to think BA and Virgin current policy is really unfair?

[MakeLemonade]

We booked flights to the US back in November 2019, coronavirus obviously a mere glint in a bat’s eye/Chinese laboratory at that point so could not have foreseen any issues.

Both BA and Virgin have policies that mean if you booked before March 3rd, you can’t change or cancel booking without incurring a fee unless it’s in next two months or you had a flex ticket. Yet if you booked when you knew the risk, you can move them free of charge to anytime before April 2022!

I know they are dealing with a lot, millions of refunds etc but this policy just strikes me as really unfair.

I don’t want to travel in October now - immune compromised family member - but have no recourse unless they still aren’t flying the route by then. I have to decide whether or not to pay balance of deposit in next three weeks and have no idea what to do.

[Howmuchlongercanthislast]

You can pay and then hope that the flights are cancelled in which case you will be eligible for a free refund.

The rule is that you can move it within 12 months of the original booking- so in your case up to the date you booked in November.

[Howmuchlongercanthislast]

I don’t want to travel in October now - immune compromised family member - but have no recourse unless they still aren’t flying the route by then.

If you are not flying for medical grounds you need to talk to your travel insurance- as long as the condition was declared they should cover.

[MakeLemonade]

Yes moving it one month later isn’t exactly going to help. I would much prefer to travel next year when we know a bit more about the virus.

I am checking with travel insurance but they do have pandemic exclusions and they aren’t sure what this falls under.

[AJPTaylor]

What's the deposit? What's the balance?

[MakeLemonade]

Deposit £1200 and balance £1800.

Flight value: £4000

It’s a lot of money to just write off. Maybe we will just have to take our chances and go on the holiday if flights are running.

[June2008]

We are in a similar situation except our flights are fully paid for. We are due to go in Aug, with my parents one of which is shielding (although they are flying with a different carrier as they live in a difference part of the country). As they are not part of our booking we can't claim on insurance. Money down the drain it seems at this point(£ks). We are just hoping the flight gets cancelled as we are happy to rebook for next year.

It is especially galling as we booked less than 12 hours before their cut off date, if only we'd left it until the next day!!!

[MakeLemonade]

Oh sorry you are in same boat too June2008, it really sucks and I feel like the airlines just don’t care. Our flights are fully paid for too but we could save the final £1800 accommodation cost.

I think in August you have a better chance of cancelling.

I can’t (well I can, they are useless) believe that government want consumers in the position of having to go on flights despite whether or not it’s sensible for them to travel.

Looks like lots of insurers won’t cover coronavirus issues anyway so seems like plenty of people will be travelling with coughs, temps etc as no incentive not to and massive financial loss if you take the more cautious approach.

[June2008]

Ah, ok I didn't realise you were talking about your accommodation too. It's just rubbish.

We have a villa booked with a deposit paid, the rest being due next week. We have decided to cancel and get the deposit back rather than lose potentially all of the money later in the summer if we can't cancel then. (The villa owner is saying they will refund up to two weeks before but we don't want to risk another £7k!)

The whole thing is ridiculous, under current rules we would also need to quarantine afterwards which means I wouldn't be able to go back to school (teacher) neither would our girls.

Oh and just to top it all off, my dh works in a sector closely linked to the airlines so if flights don't get going soon he is highly likely to lose his job. It is all just a nightmare.

We have considered going just our immediate family and booking a smaller place but can't see how we could entertain two preteens with nothing open. I guess there might be some bargains to be had by then!

All we can do at the moment is sit wait and hope!

[Yambabe]

Similar here, I have a flight to LA booked in early Sept but the event I was travelling to go for has been cancelled.

At the moment I am just hanging on to see if the airlines cancel the flight themselves, as most UK citizens are currently not allowed to enter the US!

I do have travel insurance but not sure how I will stand as things are changing daily!

[Howmuchlongercanthislast]

I have had 32 flights cancelled so far. Including the 8 that have already been rebooked once I have got another 17 before the end of August- suspect that I will be taking 0.

1 trip has been rescheduled at least 12 times by AA- I just watch it with amusement each day to see what is happening.

[underneaththeash]

October is months away. If you don't want to go, just don't pay the balance.The travel industy won't be there in a few months time if we don't start travelling soon.

[Roominmyhouse]

Yeah it’s very annoying. We have flights to Malaysia booked for late October. We are going there for something specific which may well be cancelled. If it is we will lose our money on the flights as we booked them last December. Our only hope is that if we still aren’t allowed to travel then we might get our money back. If not we’ll lose it. We don’t even want a refund if it happens, we’d happily take a voucher and use it to go next year instead.

It does seem backwards that if you booked during the pandemic you get a refund or voucher but if you booked before it’s tough shit.

[MakeLemonade]

@underneaththeash I have already committed £5200 to the holiday, the balance is for the accommodation so not paying that doesn’t really help me. I don’t want a refund, happy for them to keep my money for another 12 months I just want the opportunity to move my flights, like everyone who booked since coronavirus has.

Sounds like a fair few of us in this situation.

32 flights cancelled is impressive!