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 agree to some extent, but we don’t have the full contractual picture. What is interesting is that TUI appear to have been saying that OP could have got some money back if the flights had been TUI flights, but their hands were tied because the deposit has been used to buy third party flights.

They were also saying, I think, that OP couldn’t just transfer the booking to another date because part of the deposit had been used up on buying non-refundable flights. To transfer, she would have had to pay extra for additional flights.

In the end, OP got 65% of the flight costs back from the airline. As I said above, I think that possibly that is more than she would have got if they were TUI flights because TUI most likely have a “deposit is not refundable” policy. They are entirely entitled to have that policy. However if all the money had remained in TUI’s hands they would also have had discretion to waive the policy and refund in full. I think what they were doing was saying that the fact that third party flights had been bought meant that they were no longer in a position to exercise that discretion- “sorry, our hands are tied”. (Not true of course, as TUI could have refunded in full and taken the hit on the flight cost if minded to do so). I wonder if there was any difference (positive or negative) between the flight cost and the deposit amount.

This analysis would also explain why TUI did not tell OP that her cancellation rights had changed when the third party flights were booked: she never had any right to receive the deposit back so no change. It just affected TUI’s ability to override the policy, which they were obviously not going to advertise up front.

But fundamentally, TUI not allowing a refund when a person’s circumstances change is normal and accepted business practice as long as made clear when the deposit has paid. Bringing us back to why insurance is so important- that’s how you transfer that risk from a holiday company that can’t afford it, to an insurer that can.

I received payment when my airline refused to pay for cancellation. Contact your pay provider.