Lovesholiday cancelled but flight went ahead..

eskbanker

AndreaParr said:

Butts said:

bagand96 said:

LoveHolidays are one of the agents that resigned from ABTA as they did not agree with ABTA’s interpretation that FCO advice against “all but essential travel” constituted cancellation rights under the Package Travel Regulations “extraordinary and unavoidable circumstances affecting the performance of the package”.

It was because of this exact situation.  Unlike traditional Tour Operators who manage their own flight seats, LH are just a package arranger who pair 3rd party flights with a hotel booking to create the holiday.  They wouldn’t get a refund from Ryanair so would be on the hook themselves for that money.  

ABTA came out (after a lot of delay and faffing) and said they would expect their members to refund customers all monies in that circumstance.  LoveHolidays (and OnTheBeach) didn’t like that so left ABTA. 

Begs the question, why after this and their performance last year, anyone is dumb enough to make a new booking with either ?

Because many people are already tired of this situation with restrictions and people are looking for the smallest way to relax.

The point wasn't 'why are people booking holidays' but 'why are people booking holidays with LoveHolidays or On The Beach', given the atrocious reputations these companies in particular have acquired over the past year or so....

Butts

AndreaParr said:

Butts said:

bagand96 said:

LoveHolidays are one of the agents that resigned from ABTA as they did not agree with ABTA’s interpretation that FCO advice against “all but essential travel” constituted cancellation rights under the Package Travel Regulations “extraordinary and unavoidable circumstances affecting the performance of the package”.

It was because of this exact situation.  Unlike traditional Tour Operators who manage their own flight seats, LH are just a package arranger who pair 3rd party flights with a hotel booking to create the holiday.  They wouldn’t get a refund from Ryanair so would be on the hook themselves for that money.  

ABTA came out (after a lot of delay and faffing) and said they would expect their members to refund customers all monies in that circumstance.  LoveHolidays (and OnTheBeach) didn’t like that so left ABTA. 

Begs the question, why after this and their performance last year, anyone is dumb enough to make a new booking with either ?

Because many people are already tired of this situation with restrictions and people are looking for the smallest way to relax.

I'm managing that fine on BA at the moment.(with the most flexible booking policy out there)
Writing this at LCY waiting for my flight back to Edinburgh.
6th Flight in the last 10 Days !!

Upsidedownandaround

bagand96 said:

Butts said:

bagand96 said:

LoveHolidays are one of the agents that resigned from ABTA as they did not agree with ABTA’s interpretation that FCO advice against “all but essential travel” constituted cancellation rights under the Package Travel Regulations “extraordinary and unavoidable circumstances affecting the performance of the package”.

It was because of this exact situation.  Unlike traditional Tour Operators who manage their own flight seats, LH are just a package arranger who pair 3rd party flights with a hotel booking to create the holiday.  They wouldn’t get a refund from Ryanair so would be on the hook themselves for that money.  

ABTA came out (after a lot of delay and faffing) and said they would expect their members to refund customers all monies in that circumstance.  LoveHolidays (and OnTheBeach) didn’t like that so left ABTA. 

Begs the question, why after this and their performance last year, anyone is dumb enough to make a new booking with either ?

I think it's a bit harsh calling people dumb.

Thousands book every year with OTA's for better for worse.  Unless you have a fairly decent understanding of the industry, or examine the T&C's in detail, the average Joe Public probably doesn't understand the technical differences between a Tour Operator and a Package Arranger. 

Events like Covid do raise the issues to a wider audience from time to time (as did the Icelandic Volcano)

You don't have to have a decent understanding of the industry to spend 2 minutes on a search engine finding out how the company you are going to give your money has dealt with covid cancellations.

I wouldn't use the word dumb for it but if you book during a pandemic without spending a couple of minutes investigating the track record of who you are giving your money to then a person only has themselves to blame. I suspect in a lot of cases though it is more likely it is the case they thought saving a few quid was worth the risk of using the company. 

Spendless

Butts said:

bagand96 said:

LoveHolidays are one of the agents that resigned from ABTA as they did not agree with ABTA’s interpretation that FCO advice against “all but essential travel” constituted cancellation rights under the Package Travel Regulations “extraordinary and unavoidable circumstances affecting the performance of the package”.

It was because of this exact situation.  Unlike traditional Tour Operators who manage their own flight seats, LH are just a package arranger who pair 3rd party flights with a hotel booking to create the holiday.  They wouldn’t get a refund from Ryanair so would be on the hook themselves for that money.  

ABTA came out (after a lot of delay and faffing) and said they would expect their members to refund customers all monies in that circumstance.  LoveHolidays (and OnTheBeach) didn’t like that so left ABTA. 

Begs the question, why after this and their performance last year, anyone is dumb enough to make a new booking with either ?

Daughter and boyfriend have booked with them. Because..... they're teenagers. Because they wanted something cheap/affordable. Because they were excited about their first hol without parents, so price and location were what they looked at.  Because they wanted something to 'mark' the end of their sixth form life before starting on their Uni lives. Because it was last August and I'd successfully talked them out of booking for the following week, but it was before curfews/rule of 6/tier systems and 2 further lockdowns and they were all heading back to their educational places to study the following month so if that was going to be ok, 11 months on would be. Too late it's done. Just wait and see now if they'll actually get away.