Advise Please re Changing Holiday due to COVID

Nickinok75

Hi 
I had a girls trip booked for 8 of us to go to Benidorm, due to fly 6th July just for 2 nights, booked through on the beach.
With the air bridges opening and Easyjet flying the flight isn't cancelled, but we will not be able to go, due to some people shielding, some just going back to work after being furloughed etc.
We are happy to move the holiday, but have been advised that moving to May 2021 would be an increase of cost of £435. Putting the total cost of flights for all 8 of us to £1662.
When i check EasyJets website the cost of the new flights are £857.84, so that will mean with the extra charge we have paid £804 more than the asking price of the new flights.
Do we have any rights here, we are not looking for a refund on the original amount paid, just wonder if the extra charge is invalid? We have been told their is a £20 admin fee, which we are happy to pay.
We have tried to call On the Beach and Easyjet to discuss with no avail.
Thanks in advance

elsien

Would the people who are going back to work not have had leave booked for those dates anyway so in theory they should still be free to go?  If the flights and hotel are open and the air bridges in place, the people shielding may have cause not to go but for the rest of you it's going to be disinclination to travel.

Which isn't refundable/swappable if you booked a non-refundable deal unless the parties concerned wish to offer a goodwill gesture. I know you're not looking for a refund but the same would still apply to a change of dates.

eskbanker

Unfortunately this is essentially treated as disinclination to travel, i.e. your choice not to fly, so there's no obligation on the provider to accept changes, other than via its normal policies and fees.

The money you've already paid is a sunk cost, so you'd be best looking at this from the perspective that to get on the new flights you can either pay £435 to change the old ones or £857.84 to buy from scratch, although going down the latter route you may be able to recoup the government taxes, less an admin charge, from the original booking.

grawiz

Hi, not sure where to put this question: I'd booked an easyjet flight to Portugal for July 26th for my daughter to join a holiday with her friend's family. They've cancelled, and her flight has now been "changed" according to the latest email, but easyjet have cancelled the flight and put her on one two hours and five minutes earlier.The flight number is currently the same, but the earlier flight was always on their schedule, so they must technically have just cancelled the flight we'd booked. Is there any chance I could claim a refund? How can I establish her original flight is actually cancelled, and not just changed time of departure? Easyjet just show lots of flights as "sold out", but say that shows they are sold out or "may not be operating.Thanks for any advice.

Nickinok75

Thank you for your responses, we have literally had an email from On the Beach to say the holiday has been cancelled due to the FCO not changing their advice. Thanks again