Package holiday, who pays for new flights if flights are cancelled?

Five_Pound_Note

Our package holiday due to depart 25 April is Heathrow via Doha to Phuket. Our flight is likely to be cancelled (Qatar) and our travel agent says if that happens, we have to pay the difference in flight cost if we want our holiday to continue with a different airline, saying it's 'force majeure'. We thought that the travel agent would need to pay the difference in flights under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, which says, 'where a significant element such as the flights cannot be provided, the travel agent is required to offer suitable alternative arrangements at no extra cost to the traveller, or provide a full refund'.  They said they would refund us, but we don't want to take this option.

Ayr_Rage

I expect there is in fact a "force majeure" clause covering wars and civil unrest.

Have you also looked at the regulations regarding that rather than just quoting the part you hope will apply?

silvercar

The general rule is to never accept a refund, as once you do it is game over.

The downfall of package holidays is that they tend to refund the whole holiday so you are not out of pocket on direct costs, but have lost your holiday. On scheduled flights, booked alone, it is easier to refuse a refund, thereby leaving the airline to provide ‘care’ (accommodation and food) until they can reschedule you on another flight. This does leave you with the issue of your other holiday booking eg hotel at the mercy of the provider. So it’s a no win situation.

If you are on schedule flights, it would be worth telling the travel agent you don’t want a refund and want alternative flights as you are entitled to. Not sure how far they will go to deliver, it may depend on how much of a personal service the travel agents offer, but at least they know your preference.

The worst case, would be if the flights are operating them, but you don’t wish to travel that route. If that is. A likely scenario, it could be worth pricing up alternatives now.

Five_Pound_Note

Yes, we have studied the complete wording of the Regulations, just included the wording above for ease. We've also done a lot of research, none of which says the Travel Agent can charge extra. This is a summary of one finding:

Under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances allow organizers to avoid paying additional compensation for losses, but they do not override the obligation to offer a full refund or suitable alternative travel if a flight is cancelled. The organizer must rearrange travel at no extra cost.

But the Travel Agent isn't budging.

p00hsticks

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81942672#Comment_81942672

That doesn;t appear to tally with what you have quoted in your original post, which says that

the travel agent is required to offer suitable alternative arrangements at no extra cost to the traveller, or provide a full refund'.

The 'or' suggests to me that if they have offered a full refund they are fulfilling their obigations - there is no suggestion that they have to give the customer the choice of which of the two options they would prefer.

daveyjp

The agent knows they have 28 days to play this game, you are the one who has to ultimately make a decision. Accept a refund, which meets the agent obligation or sort other flights and pay what is due.

The no extra cost refers to the agent being able to source flights at no extra cost, not for them to pay any shortfall. As they can't find flights they have offered a refund which is the second leg of the options available to them.

Five_Pound_Note

Thanks everyone - it's hard to get a full picture when posting here, but the Regs say we don't have to accept a refund.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81942672#Comment_81942672

I could be wrong but understood the regulation 15 provisions (from which you've quoted) to apply only once the package has started (hence references to "lack of conformity which the traveller perceives during the performance of a travel service", repatriation, etc), as opposed to the regulation 11 ones which relate to changes being proposed before the start of the package. The latter clearly envisage cost changes being borne by the traveller, if preferring not to accept the refund.

Have you and the agent been clear about exactly which clauses are being used to support the two sides of the dispute?

Spaceace

Is the Travel Agent an ABTA member? If so a reference to ABTA may help your argument with them.

For what it's worth, I believe your interpretation of the regulations is correct in that the choice between the two options of a refund or an alternative flight at no extra cost (if one exists) is yours and not the Travel Agents even if the alternative flight is more expensive.

I have just been through a very similar scenario with a holiday to Vietnam via Dubai leaving in a couple of weeks. My travel agent proposed alternative flights via Bangkok at no extra cost to us. I looked up the flights on Expedia and they were around 50% more expensive than our original flights. In the end we chose to take a refund and travel another time but that doesn't alter the principle that there would have been no on-cost had we chosen the alternative routing.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6661847/package-holiday-who-pays-for-new-flights-if-flights-are-cancelled

One other aspect potentially worth considering is that if the flight is actually cancelled (as opposed to travel being against FCDO advice, etc), then the airline is obliged to offer alternative flights at no extra cost, under the UK261 flight cancellation regulations…

Woodstok2000

I think the agent may rely on this section of the package travel regs:

41. There are certain scenarios where an organiser may terminate the package
travel contract. In these circumstances, the organiser must provide the
traveller a full refund but is not liable to pay additional compensation.

42.b) The organiser is prevented from performing the contract because of
unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, such as the examples
above. If this is the case the organiser must notify the traveller as soon
as possible.