Unwanted holiday reinstated.

jayn_wright

Following FCO advice I cancelled my last-minute.com package holiday and they sent me an email quote of a refund amount (almost half the cost!) saying I had 24 hours to accept it. 
Bearing in mind that this was at 22.08 I spent most of the following day (yesterday) trying to get in touch with them and my insurance company to try to sort it out.
This morning I logged on to my last-minute account to find that my holiday has not been cancelled/has been reinstated. 
Should I re-cancel it? I've just hung on the phone to them for 1hr 6minutes then they disconnected.

[Deleted User]

Hi Jayn,  You don't say when you are due to travel so am assuming the normal t's and c's will stand if you cancel.   If you are absolutely certain you wish to cancel you should be able to do this on the 'my account' section.    Just be sure you want to cancel and lose half the cost as things change constantly and the holiday may be cancelled or FCO advice lifted?   Depending on what is happening at the time of travel you may be able to get a refund or rebook?   All a gamble though as nobody knows!

jayn_wright

I'm due to travel on Tuesday!

Thrugelmir

jayn_wright said:

Bearing in mind that this was at 22.08 I spent most of the following day (yesterday) trying to get in touch with them and my insurance company to try to sort it out.

To sort what out? Either you wished to cancel or you didn't. 

jayn_wright

The email I received back from last-minute said I had to telephone to confirm that I wanted to cancel. 
After being on hold for over an hour (then getting cut off) I emailed to confirm instead.
I then received 3 further emails with different refund amounts ranging from the £950 initial offer down to nothing.
I finally got through to last-minute yesterday evening and was told I now have to wait for another email with a final offer. I am pretty sure that, as I am due to fly in 2 days, they will now say I am too late to claim anything.

[Deleted User]

I suspect you are right jayn BUT you have the original email quoting the figure of almost half.   You may have to be persistent and be prepared to do battle, but owing to the fact you couldn't get through on the phone (and they must know how difficult it is)  you should be refunded the agreed amount.   Almost every on-line travel agent is virtually impossible to contact by phone. 

Have you checked your insurance to see what they cover you for?   Might be worth taking a look into that and hope it covers you for FCO advice.    I take it you are going to Spain?    Of course, the other alternative is you go!   But then you would have to self isolate for 14 days on your return.    Good luck.

Butts

Surely if he's got a Package Holiday (Single Contract) booked through LM.com the fact the Foreign Office advice for all but essential travel to his destination is enough to warrant a full Refund if he decides to cancel.

That's the information given on this website in relation to The Package Travel Regulations falling into the category of an "extraordinary circumstance" and backed up by ABTA.

Just click on the Luxembourg header at the top of the page it's all there in Black and White with all the various cancellation scenarios.

eskbanker

Butts said:

Surely if he's got a Package Holiday (Single Contract) booked through LM.com the fact the Foreign Office advice for all but essential travel to his destination is enough to warrant a full Refund if he decides to cancel.

That's the information given on this website in relation to The Package Travel Regulations falling into the category of an "extraordinary circumstance" and backed up by ABTA.

Just click on the Luxembourg header at the top of the page it's all there in Black and White with all the various cancellation scenarios.

I'm not convinced it's quite as black and white as you suggest - the wording of the relevant regulation (12) within the PTRs is:

(7) Notwithstanding paragraphs (2) to (6), in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the place of destination or its immediate vicinity and which significantly affect —

(a) the performance of the package, or

(b) the carriage of passengers to the destination,

the traveller may terminate the package travel contract before the start of the package without paying any termination fee.

(8) Where the package travel contract is terminated under paragraph (7), the traveller is entitled to a full refund of any payments made for the package but is not entitled to additional compensation.

MSE's take on this reflects the need for the significant change:

With package holidays, under the Package Travel Regulations you SHOULD be able to get a refund within 14 days even if the trip's not been cancelled.

