Changing holiday with Thomas Cook-Egypt

flight1

Hi,
I had booked a holiday with Thomas Cook to Egypt,Sharm for October and am now thinking of changing due to the troubles. I know Brits are being told it is safe to travel but USA is advising no travel, so feeling increasingly uneasy about it. My questions are will Thomas Cook allow us to change and at what cost and does the new holiday have to be equal or greater in price paid? I have paid in full as travel was for 3rd October. Looking at Canaries now,
Any help would be appreciated,

Obviously_the_best

Thomas Cook would be well within their rights to say no refunds, and that's that. I'd be very surprised if they didn't.

wkt54

I go every year to Sharm in January for 2 months.

I was there during all the revolution 2 years ago when Cairo , Alexandria etc were rioting.

I didn't see any trouble in Sharm.

I have booked again for this winter, and was having doubts.

But I think I will still go. No matter what happens in Cairo etc does not seem to affect Sharm or Hurgada.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

If you do I will not go!

stephb34

gill_murray wrote: »

Hi,
I had booked a holiday with Thomas Cook to Egypt,Sharm for October and am now thinking of changing due to the troubles. I know Brits are being told it is safe to travel but USA is advising no travel, so feeling increasingly uneasy about it. My questions are will Thomas Cook allow us to change and at what cost and does the new holiday have to be equal or greater in price paid? I have paid in full as travel was for 3rd October. Looking at Canaries now,
Any help would be appreciated,

Hi this is hypothetical because I don't know all the details, but if its an actual Thomas cook package although you've paid in full it doesn't go into cancellation until 30th july (10 weeks before), but I presume your deposit was £199 each so quite a big loss. The other options are to change it to something else with TC, if the new holiday is a lot more expensive they may waive the fees if not the full terms and conditions come into play, which off the top of my head are £50 per person per change ie £50 per destination, airport, hotel, date which will soon rack up to the cost of your deposit. Plus its highly unlikely TC will make it easy for you because they will make a loss on these hols if people don't go to Egypt and also the trouble is a long way from the red sea areas. You wouldn't expect the foreign office to say you can't travel to Scotland if there's rioting in London would you? If its not a TC package then forget the advice above

Clairewell

Hi, I have a company that rents out holiday homes in the Hurghada area of Egypt, and there are no problems at present in that area, there is the odd petrol shortage now and again, but that's not too unusual for Egypt. None of my guests have cancelled that are due to travel in the next 3 months. Hope that reassures you a little.

peachyprice

OP, travel agents are usually quite good at changing holidays to a different destination for a small charge as long as it's in the same holiday season, but you'll have to be quick about it before you get into the cancellation period.

It doesn't matter what other people think is going to happen in Egypt and how safe they think Sharm is, it's how you feel that matters. You should be looking forward to your holiday, not dreading reading the news about it every day and just hoping things don't get bad in Sharm.

Call Thomas Cook today and see what they offer.

flight1

Went to Thomas Cook this morning and they were really good. Option to change and if done in the next week only £50 total fee if holiday is less and no fee if greater in price. Have been to Sharm before and was really looking forward to it but as previous poster states I want to look forward to my holiday not fearing, so feel happier to change. Am going back this afternoon and then I can relax.

peachyprice

Excellent, hope you enjoy your new holiday

Gavin83

I honestly wouldn't worry about it. Sharm may as well not even be part of Egypt, it's like a completely different country. It's quite far removed both geographically and politically from the mainland and honestly pretty Western influenced.

However I guess at the end of the day the most important thing about a holiday is that you enjoy it and if your someone who worries then it's probably best going elsewhere.

mick_vandick

The situation between the US and Egypt is different to that of our countries. For a couple of years now some Egyptians have see Americans as spies and unfortunately this seems to have lead to the death of a couple of US citizens in Egypt. Of course, not all Egyptian see it this way.
It was not long after the latest death of a US citizen that the advice not to travel was issued and had this not have happened then maybe they would not be advising against it. Who knows.
It's worth pointing out that this happened in Alexandria which is far from the Red Sea resorts, even further than Cairo.
If you don't feel happy about travelling then of course, change it. I'm guessing like most of us you don't have dozens of holidays a year and so it is important to enjoy it. Personally i would go and am indeed going in October.
I just wanted to get some perspective on what's happening though and say the US advice isn't relevant to GB citizens. Also i would say that if our Foreign Office had any doubts, they would up their advice immediately.

flight1

Holiday now changed to Gran Canaria at a cost of £50.
As stated like Egypt and do hope to return in the future if trouble settles.