Lost Holiday Deposit

K81986

We booked a holiday to Bali (stopping off in KL on the way).
We booked the trip around 3 months before travelling and therefore the deposit was quite steep at around £2k.
The deposit included the full airfare (Flying with Malaysia Airlines) plus a deposit towards the hotel in KL and Bali.

A few days after booking, I found out I was pregnant.
Although this was great news, I soon discovered I could not go on the trip as I would need injections (yellow fever, Hep C and something else) + malaria tablets, all of which the doctor advised was not suitable in pregnancy and wrote a letter to that effect.
We have lost all of our £2k deposit, at obviously a very expensive time for us with a new baby on the way!


We have tried a number of ways to claim back the deposit including:
Travel insurance (I was advised I was not covered as it's personal choice not to go and 'pregnancy is not an illness')
Credit card (as we paid the deposit via the CC)
Pleading with the travel agent (Dial a flight)
Pleading with the airline - both via Dial a flight and directly

I have also queried any rights with citizens advice but seem to have ran out of all options!
All we have received back is the tax due on the flights of around £350!


If anyone has any advice, please let me know as we REALLY would like some money back or even credit towards a holiday when bambino arrives.

Caz3121

Normally travel insurance would be the place to claim from. If it is just the injections, is there anywhere you can fly onwards to from Bali that does not require the injections and then change the hotel?
If you are against travel altogether then a refund of the taxes is likely to be the only option unless you can get some goodwill

lovesgshp

Cannot see why the travel insurance is declining it, as it is on a doctors advice. But they have so much small print in their contracts, to get them out of anything they can.
Read the small print in detail on the insurance policy and perhaps persue it if you cannot find a disclaimer.

K81986

Caz3121 wrote: »

Normally travel insurance would be the place to claim from. If it is just the injections, is there anywhere you can fly onwards to from Bali that does not require the injections and then change the hotel?
If you are against travel altogether then a refund of the taxes is likely to be the only option unless you can get some goodwill

Thanks Caz3121.

We did look into changing the destination from Bali to somewhere 'safer' like Oz, therefore not needing the Jabs, however the cost of the holiday escalated so much that we had to take the tough decision to loose £2k or to spend closer to £6k to ensure we got to go away.
It was a tough one but we thought we couldn't justify spending yet more money, just not to loose any, when we had to buy everything needed for the new baby.

Totally gutted that we didn't get to go away (the holiday was scheduled at the beginning of Oct & I've been fighting to get some money back since).

It seems SO MEAN as we cancelled the trip within 7 days of booking and yet we have lost everything paid despite both the airline seats & hotel rooms being resold!

daveyjp

I would definately go back to the insurance company and begin a formal complaint.

We had a pay out when we cancelled in similar circumstances and our trips were to nowhere needing injections or malaria tablets. A doctor letter was enough for them to pay out.

photome

K81986 wrote: »

Thanks Caz3121.

We did look into changing the destination from Bali to somewhere 'safer' like Oz, therefore not needing the Jabs, however the cost of the holiday escalated so much that we had to take the tough decision to loose £2k or to spend closer to £6k to ensure we got to go away.
It was a tough one but we thought we couldn't justify spending yet more money, just not to loose any, when we had to buy everything needed for the new baby.

Totally gutted that we didn't get to go away (the holiday was scheduled at the beginning of Oct & I've been fighting to get some money back since).

It seems SO MEAN as we cancelled the trip within 7 days of booking and yet we have lost everything paid despite both the airline seats & hotel rooms being resold!

You don't know they were resold and even if they were they may have had to discount to do so.


I don't think any travel company would have treated you any differently and it seems it is to late to change any part of the holiday as it is in the past.


I didn't think many travel insurances included pregnancy as a reason to claim.


We had the same thing happen 19 years ago and we lost our deposit.

photome

daveyjp wrote: »

I would definately go back to the insurance company and begin a formal complaint.

We had a pay out when we cancelled in similar circumstances and our trips were to nowhere needing injections or malaria tablets. A doctor letter was enough for them to pay out.

If the insurance doesn't cover pregnancy what is there to complain about

littlereddevil

I think you were a bit hasty cancelling. Are you sure yellow fever was a necessity? And some places you wouldn't have needed the other jabs either.

lovesgshp

littlereddevil wrote: »

I think you were a bit hasty cancelling. Are you sure yellow fever was a necessity? And some places you wouldn't have needed the other jabs either.

The Yellow Fever one confused me also, as the OP was not travelling from a infected country. Hep C maybe required as also malaria tablets, as they are normally recommended in those areas.