Cancel holiday or not?

[NightLight99]

My elderly parents (76) have paid a £500 deposit for a holiday to Cyprus in August. They don't want to risk travelling on a plane even if holiday is not cancelled by the tour operator. The dilemma is whether or not to pay the remaining balance owing of £2500 and hope that they will be eligible for a refund later on as the holiday will quite likely be cancelled by the tour operator nearer to the date of the holiday. The other option is not to pay the balance outstanding and lose the £500 deposit.
What would you do?

I think there’s a good chance that planes will be flying in August. Personally I wouldn’t pay.

We had the same issue with a holiday in July, we didn’t want to take the risk of the holiday company not cancelling our holiday. Therefore we didn’t pay the remaining balance, so just lost the deposit. It really depends how much you are willing to lose or if the holiday isn’t cancelled would they be happy to go because if they don’t want to they will lose all money.

Even martins tips are now saying there's no right answer to this as even if the holiday is cancelled and you're entitled to a refund that doesn't mean it will be easy to get one. At first they were advising everyone to pay up.

I would either lose the deposit and save your parents the potential stress or try to change the holiday to next year but only if you can also pay the remaining balance next year.

I’d transfer the holiday to next year.

Can you transfer it?

I would lose the £500

Aside from anything else, paying £2500 to an operator in times like this is a high risk. People are losing money left, right and centre due to companies folding. I wouldn't be risking any further loss. Write off the £500, save the stress of will they/not they cancel and will they/won't they refund it without fuss and further stress. Don't pay.

Thank you all for your wise advice. I will relay it to them. Much appreciated 👍