cancelling a holiday

maxi14

:(Im very new to this forum but would really like some help. My son booked a weeks holiday to Dubai for himself & his partner using teletext. However due to circumstances both parties are unable to go & on trying to cancel the holiday expecting to lose the deposit, they were told that they will not get any refund on the £1400 paid on debit card. Is this legal? My son could go but hes unable to change the other ticket to another person or even sell them both on to another couple bcoz the company will not allow this. Is there anyway he can get most of his money back or do anything to be able to change names over. The holiday is booked for July 26th this year & time is running out.
They have offered him £129 refund, which is an insult considering what they have paid.
Any help would be greatly appreciated asap.
Thank you.

mum2one

as its in the 12 week period then he is lucky to get £129 refund, although I know its not an ideal situation.
The only way really would be a medical cncellation, but unless both parties were medically unable to travel then its really a case a of your son go, or they lose both your money.
So soory to be the bearer of bad news, x

Caz3121

I expect that the booking has been made up of scheduled flights that are not refundable so all that could come back from that is the taxes (less any admin fee)
The hotel cancellation will be dependent on the ts&cs
Will their travel insurance cover the reason for cancellation, if so, they would get the £129 back and claim the remainder from the insurance

Which airline are they booked on?

maxi14

Thank you both for your prompt replies, my sons girlfriend is unable to go because of medical reasons, but they have still refused to transfer her name,( even though she has a medical paper) for another person to take her place. They had booked with Mediatravel on teletext & flying with Swissair. I believe if he had booked using a credit card he would not have lost as much!!

Incapuppy

If she has to cancel for medical reasons then this should be covered by your son and his girlfriend both having appropriate travel insurance (unless the condition was pre-existing and she did not declare it)

Paying by credit card would make absolutely no difference to the situation.

mum2one

If your sons gf has a medical certificate would she not be able to make a claim in her travel ins, although the only thing is then would only pay her half of the holiday, (had that before when I needed to cancel a holiday had half back as they said the other party could still travel).

Even if he had paid by credit card he would still be in the same boat, if the company had gone bust then the credit card would be equally liable as any travel ins.
x

Incapuppy

mum2one wrote: »

If your sons gf has a medical certificate would she not be able to make a claim in her travel ins, although the only thing is then would only pay her half of the holiday, (had that before when I needed to cancel a holiday had half back as they said the other party could still travel).

As an aside for the future; this situation can be avoided by taking out appropriate travel insurance.

maxi14

Well thank you all for your advice, I guess he will learn from this experience.

Incapuppy

Do neither of them have the appropriate travel insurance to cover this then?

Might they have travel insurance automatically included with a bank account or credit card that they were unaware of?

luci

Insurance normally covers both parties if a travelling companion is unable to travel for an insurable reason, assuming they did both have insurance.