Lapland holiday booked for ages.. Realistically will it go ahead?

[Feelingthepinch22]

Booked a trip to Lapland last year, it's been a lifelong dream of mine & always wanted to bring the Dc... Booked with TUI & it turns out one of the owners is an ogliarch who own a third of the company..
Also god knows what kind of state things will be in by then & Finland is not a nato member

My heart is physically aching for the Ukranians & I feel so privileged even typing this knowing where hundreds of thousands of children are sleeping tonight.

I have no travel insurance booked yet, rang a few companies & they said policies don't cover war cancellations 😩 It's such an expensive trip & we're scrimping every penny to afford it, I just want to be realistic...

Not sure there'll be a war in Lapland anytime soon tbh and if there is your holiday will be the least of your worries. Honestly just look forward to your holiday.

It's December so a while away yet, Finland & Russia share a border & I've read putin is interested in Finland for a potential invasion...

Although Finland isn't in NATO, they are in the EU, I highly doubt even Putin would want to go to war with 27 other countries over night.

That's reassuring thanks, I'm due to pay another installment by Monday hence my late night pondering...

I think if there is any danger TUI will cancel and you will get a refund. Otherwise you will have an amazing holiday. If you cancel now I think you lose the deposit and its the normal deposit not the low one though check t&cs. I would leave it for now, would have thought Finland was one of the safest destinations and plenty of time to cancel later if not.

Thanks for the reply, apparently TUI were amazing dealing with covid cancellations.. It's a bit rattling about one of the sanctioned oligarchs owing a third of the company but again if anything happens hopefully they'll just refund...

Yes heard they were excellent. I had booked a holiday directly when covid hit with hotels / flights etc and was complete nightmare getting money back and insurance refused to pay out anything even though said covid covered so am very sceptical about insurance in these situations - need to read small print and also Insure and Go had small print within the small print. I got all but £500 back in end out of £6000 so could have been much worse but nightmare and took a year, TUI was so much better.

We did TUI Lapland in 2012 and was amazing though no idea what will happen with Putin. Hope it calms down. The strange thing is with TUI though you have to pay full amount to get a full refund in theory at least. I am sure they would not put anyone at risk and there's a protection scheme if they go under so you should get money back either way. The shares thing seems to be the Russian cannot access his shares so affects him not the company.

I had a couple of holidays with TUI during covid (along with cancellations with them) and they were great. When one trip was cancelled I had the money back within 48 hours. I’ve currently got an annual travel policy with post office - we were able to add extra things to it (I wanted natural disasters as we were off to the canaries and the volcano had just erupted). I’m sure I was also able to add war cover.

I personally wouldn’t risk it. Who the heck knows what the state of the world will be in 10 months time! Save the money and book a last minute holiday instead when you’ve got a clearer idea of the political landscape.

Don't be ridiculous. Your holiday will be absolutely fine. Finland is a sleepy country not involved in these conflicts. You will be fine.

@Iwonder08 do you watch the news? Putin has made threatening noises about Finland and it is considering joining nato. It shares a border with Russia and has been at war with Russia before.

That said, ten months is a long time so personally I would book. We went to Lapland in December and it was pretty special for our daughter, even with covid restrictions.

TUI is a massive company, and they have TUI Germany too. I’m sure your holiday will be safe with them.
And I believe you have to pay when you are supposed to, to get a refund.

If it is December you will only lose your deposit up until about 12 weeks before I believe, so I would do the same as what people did with Covid and leave it until then to decide, any money you have paid over the deposit (the proper one, not the low one) will be refunded so I would leave it for now and stop worrying.

personally wouldn’t risk it. Who the heck knows what the state of the world will be in 10 months time! Save the money and book a last minute holiday instead when you’ve got a clearer idea of the political landscape.

Well you'd never go anywhere again looking back over the last couple of years would you?!

Eh? We are literally on the brink of a European war. Cancelling a holiday and booking it nearer the time seems like a sensible idea to me!

You will lose your deposit whether you cancel now or 12 weeks before you go which is usually when you have to pay the balance so I would check your t&c and leave it until then, if TUI cancel in the meantime you won't lose your deposit.

Yes I checked and it said something like Putin has sent a letter threatening Finland with military action if they join NATO and latest opinion polls are over 50% of Finns want to join. Very small population and next to Russia though at least December is some time away but I would be concerned as well though not about TUI.

I’d keep it booked. December is a long way away. Will you have more regrets if you book and can’t go or don’t book and could have gone?

We did Lapland last year and it was amazing!