Flying to Spain and Canaries in December 2020

eljaysheffield

Dear All,
My wife and I are due to travel Barcelona on 18th December 2020 with RyanAir then onwards to Gran Canaria on 23rd December with Vueling and to return to Manchester on 31st December, also with Vueling. We booked this trip in February 2020 before the covid pandemic was announced but we are now very nervous that we may lose our flight costs of almost £800.

RyanAir will not refund or change any flights that are due to fly after November 2020 and Vueling will only change flights booked after 13th March (at a cost) which I find absurd as the pandemic was announced by then and we booked before this. We can change our Vueling flights but there are two legs to the journey from BCN to Gran Cnaria and then Gran Canaria to Manchester which adds an extra £240 to the trip at any later date. We have not yet booked any accommodation or extras.

As we currently need to quarantine on return from Spain/Canaries, I am able to do so because I will be working from home but my wife cannot and will lose two weeks wages plus she will be repremanded for doing so.

I have looked into our travel insurance (Sainsburys) which is an annual policy taken out on 20th November 2019, thus before any of this was known about. However, it will be renewed in November 2020 when the insurance companies have got wiser to covid claims and they MAY look at claims regarding FCO travel within 14 days of travel advice, ie., we need to see if the FCO is still saying no travel to Spain on 4th December. I don't want to contact the insurance company just in case they later get a claim for a 'preconceived' claim. It also says that we should first try a refund from the airline(s) and/or contact our credit card supplier. The airlines will not help but I have not yet got down the credit card route.

I have looked at various legitimate online sources about our rights but all much the same conclusion that we basically don't have many rights unless the airlines actually cancel the flights which are still currently operating.

We are hoping that in the coming weeks that our UK government will bring in legislation to either segregate the Canaries from mainland Spain quarantining or help with those who have to self isolate. We are not in the category of 'low income' thus eligible for £500 but just normal income (not a lot) and eligible for nothing at all.

These are our thoughts. Should we:
1. Wait and see if the quarantine rules change for the better;
2. Wait for a total lockdown where the airlines will have to cancel anyway;
3. Contact our travel insurance company now before it is due for renewal in November;
4. Contact our travel insurance company after the renewal in November;
5. Contact the credit card company, either now or later;
6. Just go anyway and my wife will have to quarantine when she gets back to work in early January and lose two weeks pay?

Much of this is down to changes in the UK government guidelines. Whilst we are now not bothered if we go away or not, we can't afford to lose 800 quid either.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Lee

bradders1983

Advice would be to wait until nearer the time.  Contacting credit card companies would be pointless in any case.

Galloglass

Much of this is down to changes in the UK government guidelines.

You should check this page to see the likelihood of the guidelines changing. Spain and the Canaries are not looking good at the moment.
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/cases-2019-ncov-eueea


But you are in the hands of the airlines as you know. 

silvercar

Wait.
Wait again.
Worst case you have to decide between not going and losing your money or going and your wife losing pay etc Does she have sufficient holiday she could take to cover the quarantine time?

eljaysheffield

Thanks. Unfortunately se works in a factory that has specific closure dates with Christmas being one of them so she can only get statutory sick pay plus a lot of earache. If the UK government relaxes the rules on Canaries instead of lumping them together with Spain, she will only have to isolate for two days because we will have left mainland Spain by 23rd December. This would be almost perfect and I realise there is still plenty of time for the situation to change.

epm-84

Galloglass said:

Much of this is down to changes in the UK government guidelines.

You should check this page to see the likelihood of the guidelines changing. Spain and the Canaries are not looking good at the moment.
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/cases-2019-ncov-eueea
But you are in the hands of the airlines as you know. 

UK uses the 7 day average and the government with some leeway to allow for different testing rates in different countries.  The government has also said it would consider different restrictions for the Canaries to mainland Spain but said the rate in the Canaries was still too high a few weeks ago.

eljaysheffield

Thanks for that link – I have bookmarked it and will check it regularly. A lot can happen in the next 10 weeks.

Thrugelmir

The winter months (as has been shown by the experience in Melbourne) aren't likely to provide any respite. 

Diamandis

eljaysheffield said:

Thanks. Unfortunately se works in a factory that has specific closure dates with Christmas being one of them so she can only get statutory sick pay plus a lot of earache. If the UK government relaxes the rules on Canaries instead of lumping them together with Spain, she will only have to isolate for two days because we will have left mainland Spain by 23rd December. This would be almost perfect and I realise there is still plenty of time for the situation to change.

I would check if the employer is planning to pay ssp in this scenario. They don't need to.