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.

I had similar with Love Holidays - the 'package' was through them, but the flights were Ryan Air.

I would suggest contacting the airline direct to see if you can postpone/ change dates / have a voucher.

If it is Ryan Air all you need to do to log in is enter your flight number and surname - it may be similar for Easy Jet etc.

Hopefully you can postpone with both TUI and the airline, but you will need to contact airline directly, and of course there will be an 'admin fee' 🙄

Sounds like the best option at the moment.

Good luck and hope all goes well with baby's appointments.

if you book a holiday in January for a holiday in august and book insurance in July, surely you would realise that anything that happened between January and July that meant you could no longer go, would
not be covered!

The third party flight issue is just odd. If they really can’t refund you for that portion then you ought to be able to change them yourselves.

if it’s Easyjet call them. They should let you change them if not refund

So sorry to hear about your baby OP. It might be worth checking if you have any credit cards or bank accounts that have travel insurance included that you didn't realise. Or possibly if you paid by credit card, the card company may be able to help. Clutching at straws a little bit but there's no harm in checking.

I don't understand how you didnt know who the flights were with, was that not on the booking confirmation?

You need to call the insurance companies up and speak to them in person.

Also just Google travel insurance whilst under investigations and a heap of companies come up who say they may insure you and to phone…

has anyone else had this “outsourced airlines” cancellation issue ? We were due to fly with a large airline but they’ve outsourced to their partner airline…

hopefully we don’t need to cancel but it seems very odd there’s no wording in the info they’ve sent through on this.

This is actually a different scenario. I suspect op does not mean outsourced as such, her flights have been booked with another airline such as Easyjet despite the holiday package being with TUI. I think it’s very likely if she had previously checked the paperwork clearly this would have been clear. Possible it has been changed but they would not make that sort of change without letting the customer know I don’t think.

British airways, and many other airlines frequently subcontract other airlines to fly flights on their behalf. Typically when they don’t have enough aircraft or crew. These flights will have the same Ts and Cs as the airline who subcontracted the flight. this is likely the situation with your flight.

@Marsoupial
also it’s possible that your flight even if it had say a BA flight number, was always intended to be operated by, say Iberia or American Airlines. This is called code sharing. They all out each other’s codes on their flights which is why you often see say seven flights to madrid leaving heathrow at exactly the same time.
Ts and Cs would be as per the airline booked.

The advice is to make sure you have insurance pretty much as soon as you book the trip, in case something happens in the interim that you need it for. It’s not just for when you’re away, it covers possible cancellation as well (obvs depending on the level of cover). I haven’t always done it this way, and now do annual multi trip, but I do end up renewing about eight months in advance these days, as we book our summer holiday in November when it gets dark and we crave the sun!

Thanks @Frazzled2207 it is actually BA, and we just were told a few hours ago they flights are being outsourced and operated by Iberia for operational reasons.

Was definitely originally meant to be a BA operated flight as we've done it before with BA.

But, yes, we do have insurance, just renewed for the year when we booked.

It's not being operated as a codeshare flight - i do realise what that is as fly frequently - it's a complete change who is operating the flight if that makes sense but is still under the BA Flight number.

OP try [email protected]. This is the department that can override T&Cs for exceptional circumstances not covered by insurance. Third party flights does change things somewhat but I've had success with the exceptions team before (I work in the industry)

See what you’re saying. Yeah Ts and Cs will just be as booked as Iberia is running the flight on BA’s behalf, rather than the OPs case where the tour operator has just booked her on another airline

I think some people are just here for the good feelings they get from this type of reply. I think of them as the ‘surely you realise…’ posters.

Would be awful if one of you got Covid and had to re-arrange your holiday.

@Inthefirepit Have you tried speaking to the airline direct and asking if you can move your flights? We booked a TUI holiday with BA flights. There should be a flight booking reference on your paperwork - you have to use it to check in to you flights/book your seats

Technically that sounds like a wet lease, albeit possible a very very short term one, unless it's become a standing arrangement for that particular flight.

BA and Iberia are part of the same Corporate group (IAG). They have a closer relationship than code share partners. Pretty straightforward for them to operate each other’s flights. Shouldn’t make any difference from the passenger’s perspective.

looking at the reason you can’t travel- could you pay for your baby to be allergy tested privately
?

OP, it’s worth taking a close look at every email and linked terms and conditions document that you have been sent so far. If I understand correctly, you’re still hoping to postpone the holiday (and so not waste the deposit) but they are saying that the deposit has been used to pay your flights in full to a third party airline.

it’s not uncommon for airlines to refuse to deal with intermediaries, but you are now their passengers so they do have to deal with you directly. That doesn’t mean that they have to give you a refund- it very much depends on their terms and conditions and it’s perfectly permissible for flights to be non-refundable. However they might agree to move them. Definitely nothing to lose by going direct to the airline.

if Tui did not warn you at the time that using a third party airline significantly altered your rights compared to their using their own flights, you may have grounds to complain about that. If you kick up enough of a fuss Tui may agree to absorb any non-refundable flight cost.

Good luck and hope you can soon get a full diagnosis and treatment plan for your baby, sounds really stressful and worrying.

I have insurance with my bank account. Prior to this I always booked insurance at the time of booking the holiday. So glad I did, I had an argument with my daughters horse, have a guess who lost 😝

one broken arm, metal plate and pins and no holiday. Even though we were insured it took them 4 months to pay out.

like someone else has mentioned, check with your bank to see if you have any charge back options. You have more security with a credit card than a debit, but may still get something back, worth a try 🤷‍♀️

They can be added, we have a trip booked in August, we didn’t have our baby when it was booked, she was added to our policy for a small admin fee and any illness she has etc will be covered under the policy. We added her asap so if she was ill etc she was already covered.

Yep, having worked for one of the IAG airlines that sounds to me like a fair summary.

Your contract is with Tui. You paid them for a package holiday including flights. The fact that they are not using their own aircraft but have themselves chosen to put you onto a 3rd party aircraft is nothing to do with you. It is completely irrelevant.

They are really trying to pull a fast one here.