Travelling in May?

girlybags

Just wondering if anyone can advise me. We have a holiday booked for the end of May (Spain) and I'm regretting booking it now, we don't want to go but it's all paid for. So, our options are to either cancel before mid March, in which case we will lose £60pp or wait it out and see if they cancel so that we can get a full refund. 

My worry is that the holiday ends up going ahead and we have to pay for covid tests going and coming back (would be for 5 people) and then having to pay the extortionate fee for isolating in a hotel. We wouldn't actually be able to afford all of that so would have to cancel anyway and lose the full amount of the holiday. Even the covid tests alone would eat up the majority of our spending money.

Thoughts? My plan at present is to hang on until mid march and see what the situation is re the holiday company cancelling but does anyone have any insight as to whether that will happen?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

girlybags

Just to say that after mid March if we have to cancel ourselves we will lose a lot more money than the £60pp.

elsien

Spain isn’t currently on the red list of countries which require the quarantine hotel. 

However if you think you are unlikely to want to go, whether the company cancels or not, then £60 pp is better than the alternatives if it’s still unclear mid March.

Are you with a company that will allow you to move the booking to a later date?  

girlybags

We booked with Jet2, I'm not sure about changing the booking actually, I'll have a look though, thank you

Upsidedownandaround

What do you mean by "holiday"? Package holiday or flights and hotel booked seperately? Who with?

Thrugelmir

Testing is likely to be a minimum requirement. Pointless having lockdown. If borders are simply reopened without checks. 

girlybags

Upsidedownandaround said:

What do you mean by "holiday"? Package holiday or flights and hotel booked seperately? Who with?

Package holiday with Jet2

Upsidedownandaround

If the FO still advises against travel to Spain then Jet 2 will cancel the holiday and you will be entitled to a refund. If it changes  then presumably quarantine would no longer be in place.

Testing will probably be though so if the FO no longer advises against travel to Spain in May then you will likely either have to test or cancel. You won't be entitled to a refund if the holiday runs but Jet 2 may offer some flexibility nearer the time.

girlybags

elsien said:

Are you with a company that will allow you to move the booking to a later date?  

There's no option to change dates online but it looks like you can ring up to do that. There are a long list of charges for doing so though 🙄 I think, however, I'd rather just cancel and rebook when things have calmed right down. I'm not really confident that we'll want to go next year so probably best to cancel and rebook once we're sure.

girlybags

Upsidedownandaround said:

If the FO still advises against travel to Spain then Jet 2 will cancel the holiday and you will be entitled to a refund. If it changes  then presumably quarantine would no longer be in place.

Testing will probably be though so if the FO no longer advises against travel to Spain in May then you will likely either have to test or cancel. You won't be entitled to a refund if the holiday runs but Jet 2 may offer some flexibility nearer the time.

Yeah, I think we're going to want to cancel either way, we're all anxious about travelling at the moment even without the extra costs. I was really just wondering whether it was worth hanging on until Jet2 cancels the trip but knowing our luck they won't and we'll lose all our money

Flash32

How good is your crystal ball?  Seriously, anything can happen between now and May.  Also depends on how tolerant you all are of having to self-isolate - possibly both ways - which could ruin the holiday and the return.  Or of course, there MAY be no restrictions by then.  Don't expect any firm news that far out from the Government - their crystal ball isn't working either.

You will almost certainly have to pay for the Covid tests and they could again be both ways.  The current situation is that Spain is not on the red list of 33 so you wouldn't have to pay for hotel isolation, but that could change - either for better or worse.

IMHO - highly unlikely they will cancel the holiday - most travel operators have been caught on this too many times.  Unfortunately, you are in a situation where you either take a chance on the total value of the holiday or accept the £60/pp deposit loss, or go and have a very costly Covid test bill.  I know exactly what I would do in this situation, but I am financially rather risk-averse.