Do package Holiday firms have to cancel?

vofnew123

I can't seem to find the answer to, do package Holiday firms have to cancel if The UK goverment advise essential travel only.
I have a holiday booked for early September in Greece and it seems pretty certain that it will soon be on the hit list. I notice Easyjet flights are still flying to Spain, so what happens if flights are going ahead and hotel is still open?

[Deleted User]

No, they don't have to cancel.

If the holiday is still going ahead but you no longer want to go, see if your travel insurance covers you for the situation at the time.

mattyprice4004

No, it's advice - and advice only. 

Pollycat

I believe TUI may have a promise not to take you to places where you have to quarantine on arrival or return.
Who have you booked with?

Butts

Reputable Travel Operators like TUI, BA and Jet2 will probably not go ahead with Package Holidays to areas with a Foreign & Commonwealth advice against all but essential Travel.

However if it's a "sub-prime" Package Provider  like Lastminute.com or any of the other cowboys it will be a different proposition.
If you look at your rights to cancel in these circumstances I think you will be entitled to a full refund - check out the relevant sections on MSE or Which ?

I certainly had no problems getting a Full Refund from BA for a Spanish Holiday when the restrictions were announced even though they were still operaring the Flights and the Hotel was open.

vofnew123

Thank you all for your replies. I am going to Kos on a sailing holiday, with "Ocean Elements", I don't think they would be classed as "cowboys", however, they are not answering phones and I am still waiting for an email reply. No chance of any help from my insurance (Post Office). I notice today that the Greek Covid rate has dropped a bit. Keeping my fingers crossed it keeps going down!

superbigal

Think the point is you are unlikely to get proactive cancels/refunds from agents who have no control over the flights and/or hotels. As mentioned the "real" tour operators have cancelled almost immediately all packages where fco advise against travel.  
Airlines are now however unlikely to cancel where they have largely fully booked planes, and the hotels certainly do not close because the UK puts them on the naughty step.

eskbanker

ABTA have now clarified that customers who've booked packages with one of their members should be offered refunds if the FCO advises against non-essential travel to the destination, at https://www.abta.com/news/abta-board-confirms-refund-obligation, so any ABTA member (including Ocean Elements) refusing to refund in these circumstances is now doing so against ABTA's steer:

ABTA Board confirms refund obligation

Following recent representations made to ABTA concerning package holiday customers’ refund entitlement in the event of Foreign Office advice against all but essential travel to a destination, the ABTA Board has met and confirmed that customers should be offered a full refund in such circumstances. In accordance with the Articles of the Association, the Board agreed unanimously that ABTA Members should offer refunds to their package holiday customers where the Foreign Office advises against travel at the time the customer is due to travel.

epm-84

vofnew123 said:

I have a holiday booked for early September in Greece and it seems pretty certain that it will soon be on the hit list. 

At the moment the rate of infection in Greece is similar to the UK, the concern is it was much lower than the UK not that long ago so it's gone up very quickly
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/17/global-report-alarm-over-covid-case-rates-19-european-countries

Westin

eskbanker said:

ABTA have now clarified that customers who've booked packages with one of their members should be offered refunds if the FCO advises against non-essential travel to the destination, at https://www.abta.com/news/abta-board-confirms-refund-obligation, so any ABTA member (including Ocean Elements) refusing to refund in these circumstances is now doing so against ABTA's steer:

ABTA Board confirms refund obligation

Following recent representations made to ABTA concerning package holiday customers’ refund entitlement in the event of Foreign Office advice against all but essential travel to a destination, the ABTA Board has met and confirmed that customers should be offered a full refund in such circumstances. In accordance with the Articles of the Association, the Board agreed unanimously that ABTA Members should offer refunds to their package holiday customers where the Foreign Office advises against travel at the time the customer is due to travel.

Thanks for posting that news.

I suspect what we will however see is resignations from ABTA from certain online cheap component styled package holiday providers so unlikely to help to consumer in the short term.  They are unlikely to be able to give full refunds on holidays where the low-cost carriers used to build the cheap holiday package are still running the flight and not allowing free cancellations.

Follow ABTA instruction and possibly run out of cash and fail, or stick to the no flight refund line, do as you wish and tell ABTA what to do with their association membership and preserve their business.  Interesting times. Watching with interest.

Butts

eskbanker said:

ABTA have now clarified that customers who've booked packages with one of their members should be offered refunds if the FCO advises against non-essential travel to the destination, at https://www.abta.com/news/abta-board-confirms-refund-obligation, so any ABTA member (including Ocean Elements) refusing to refund in these circumstances is now doing so against ABTA's steer:

ABTA Board confirms refund obligation

Following recent representations made to ABTA concerning package holiday customers’ refund entitlement in the event of Foreign Office advice against all but essential travel to a destination, the ABTA Board has met and confirmed that customers should be offered a full refund in such circumstances. In accordance with the Articles of the Association, the Board agreed unanimously that ABTA Members should offer refunds to their package holiday customers where the Foreign Office advises against travel at the time the customer is due to travel.

Although this is a welcome development far more important are your rights under The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 which already specified an FCO warning was enough for you to be able to cancel and claim a  full refund. This is a legal right.

From anecdotal evidence ABTA have been as useful to most holidaymakers as an ashtray on a Motorbike.