The rules state if "unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances" occur which "significantly affect the performance of the package", you're due a full refund if YOU cancel. And while they don't specifically state that an FCO warning would count as one of these circumstances – though they do give as an example "the outbreak of a serious disease at the travel destination" – in practice travel trade body ABTA says firms MUST refund you if the FCO warns against travel and you can't be given a holiday without "significant change".

So you should be able to get a full refund, but always check first with the firm before you cancel.

The way I read that (with the use of 'and') is that the FCO advice itself isn't considered a significant change, but I can't find the ABTA statement referred to.

Butts

eskbanker said:

Butts said:

Surely if he's got a Package Holiday (Single Contract) booked through LM.com the fact the Foreign Office advice for all but essential travel to his destination is enough to warrant a full Refund if he decides to cancel.

That's the information given on this website in relation to The Package Travel Regulations falling into the category of an "extraordinary circumstance" and backed up by ABTA.

Just click on the Luxembourg header at the top of the page it's all there in Black and White with all the various cancellation scenarios.

I'm not convinced it's quite as black and white as you suggest - the wording of the relevant regulation (12) within the PTRs is:

(7) Notwithstanding paragraphs (2) to (6), in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the place of destination or its immediate vicinity and which significantly affect —

(a) the performance of the package, or

(b) the carriage of passengers to the destination,

the traveller may terminate the package travel contract before the start of the package without paying any termination fee.

(8) Where the package travel contract is terminated under paragraph (7), the traveller is entitled to a full refund of any payments made for the package but is not entitled to additional compensation.

MSE's take on this reflects the need for the significant change:

With package holidays, under the Package Travel Regulations you SHOULD be able to get a refund within 14 days even if the trip's not been cancelled.

The rules state if "unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances" occur which "significantly affect the performance of the package", you're due a full refund if YOU cancel. And while they don't specifically state that an FCO warning would count as one of these circumstances – though they do give as an example "the outbreak of a serious disease at the travel destination" – in practice travel trade body ABTA says firms MUST refund you if the FCO warns against travel and you can't be given a holiday without "significant change".

So you should be able to get a full refund, but always check first with the firm before you cancel.

The way I read that (with the use of 'and') is that the FCO advice itself isn't considered a significant change, but I can't find the ABTA statement referred to.

So are you suggesting MSE have got it wrong ?
Which the Consumer Organisation more or less replicate the position of MSE on this matter.

If you see my Thread on Spanish Holiday (BA) When will they cancel? , I rang them yesterday amazingly getting through in 2 minutes. I asked what the position was with regard to Cancellation in light of the FCO change of advice and they refunded in full without a quibble.

eskbanker

Butts said:
So are you suggesting MSE have got it wrong ?

Which the Consumer Organisation more or less replicate the position of MSE on this matter.

No, I'm saying that there is still an element of interpretation involved in their analysis, which doesn't definitively state what you suggested it did, i.e. the point was that they're saying there needs to be significant change as well as the FCO advice.

Butts said:
If you see my Thread on Spanish Holiday (BA) When will they cancel? , I rang them yesterday amazingly getting through in 2 minutes. I asked what the position was with regard to Cancellation in light of the FCO change of advice and they refunded in full without a quibble.

Happy for you but again, that doesn't in itself mean that there was an obligation to refund or that other companies will do so, in similar (or different) circumstances.

Butts

eskbanker said:

Butts said:
So are you suggesting MSE have got it wrong ?

Which the Consumer Organisation more or less replicate the position of MSE on this matter.

No, I'm saying that there is still an element of interpretation involved in their analysis, which doesn't definitively state what you suggested it did, i.e. the point was that they're saying there needs to be significant change as well as the FCO advice.

Butts said:
If you see my Thread on Spanish Holiday (BA) When will they cancel? , I rang them yesterday amazingly getting through in 2 minutes. I asked what the position was with regard to Cancellation in light of the FCO change of advice and they refunded in full without a quibble.

Happy for you but again, that doesn't in itself mean that there was an obligation to refund or that other companies will do so, in similar (or different) circumstances.

Surely the significant change is the outbreak of the disease which has caused the FCO advice not to travel there as intimated in the article.