mis sold holiday ?

Boot67

hi 
i booked a last minute holiday 21/1020 to Cuba departing on 25/10/20 , 24 hrs before i was due  to depart i was told by the airline i would not be able to fly due to not having a tourist visa, the airline also said they would have contacted me about this but the holiday supplier did not, i have tried speaking with the holiday company to amend the holiday until my visa arrives and all the say is its too late to make changes, the hotel operates aa 24 hr cancellation and this could have been carried out,the airline was also willing to amend the flights,the holiday firm have been very unhelpful and currently being told that i will lose the cost of the holiday they will not answer the question on why i was not informed of the visa and tell me to claim on my insurance, the insurance will not pay out as it is an entry requirement, i feel this holiday has been missold due to not giving important information , the holiday has not been cancelled as they will only offer £75 pounds , this is scandalous considering they failed to give the information knowing a visa would be required, i am left with no holiday and £1400 pounds out of pocket, i offered options but they are not listeningand now feel as i have been defrauded

Caz3121

visa requirements etc are always the responsibility of the passenger. There will likely be something in the terms and conditions that confirm it is your responsibility to ensure you comply with the passport and visa requirements of a country
eg
TUI state "t is also your responsibility to check whether you need a visa to enter your destination country."
lastminute shows "Visas requirements: check with the relevant destination country embassy (including the embassy of any country you will travel through for stop over purposes) for information about visas requirements;"
loveholidays show - "We recommend you always look at the Foreign Travel Advice section of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office website prior to booking and travelling abroad: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office website to check general visa, passport, health and safety information and other matters prior to booking."

Entry requirements can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/cuba/entry-requirements
I suspect this could be an expensive error - are you able to pay to change the dates?

bradders1983

Sorry but I echo the above. Not the job of the agent to remind you to check entry requirements.  Chalk this one up as a very expensive life lesson.

Westin

Has it changed recently then as you used to be able to buy the tourist visa for Cuba on arrival?

JamoLew

Westin said:

Has it changed recently then as you used to be able to buy the tourist visa for Cuba on arrival?

Thats what I thought - went there a couple of years ago and we were given them to fill in on the plane
Maybe they changed the system

bagand96

When I went a couple of years ago I am sure you needed the tourist card before travelling.  From memory at the time, Thomas Cook  (RIP) provided them included in your holiday price, Virgin Atlantic could sell you them at Gatwick, but with all other airlines you had to obtain it either from the Cuban Embassy, or via visa agents (who were cheaper and quicker than the embassy - very straight forward).

Back to the OP, it is always the responsibility of the traveler to ensure they have the correct documentation to travel.  Whether or not the airline would have provided a reminder of the requirement or not, I think you'll struggle to regain anything from LM.  The holiday wasn't mis-sold.

jonesMUFCforever

OP copy your holiday invoice on here (blocking out any personal details) just in case we can see something that has been missed.

Hasbeen

Boot67 said:

hi 
i booked a last minute holiday 21/1020 to Cuba departing on 25/10/20 , 24 hrs before i was due  to depart i was told by the airline i would not be able to fly due to not having a tourist visa, the airline also said they would have contacted me about this but the holiday supplier did not, i have tried speaking with the holiday company to amend the holiday until my visa arrives and all the say is its too late to make changes, the hotel operates aa 24 hr cancellation and this could have been carried out,the airline was also willing to amend the flights,the holiday firm have been very unhelpful and currently being told that i will lose the cost of the holiday they will not answer the question on why i was not informed of the visa and tell me to claim on my insurance, the insurance will not pay out as it is an entry requirement, i feel this holiday has been missold due to not giving important information , the holiday has not been cancelled as they will only offer £75 pounds , this is scandalous considering they failed to give the information knowing a visa would be required, i am left with no holiday and £1400 pounds out of pocket, i offered options but they are not listeningand now feel as i have been defrauded

Sorry OP was not Mis sold but Miss bought.
It was your responsibility to ensure you had all the proper entry requirements. Not anyone else's.,

But if the hotel was willing to cancel and the airline was willing to amend the flights then why not agree to that rather than try to get the holiday company to amend?

Anyway for next time you can complete form here:

http://misiones.minrex.gob.cu/sites/default/files/formularios/editorreinounido/application_form_for_tourist_card_0.pdf

Pollycat

I too don't think the holiday was mis-sold.

We've travelled to lots of places that require visas and have always done our own research before booking and made our own arrangements.

TBH, I wouldn't trust a holiday company to give me accurate advice on visas. They sell holidays, they should not be expected to be a reliable source of information on entry requirements for every country.

I've actually seen inaccurate information on visa requirements on holiday companies websites.

I'm curious which airline would have told the OP that he needed a visa.

How did the airline know that the OP didn't have a visa?

unforeseen

I wonder if they forgot to tell the op that they needed a passport as well

Sandtree

Learn to use the FCO website, particularly right now when entry requirements are changing almost daily, as a first check before reviewing the countries own websites. Eg Cuba is https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/cuba/entry-requirements 

Travel agents will never know exactly your passport(s) versions, what visas you may or may not hold, criminal records, travel history etc all of which can have effect on what visa you may or may not need. They should ideally remind you to double check yourself but its a reminder and primary responsibility sits with you.