Temporary board for Covid-19 travel disruption discussions

Former_MSE_Tine

This is a temporary board for discussions specifically relating to travel disruption caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. Please refer to our regularly updated guides:

• Coronavirus Travel Rights
• Covid tests for overseas travel

MSE Tine

Onoodles

We are due to travel to NY this Friday 20th, travelling economy lite Virgin Atlantic. We were to stay with friends on arrival and booked directly with Virgin online. I tend to buy travel insurance just before travelling (will not be doing this again so none in place when US and FCO made their announcements!). Obviously we can no longer travel but unfortunately both flights still seem to be running still. Does anyone know whether Virgin will give a refund, or even partial refund etc (flights were £600 return total?) Given our health vulnerabilities and all the unknowns with coronavirus it would be impossible to plan way ahead in terms of changing dates. Any advise would be gratefully received as it is impossible to get through to Virgin, They have not contacted us and our flight is in 48hrs.

Welshy01

Last year we paid the deposit to Tui for a holiday to Rhodes in July this year, we’re due to pay the balance in 3 weeks, should I still pay it ?

Vezzman

I would be grateful if anyone could offer advice on our predicament, which in the maelstrom of the current crisis is small change. We had booked a chalet based holiday with a small family run business in France for 8th -18th April. We were informed on Saturday that this was 'cancelled' in effect when the French Government and the Ski area authorities closed the resorts. It perhaps would have been possible to still use the chalet as a base for other activities, but this has been removed as an option with the French/Swiss Gov't closure of borders. The Chalet owners contacted us to inform us the resort was closing and offered to send a receipt so we could claim the money back from our insurers. They were intending to keep the entire fee for the holiday (£3500) even though neither we nor they had been responsible for the cancellation. We had not managed to renew our annual travel policy but it would not have paid out in these circumstances i fear. Do the chalet owners have the right to keep the money even though they have not provided any services? We offered a compromise where they kept our money as payment for an equivalent holiday next year, but have as yet received no response. Any info or advice from experienced travellers welcome whilst also acknowledging that we should have obtained adequate insurance.

MikeC1

Secret Escapes have said the UK hotel we booked through them is closing due to Covid 19 and the booking is non refundable for cancellations so advised us we can try to re-book via them for future dates but no guarantee.
I thought the non refundable reference related to the customer cancelling not the hotel but as we paid via Secret Escapes not direct to the hotel I presume I can't claim via my credit card so not sure what my rights are ..any help would be much appreciated.

MikeBrad

We are booked on a package holiday to Jersey, flying next week from Bristol. The latest government advice is to avoid all but essential travel overseas. Does anyone know if “overseas” includes Jersey and the Channel Islands? Obviously it’s “over a sea” but it’s not “abroad” as such?

valsin

How do I see the replies ton these posts as I am in similar situation

fussypensioner

Welshy01 said:

Last year we paid the deposit to Tui for a holiday to Rhodes in July this year, we’re due to pay the balance in 3 weeks, should I still pay it ?

Our balance for a holiday to Canada starting on June 3rd was due this week. We contacted the company and have moved the holiday to September 3rd so the new balance isn't due till August. If they have to cancel the holiday,  we should get a full refund. If you contact Tui  perhaps they will allow you to change your holiday to later this year or early next year as we have done. Failing that, if its cancelled you should be covered.
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/my-package-holiday-has-been-changed-or-cancelled

dgdgdgdgdg

Classic Holidays have refused to refund my package holiday to Egypt on 10th April. They say that all refunds have been suspended while ABTA are in discussion with the government to change the current legislation regarding refunds. The terms and conditions of my booking clearly state that FCO advice will be followed and I will be given a refund but now when they have to pay out, ABTA guarantees are worthless. Apparently it's "unfair" on UK tour operators because they won't get refunds from the foreign tour operators they have booked with. Has anyone else heard this?

fussypensioner

MikeBrad said:

We are booked on a package holiday to Jersey, flying next week from Bristol. The latest government advice is to avoid all but essential travel overseas. Does anyone know if “overseas” includes Jersey and the Channel Islands? Obviously it’s “over a sea” but it’s not “abroad” as such?

https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2020-03-20/all-travellers-to-jersey-must-self-isolate-for-14-days/

[Deleted User]

Hi all, I flew back from Cyprus last week and my return flight was delayed by 14 hours. I contacted TUI about claiming compensation and received the following response: 

Thank you for taking the time to get in touch with us regarding your flight delay claim for flight TOM4775 on 15/03/2020 from PFO to LGW.

I appreciate that delays can impact your enjoyment and comfort whilst travelling with us. I would like to reassure you that while we try our very best to ensure we get you on holiday and home again as close to your original planned times as possible, despite our best efforts, delays can happen on occasion.

European Regulation EC 261/2004 states that we as the Airline may have to pay compensation to you when you experience a long delay of over 3 hours on arrival, but only if the delay wasn’t caused by ‘extraordinary circumstances’. We have investigated your claim for your flight delay of 13 hours and 36 minutes and our delay handling logs show that your flight was delayed due to heavy ATC regulations on the previous rotation causing the aircraft to night stop. Unfortunately, this caused a knock on delay to your flight. So as to help both customers and airlines, the European Commission has recently published draft guidelines as to what amounts to extraordinary circumstances. This list was prepared with the assistance of the various national bodies responsible for regulating the aviation industry across Europe. In this draft, the Commission has intimated that the following would be considered extraordinary circumstances: 30. Air Traffic Management “Where Air Traffic Control suspends or restricts operations into or out of a block of air-space through which the air carrier must travel in order to operate the flight.” An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the delay is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Having investigated into the reasons for the delay to your flight, I can confirm that the circumstances surrounding the delay to your flight are classified as extraordinary circumstances under Regulation 261/2004 of the European Union.

I have doubts that TUI took "all reasonable measures" to avoid this delay, so I would be interested on an experts opinion on 1) whether TUI likely took all reasonable measures and 2) if there is anyway that I can progress this. Many thanks in advance!