Coronavirus travel disruption - latest info and your rights

Westin

Have you asked your travel agent to speak to USAirtours and to make your request for a cash refund this time around? USAirtours is a reputable tour operator and an ABTA member so should play by the rules on Refund Credit Notes.

Assuming you were due to travel before 16 May and the tour operator has cancelled, rather than post 17 May and you not wishing to travel? 

Thrugelmir

Seems clear enough

"Policy Updated 07/05/20 14:15

If you are a customer who has booked a USAirtours holiday through your travel agent, we act as your Tour Operator and have a contract directly with you to provide your holiday as detailed in our booking confirmation and in accordance with our booking conditions that are available to view on this website.

We are monitoring the situation daily and cancelling bookings on a rolling 7 day basis. Where customers have not been able to travel up until our rolling cancellation, we are responsible through your agent to offer an alternative holiday or provide a full refund.

Please note that as your contract is with USAirtours, your travel agent is not responsible for providing you with a refund until they have received it from us, your Tour Operator.

In normal trading conditions we would receive funds back from our suppliers promptly and that would enable us to process refunds efficiently within 14 days, as required by the Package Travel Regulations.

However, this unprecedented situation has caused a huge volume of refund requests to suppliers including airlines, hotels, car rental companies and cruise lines and so this has caused a significant backlog.

We are ABTA members and hold an ATOL licence 3085 that provides customers with full financial protection, but as a small independent Tour Operator, we are not able to refund you through your travel agent until we have received the funds back from our suppliers.

As a consequence, we are issuing Refund Credit Notes in accordance with ABTA’s guidelines and further information can be found on their website  abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak.

This Refund Credit Note is valid for you to book the same or similar holiday with us through your travel agent by 31st March 2021 for travel by 31st December 2022. 

If you choose the accept a Refund Credit Note it is financially protected under the ATOL scheme and if you later change your mind, we will convert the Refund Credit Note into a cash refund."

CKhalvashi

Thrugelmir said:

Seems clear enough

"Policy Updated 07/05/20 14:15

If you are a customer who has booked a USAirtours holiday through your travel agent, we act as your Tour Operator and have a contract directly with you to provide your holiday as detailed in our booking confirmation and in accordance with our booking conditions that are available to view on this website.

We are monitoring the situation daily and cancelling bookings on a rolling 7 day basis. Where customers have not been able to travel up until our rolling cancellation, we are responsible through your agent to offer an alternative holiday or provide a full refund.

Please note that as your contract is with USAirtours, your travel agent is not responsible for providing you with a refund until they have received it from us, your Tour Operator.

In normal trading conditions we would receive funds back from our suppliers promptly and that would enable us to process refunds efficiently within 14 days, as required by the Package Travel Regulations.

However, this unprecedented situation has caused a huge volume of refund requests to suppliers including airlines, hotels, car rental companies and cruise lines and so this has caused a significant backlog.

We are ABTA members and hold an ATOL licence 3085 that provides customers with full financial protection, but as a small independent Tour Operator, we are not able to refund you through your travel agent until we have received the funds back from our suppliers.

As a consequence, we are issuing Refund Credit Notes in accordance with ABTA’s guidelines and further information can be found on their website  abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak.

This Refund Credit Note is valid for you to book the same or similar holiday with us through your travel agent by 31st March 2021 for travel by 31st December 2022. 

If you choose the accept a Refund Credit Note it is financially protected under the ATOL scheme and if you later change your mind, we will convert the Refund Credit Note into a cash refund."

The first paragraph I've highlighted is not correct, nor is it the issue of OP.

The second paragraph I've highlighted is not OP's issue legally (although at the moment may very much be financially). There is no reason why they can't pay the money out while waiting for settlement from their suppliers.

The third paragraph is correct, however is irrelevant here. OP has the right to a full refund within 14 days. OP, was this paid with a Credit Card?

Rebeccarussell94

I’ve been thinking about booking a holiday and looking into what will be required for travelling internationally when we officially can. We have moved our last years holiday to October but are now considering somewhere is the summer holidays, as many people probably are too. We are currently looking at Mediterranean or Caribbean holidays. At the moment most international countries are saying they will require a negative covid test to enter and England currently say that you need 2 covid tests upon arrival on day 2 and day 8. However, the cost of the tests are around £100 each. So a family of 4 are looking at spending approximately £1200 (3 tests each at £100 x4) on testing alone. Do you know if I’m just making numbers up or this is likely to be the case over the coming months once the restrictions have been eased? 

Pollycat

Rebeccarussell94 said:

I’ve been thinking about booking a holiday and looking into what will be required for travelling internationally when we officially can. We have moved our last years holiday to October but are now considering somewhere is the summer holidays, as many people probably are too. We are currently looking at Mediterranean or Caribbean holidays. At the moment most international countries are saying they will require a negative covid test to enter and England currently say that you need 2 covid tests upon arrival on day 2 and day 8. However, the cost of the tests are around £100 each. So a family of 4 are looking at spending approximately £1200 (3 tests each at £100 x4) on testing alone. Do you know if I’m just making numbers up or this is likely to be the case over the coming months once the restrictions have been eased? 

Opinions on your thread here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6251256/looking-forward-to-travel-but-what-about-costs-of-covid-tests#latest

Rickk

Well after getting in touch with the caa about not getting a refund on my flights.they said love holidays is at fault they should refund me.got in touch with them and they said that they aren't liable for any refunds and that it states that in the small print.couldn't get any insurance at the time because of covid.not sure what else to try now and still £1200 out of pocket.anybody else in the same boat as us?

eskbanker

Rickk said:

Well after getting in touch with the caa about not getting a refund on my flights.they said love holidays is at fault they should refund me.got in touch with them and they said that they aren't liable for any refunds and that it states that in the small print.couldn't get any insurance at the time because of covid.not sure what else to try now and still £1200 out of pocket.anybody else in the same boat as us?

What exactly were Loveholidays referring to when "they said that they aren't liable for any refunds and that it states that in the small print"?

One of your previous posts suggested that you'd booked a Loveholidays package and they cancelled it, so if this is the case then your claim is against LH, not the airline or your insurer, so the CAA are right.  Loveholidays were resisting refunds but eventually committed to paying them, so if you booked a package with them but weren't able to secure a refund when they cancelled it then issue a Letter Before Action prior to a Moneyclaim....

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/loveholidays-to-refund-over-18-million-for-cancelled-holidays

Rickk

They issued a refund for the hotel with no problem and there policy is refund the flight money when they get it back off the airline.As the airline (ryanair) didn't cancel the flights,love holidays says it won't pay out.

eskbanker

Rickk said:

They issued a refund for the hotel with no problem and there policy is refund the flight money when they get it back off the airline.As the airline (ryanair) didn't cancel the flights,love holidays says it won't pay out.

But package bookings are subject to the Package Travel Regulations, which oblige a package provider to refund the whole package cost within 14 days if they've cancelled the holiday, whether or not they've been reimbursed by one of their suppliers (their problem, not yours).

They can say what they like in their Ts & Cs but can't override your statutory rights, so any attempt to link refunding you with them being reimbursed by Ryanair is unlawful....

CKhalvashi

Rickk said:

They issued a refund for the hotel with no problem and there policy is refund the flight money when they get it back off the airline.As the airline (ryanair) didn't cancel the flights,love holidays says it won't pay out.

The package was booked as a package though, so this is not your problem.

You should not be chasing Ryanair, LH should. They have legal obligations under the Package Travel Directive.