Sh!t.. holiday cancellation

[Inthefirepit]

We booked a TUI package holiday, we paid a large deposit and since had a baby (baby was added), baby is now 7mo and has severe allergies, dr doesn’t want us to go before seeing allergy team and dermatologist (dc can’t wear suncream due to severe allergies) referrals have been made but won’t be seen before holiday.

Baby has been in and out of hospital, blue lighted, I’m talking turned blue in my arms reactions.

TUI has said we can’t get refund on the large deposit because the flights were outsourced due to them not being able to provide them, they’ve said their policy with third party flights cannot be refunded 😔

We always buy our travel insurance in the weeks before going, so don’t have travel insurance 😢 is there anything we can do? Or just put it down to us being stupid for not getting insurance when we booked it last year.

This, I also wonder how it works when you’re forced to book by telephone, do they read out the small print to you about the third party aspect?

As @Bokky said, the T&C are on their website.

I'm so sorry you're going to lose money. I hope your baby is okay. That's the main thing at the end of the day.

Unfortunately as Martin Lewis always says, you should get insurance as soon as you book.

I'm sorry but not sure what you can do.

Surely your contract is with TUI, their contract is with the third party flight supplier. If all else fails, Twitter!

But the third party flights would have been listed on the confirmation email (just looked at my email from TUI, the flights are literally the first thing listed). I really don't think you have a leg to stand in saying now, over a year later, you didn't know.

That's an awful policy. I would be surprised if it is consistent with their claim to be both ABTA and ATOL protected. I would maybe look into whether you can claim the remainder under one of those schemes, even if TUI won't pay back the flight money themselves.

Sure it might not work, but I think their cover is wider than just the airline going bust and it's just possible that having a new baby with a medical condition you couldn't have foreseen is enough of a reason to make the claim.

That’s really unfortunate. You’d think booking with someone like TUI that it would be a package that you could reschedule for a cost.

Could you sell the flights to someone to recoup some of the cost?

Do you have any package (monthly fee) bank accounts? Some have travel insurance.

Those saying she should have already bought travel insurance. Even if she had, they would not cover the baby. The baby did not exist when the holiday was booked.

Sorry it’s Tui as they are really really difficult to deal with on complaints . But if you did not know about third party flights keep trying . I actually won in small claims court against them as they twist everything they can . Don’t give up yet.

Ex travel agent and holiday rep. There is a ridiculous amount of people who don't insure themselves properly or at all. For something costing hundreds/thousands please buy travel insurance at time of booking

Op please check with your bank in case you have a policy with them. This is an insurance reason.
Third party flights is something you are informed of and would have been on your paperwork, unless you can magic insurance if either chalk this one up or move the holiday if you can afford it

You can call up to alter. I have to quite often due to medical conditions

Maybe , maybe not but it might have covered the parents' cancellation costs due to illness of an immediate family.

You need to book travel insurance at the time you book your holiday.

Losing a deposit is not such a big thing than having a critically ill baby abroad (especially an uninsured baby).

Can you pay for private allergy testing? Peads allergy testing has huge NHS waitlists so its probably the best option if you can afford it anyway. You could honestly be waiting 18 months plus for NHS testing (even for urgent referrals)

Check if you have holiday insurance with your bank? Or RAC etc. Some places do free holiday insurance to get you to sign up.

Cancel the flights. In my experience, most of the cost of the flight is airport tax which is refunded to you.

OP wont be able to get travel insurance for the baby until the diagnosis is given, you cant get insurance if you are under investigation for something or having tests for something and havent had the final diagnosis

@bellac11 Yes, but if flying to europe they can use an GHIC card for the baby to access medical care in most places, however, will not be able to fly back.

And for severe allergies / anaphylaxis you need a long period of no hospital admissions before anyone will insure you anyway... it's not just about getting a diagnosis.

@Gardenoverflow - I didn't know that about the tax - great tip!

And you can get insurance; it just won't cover that illness - I currently am having investigations, have insurance, but it won't cover anything related to those investigations. Also not covered for anaphylaxis as was in hospital with it recently.

But, I am going to a country where I have medical care regardless of health insurance (and flying directly)

I had this recently, I was still waiting for tests and a final diagnosis. I couldnt get insurance anywhere, the very first question that is asked is 'are you waiting for the outcome of investigations'.

The irony was it didnt even affect the cost or insurance in the end but they wont insure unknowns. it wasnt just for illness, I couldnt get the insurance at all so it wasnt a choice of choosing between illness or cancellation or theft or something, it wouldnt let me go through to the next page

In the end I had the diagnosis and could book the insurance.

OP I have had to cancel a holiday with TUI.....I phoned and they let me change my dates & location and they waived the admin fee! They were great!
Couldn't use my insurance as was due to useless ex now refusing to have my DD for his contact time - so TUI let me delay for 6 months to get her a passport, and we're going now to a family resort instead
TUI have been brilliant...one happy customer here!

What company is this?

I started a thread about this a few months ago because I couldnt get insurance.

We're like you OP and have never bought travel insurance more than a week or two before going on holiday. I honestly thought everybody did it this way?

Thank you to the majority that have been compassionate and informative.

Yes, we can’t get insurance for the baby while the investigations are ongoing and there’s no end in sight for that right now I’m afraid, they just won’t insure at all unfortunately but obviously we booked this before the baby was born, we never foreseen the allergies, someone else mentioned that I didn’t know birth would go ok- we’ve got 3 DC in total, all straightforward births, picture of health so we just never thought when booking a holiday we might have to think about our unborn baby being too ill to go, I’d imagine the majority of people hope for the same and go through life optimistic and book holidays when pregnant as life doesn’t stay on pause for the what ifs.