends on what you booked, if it was a proper package, you get a full refund of everything, if you bought in parts, you may have real problems getting a full refund. Hotels that are still open are entitled to say they are ready to greet you and will charge cancellation fees, although hopefully only one night if booked direct with the hotel. Talk to your agent and find out where you stand as soon as possible

Heliflyguy

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

not least the strong possibility the airport will close and you will trapped and unable to get back, and no possible insurance claim.

There you go again, what do you base this assumption on (as its nothing more) that the airport will be closed and if that is the case why are TUI moving travellers to Phukett and why are other countries advising only to reconsider.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2437823

venus1978

I'm due to fly on the 29th May to Bkk we were then going to head down to Hua Hin a Beach resort and then back to BKK for the last 4 night. I don't know what to do if the FCO advice is still in place I'm sorely tempted to still go but will depend I suppose if the troubles have spread out of BKK. Obviously I wouldn't head into BKK for the last four nights.

Quentin

Heliflyguy wrote: »

why are TUI moving travellers to Phukett ....

TUI are actually evacuating all UK customers from Thailand:

Europe’s largest tour operator, TUI, is evacuating all its clients from Thailand on the basis of an advisory issued by the UK”s Federation of Tour Operators.

http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2010/04/tui-orders-evacuation-of-bkk-guests/

venus1978

And other reports seem to think the FCO advice for the whole of Thailand is unecessary

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1270018/Bangkok-protests-Thailand-tourism-chiefs-FCOs-travel-ban-unecessary.html?ito=feeds-newsxml