To cancel or not to cancel?

[FizzyPink]

We have a trip to New York booked for the week before Christmas with TUI but flights are American Airlines.

To date we’ve paid £1,200 and have another £1,000 to pay in September. If we were to cancel now they would refund us the money but withhold £400 as a cancellation fee.

I’m fairly confident they will cancel the trip but what if they don’t and we end up having to go and can’t do all the things we want to? I don’t fancy wandering the streets of NY in the freezing cold because the tourist Christmassy things we want to see aren’t open.

Equally I don’t really want to lose £400 but we paid it months ago so won’t miss it. What would you do?

To be honest I don’t really want to go now anyway but do we pay the additional £1,000 and hope they cancel and we get a full refund or do we cancel now and forfeit £400?

Could you not reschedule to next year at all?

I'd cancel. I don't see America having a grip of Covid by then. Additionally, there has been a massive spike in city wide violence.

Unlikely that anything will be open for Christmas. It'll be cold. Potential second wave. FCO changing advice/mandatory quarantine. Issues with the US election in November. Potential for mass protests.

I love New York and go every chance I get, but I wouldn't consider it before late 2021-2022 now. Sorry OP. It sucks.

America is not in a great way at the moment and I can't see that changing by Christmas. What do you lose of you cancel nearer the time? Is there an option to reschedule?

Can you not transfer your £400 deposit to a holiday next year. That’s what we’ve done. I definitely wouldn’t be going on the trip.

That’s a good idea actually. It was our summer holiday that we rescheduled to this one so we should be able to move it again and then I think we’d also get the chance to pay off the balance nearer the time as well