FCA Regulations and Non essential Travel

Boardies

Hi, I booked a holiday (villa and flights all booked separately) in Feb 2020 pre pandemic to Spain. A very long story short, a week before we were due to go, the FCA regulator stated non essential travel to mainland Spain.  Therefore my family including in-laws did not travel only reason was the FCA rules and also travel insurance stating you wouldn’t be insured if you went when FCA give guidance.
My problem the villa have refused to refund me any money as they said the villa was still there to be used and the flights were not refunded as booked through Ryanair and they did not cancel!
My credit card company will not cover me as they state the services were still there to be used so they haven’t done anything wrong and my travel insurance have stated they don’t cover pandemics!  I am approx £7.5k out of pocket, I am in a very long waiting queue for the financial ombudsman (4 months) to take my case up.  Is anyone else in the same situation, if so what can be done? It is extremely unfair that we not only had no holiday but also to not be refunded is an absolute joke! I did ask the villa company to transfer to 2021 which they refused!

Note I also have my local MP involved who is also investigating for me.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you 

silvercar

FCO rather than FCA.

this really is where your travel insurance should step in. Particularly if you booked before the pandemic. I would be appealing to them and if you reach deadlock you take it to the ombudsman.

Boardies

thanks Travel Insurance wiping their hands saying nothing to do with them, so yes waiting on the ombudsman.

Thrugelmir

Who did you book the Villa through?

sheramber

FCO advice is exactly that - advice only.
The villa operators are not concerned with FCO advice for this country. 
So you were not covered by your insurance if you travelled but you are not covered for not going because of  the type of policy you bought.
Many people have  discovered  they were in the same position this year.  
You need to check your policy document to see of it states they do not cover a pandemic.
Alternatively, they may give a list of circumstances they do cover but pandemic  is not on the list.

eskbanker

Boardies said:

my travel insurance have stated they don’t cover pandemics!

Are they right?  As above, you need to check the wording of the policy you bought - if it covers not travelling because of pandemic-related FCO advice then you have a case that would be valid for escalation to FOS, but if their stance is supported by their policy wording then you're wasting your time.

[Deleted User]

Yes lots of people caught up in this by booking separate components and not having adequate insurance provision.  I actually took an insurance policy out in December which I felt covered me for just about any eventuality so was astounded to read iin May that “pandemics excluded”!  I mean I had never given pandemics a thought so didn’t even notice that bit!  

Unfortunately, you are very much at the mercy of the individual suppliers whether they show compassion if your policy does exclude pandemics.  In my case I was refunded but all this has taught me lots about do’s and don’t’s of booking travel. 

I feel for you OP - it is a lot of money and I hope your persistence brings a compromise at least. 

ratechaser

The irony here is that pre-COVID it was considered 'smart' by some to avoid booking packages as you could get a holiday cheaper if you booked the components yourself, or went through an OTA. Which is to an extent true in 'normal' circumstances. And even then only with decent insurance to back it up.

I suspect a lot of people are reevaluating this now. I've always been a fan of packages - with a suitable amount of haggling!

Boardies

Thanks for the guidance all, my villa was booked through Homeand Away, they just revert you to the people who own the villas and they were not interested.
will wait and see what the ombudsman says and will double check my insurance for pandemics!

mattyprice4004

You’re on a hiding to nothing other than insurance - the villa company and airline are correct in that the service was available; you just chose not to travel (the reason isn’t their concern). 

Westin

+1 mattyprice4004.