Inghams Austrian holiday in July - Should we pay the balance?

Geoff_W

We are booked with Inghams to go to Austria at the beginning of July. We are a party of 5, including 3 relations coming from Australia. The Australians have already decided they won't be coming as they can cancel their Emirates international flights without penalty. We paid the deposit for the whole holiday on our UK credit card (£750) and the balance is due at the end of April (over £4,000). We could cancel now and lose our deposit, or pay the balance and risk losing over £4,000 if, closer to the date, things have changed and Inghams say we must travel. Also, Inghams might go bust.

What would readers do under these circumstances?

bradders1983

Is your holiday ATOL protected? If so, you need to pay the balance and then you will get the money back later if it is cancelled.

Geoff_W

Yes, it is Atol protected. My problem is that if I pay the balance and the holiday is able to go ahead, the Australian contingent aren't coming anyway, so we wouldn't want to go. Then we would lose a lot more money by having to cancel later. The only scenario which works for us is if the Corona 19 situation continues long enough, we would be able to cancel without any penalty. 
My preference at the moment is to wait until close to the date when we need to pay the balance and then cancel and take the  £750 hit.

[Deleted User]

If you definitely don't want to go, then cancel before you need to pay the balance, unless you're absolutely certain that Austria will be closed for business.