Should my travel company be cancelling our package holiday now that Maldives is on the red list?

Gaz_Williams

Hi - I'm looking for some advice on where I stand. My family booked a holiday for The Maldives via Luxtripper departing in late August this year. We've had 3 other holidays cancelled in the last 18 months due to the pandemic so we've got some spare cash and have paid for the current booking in full to a value of over £10k. Luxtripper offer a COVID promise where they'll move your holiday if anyone in your party tests positive and offer flexible movement of your dates up to 39 days before departure. I checked them out on trustpilot to ensure they were good at customer service, they provided me with an ATOL certificate for the package etc, I took out travel insurance - all looking good. We are aiming to go in August but it is now looking like all the air routes to The Maldives and The Maldives itself will be on the red list and I think this is unlikely to change by the beginning of July (39 days before we fly and the last day of flexibility). Therefore the holiday can technically still go ahead and I am left with the prospect of postponing to avoid hotel quarantine.

Does anyone know if Luxtripper should be cancelling my package as the route and destination is now on the red list?

Since booking there have been lots of newer reviews on trust pilot for Luxtripper refusing to cancel packages, withholding refunds and other underhand tactics. The issue I have with being on the red list is the hotel quarantine when we get back as both my children have school and the ridiculous length and cost of the additional quarantine. They've updated their website saying that if we don't want to go now our destination is on the red list we can either cancel (i.e. lose all our money) or postpone (and be charged a load more money for potentially another red list route/destination) - however, this wasn't made clear at the time of booking! Any help would be appreciated. 

eskbanker

Gaz_Williams said:

Does anyone know if Luxtripper should be cancelling my package as the route and destination is now on the red list?

There's no obligation on package providers to cancel trips simply because a destination is on the red list, so if the flights go ahead and the accommodation is open then you'd be expected to travel or to be liable for cancellation fees if you chose not to go.  It's unlikely that the terms of your insurance policy would cover disinclination to travel though....

Upsidedownandaround

It sounds like it should be cancelled if the Maldives is on the red list given it is a package you bought.

Should it be cancelled with another 3 months to go before your holiday dates? No, it is too early to say whether the Maldives or anywhere else will still be on the red list at that point. Given you’ve already made full payment there doesn’t sound any harm in waiting to find out.

Caz3121

countries will move between tiers and I suspect you are too early to be making decisions for august. Maybe review the situation in July 

Gaz_Williams

eskbanker said:

There's no obligation on package providers to cancel trips simply because a destination is on the red list,

Thanks - I guess that's the worry, all previous cancelled holidays have been due to closed boarders for 'leisure trips' - but now the boarders are open with Government advise to not travel. Doesn't leave any protection for consumers even though my family have all been vaccinated

eskbanker

Gaz_Williams said:

eskbanker said:

There's no obligation on package providers to cancel trips simply because a destination is on the red list,

Thanks - I guess that's the worry, all previous cancelled holidays have been due to closed boarders for 'leisure trips' - but now the boarders are open with Government advise to not travel. Doesn't leave any protection for consumers even though my family have all been vaccinated

It's a separate issue from inclusion on the red list, but if government advice (in August) is still against non-essential travel to your destination then it remains your decision but you may be able to claim on your insurance if you decide not to go, so worth checking its terms.

Gaz_Williams

Upsidedownandaround said:

It sounds like it should be cancelled if the Maldives is on the red list given it is a package you bought.

Should it be cancelled with another 3 months to go before your holiday dates? No, it is too early to say whether the Maldives or anywhere else will still be on the red list at that point. Given you’ve already made full payment there doesn’t sound any harm in waiting to find out.

Yes I agree it's way to early to make a decision.  I was just surprised to see that their website had updated after clarity on the traffic light system to suggest they would not be cancelling anything, red list or not. When I had booked I assumed red list would be cancelled. 

Gaz_Williams

eskbanker said:

Gaz_Williams said:

eskbanker said:

There's no obligation on package providers to cancel trips simply because a destination is on the red list,

Thanks - I guess that's the worry, all previous cancelled holidays have been due to closed boarders for 'leisure trips' - but now the boarders are open with Government advise to not travel. Doesn't leave any protection for consumers even though my family have all been vaccinated

It's a separate issue from inclusion on the red list, but if government advice (in August) is still against non-essential travel to your destination then it remains your decision but you may be able to claim on your insurance if you decide not to go, so worth checking its terms.

Yep, travel insurance has updated significantly in the last year and they've included a load of weasel words around not covering cancellation due to COVID restrictions "the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all but essential travel to Your intended destination, unless it relates to coronavirus disease as described in the General Exclusions" 

What makes it worse, is that the travel insurance won't even cover you if the advice is not to travel and that is stated in their general exclusions. 

So to summarise they won't cover cancellation due to destination being on the red list, and if you go they won't cover you anyway. Brilliant. Thanks Post Office, I'll be turning off that autorenewal.

Stirtons

Travel operators generally use FCO advice as the basis for cancelling holidays and currently they state that “You should not travel to red list countries or territories for leisure purposes”. 

Butts

I see Luxtripper are a Travel Agent rather than a Holiday Provider so presumably arrange all the elements of your trip separately with different providers - or is it all with one company ?

Most of the big providers like TUI have a promise where they will not take anyone to a "Red Country" which will trigger an automatic refund or ability to change free of charge depending on what you elect to do.

Does your ATOL Certificate describe it as a single package or multi package ? 

Gaz_Williams

Butts said:

I see Luxtripper are a Travel Agent rather than a Holiday Provider so presumably arrange all the elements of your trip separately with different providers - or is it all with one company ?

Most of the big providers like TUI have a promise where they will not take anyone to a "Red Country" which will trigger an automatic refund or ability to change free of charge depending on what you elect to do.

Does your ATOL Certificate describe it as a single package or multi package ? 

The ATOL certificate calls it a "Package (Single-contract)" so I'm assuming its a package holiday regardless of who they use as subcontractors. I guess that's also what I thought, the red list would mean an automatic cancellation but apparently not with Luxtripper. When our previous holiday was cancelled last month TUI offered either a full refund, a change in dates at the same price, or a voucher (+10% of the value) which I thought was very generous.