Am I entitled to a refund

CKhalvashi

Loubai said:

We are going for a holiday so if lockdown was to continue (or be moved to tier 4) we wouldn't legally be able to travel. I just asked the question as a lot of people who have booked through say Tui etc have just been refunded so not sure why I may just be given a credit note. Given the current situation if I move the holiday along 11 months the same could happen again. I'll just keep an eye on things. Hopefully by mid Feb I should know more. 

Sadly, you're bound by 2 things; the law and the contract.

It is you cancelling, so a credit note is more than legally you are entitled to.

I would leave it for the moment, as if the agent is an ABTA member and the holiday ultimately can't go ahead due to government restrictions at either end, you will then have an entitlement to a refund under the ABTA rules. See the first Q&A here.

We don't know what is happening tomorrow yet in general, so while I understand you are worried, there is not much yet that you can do to mitigate your losses than wait.

Loubai

Thanks. I spoke to my insurance who said they don't actually cover for government restrictions so that wouldn't be an option for us if we were still in lockdown. They are members for ATBA, but would I still be entitled to a refund if the flight was still to go and the hotel still open (which I think will be). I'll just wait and see what happens over the next month. 

CKhalvashi

Loubai said:

Thanks. I spoke to my insurance who said they don't actually cover for government restrictions so that wouldn't be an option for us if we were still in lockdown. They are members for ATBA, but would I still be entitled to a refund if the flight was still to go and the hotel still open (which I think will be). I'll just wait and see what happens over the next month. 

Under the ABTA membership rules, yes.

If you need confirmation, I can dig a link out for you.

Loubai

CKhalvashi said:

Loubai said:

Thanks. I spoke to my insurance who said they don't actually cover for government restrictions so that wouldn't be an option for us if we were still in lockdown. They are members for ATBA, but would I still be entitled to a refund if the flight was still to go and the hotel still open (which I think will be). I'll just wait and see what happens over the next month. 

Under the ABTA membership rules, yes.

If you need confirmation, I can dig a link out for you.

Yes please if you could I would really appreciate it! Thank you 

CKhalvashi

Loubai said:

CKhalvashi said:

Loubai said:

Thanks. I spoke to my insurance who said they don't actually cover for government restrictions so that wouldn't be an option for us if we were still in lockdown. They are members for ATBA, but would I still be entitled to a refund if the flight was still to go and the hotel still open (which I think will be). I'll just wait and see what happens over the next month. 

Under the ABTA membership rules, yes.

If you need confirmation, I can dig a link out for you.

Yes please if you could I would really appreciate it! Thank you 

For sure, read the link here, which will detail the current situation if the government is still advising against all but essential travel just before the trip (just before in this case is 14 days at best guess).

The MSE guide here states that CMA guidance is currently recommending a right to a refund if it would be illegal to fly out of the UK for non-essential reasons. This has not been tested in court yet.

eskbanker

CKhalvashi said:

Legislation (under the Package Travel Directive) also provides for the situation where the package cannot be used as booked, and a localised lockdown making it illegal to leave the country for non-essential purposes can easily be defined as the package being unable to go ahead as planned. This has also not yet been tested in court as far as I'm aware in a Coronavirus sense.

Unless you're thinking of something other than what was discussed in another thread recently, the scenario covered by the Package Travel Regulations gives termination rights in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances specifically at the destination that significantly affect the package, rather than anything relating to the circumstances in the country of departure:

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

So, if OP's trip is Dubai and they're not accepting visitors from the UK then that would trigger this, but if it's a UK lockdown preventing travel within or from the UK then that's clearly not circumstances "occurring at the place of destination or its immediate vicinity" and so it's hard to see how this clause could apply?

However, as you say, if the provider is an ABTA member then their stance appears to offer more protection than the letter of the law does....

CKhalvashi

You are correct, I was relying on Section 13, subsection 2B, which was being quoted from memory

13.—(1) The provisions of this regulation are implied as a term in every package travel contract.

(2) Paragraph (3) applies where—

(a)the number of persons enrolled for the package is smaller than the minimum number stated in the contract and the organiser notifies the traveller of the termination of the contract within the period fixed in the contract but not later than—

(i)in the case of trips lasting more than 6 days, 20 days before the start of the package;

(ii)in the case of trips lasting between 2 and 6 days, 7 days before the start of the package;

(iii)in the case of trips lasting less than 2 days, 48 hours before the start of the package; or

(b)the organiser is prevented from performing the contract because of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances and notifies the traveller of the termination of the contract without undue delay before the start of the package.

(3) The organiser—

(a)may terminate the package travel contract and provide the traveller with a full refund of any payments made for the package;

(b)is not liable for additional compensation.

Having looked again, it is in relation to termination by the organiser, and I both apologise for and will amend the misinformation, and thank you for factchecking me.

I've been awake since 8am yesterday on about 5 hours of sleep

OP - You will be relying on the ABTA guarantee for this reason, however please also check out the linked MSE guide as advice is often more useful than the actual legislation in these weird times.

Westin

CKhalvashi said:

You are correct, I was relying on Section 13, subsection 2B, which was being quoted from memory

13.—(1) The provisions of this regulation are implied as a term in every package travel contract.

(2) Paragraph (3) applies where—

(a)the number of persons enrolled for the package is smaller than the minimum number stated in the contract and the organiser notifies the traveller of the termination of the contract within the period fixed in the contract but not later than—

(i)in the case of trips lasting more than 6 days, 20 days before the start of the package;

(ii)in the case of trips lasting between 2 and 6 days, 7 days before the start of the package;

(iii)in the case of trips lasting less than 2 days, 48 hours before the start of the package; or

(b)the organiser is prevented from performing the contract because of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances and notifies the traveller of the termination of the contract without undue delay before the start of the package.

(3) The organiser—

(a)may terminate the package travel contract and provide the traveller with a full refund of any payments made for the package;

(b)is not liable for additional compensation.

Having looked again, it is in relation to termination by the organiser, and I both apologise for and will amend the misinformation, and thank you for factchecking me.

I've been awake since 8am yesterday on about 5 hours of sleep

OP - You will be relying on the ABTA guarantee for this reason, however please also check out the linked MSE guide as advice is often more useful than the actual legislation in these weird times.

I think you will find it is not an “ABTA guarantee” but if you can link to such wording that would be helpful. I believe it is more guidance, an operating code and rules to members of ABTA.  An ABTA member may subsequently be fined or even rejected from membership if they breach the associations rules. Not however aware of an ABTA guarantee for the consumer in the situation being discussed.