I have fucked up holiday

[Youagain2025]

I booked a holiday in tunisa. I have never been abroad before as an adult. I did not know tunisa is not a safe place to go. I didn't even know you could look it up. I just thought that if its not safe that all flights to that area stop . But that's not the case . I tried changing it but they told me I can't because airline operator do not go to the area I want . Its with tunisa airlines so basically it only gos to tunisa? . So i can't go change to a different destination. But unless I pay a load of money I can't cancel either.

Just to add . I do have learning difficulties. Which is probably why I did not realise all of this . I'm so pissed of

You mean the 22 hour flight via Tunisia? It's showing nothing else to me

Ah yes, my mistake! They don't make it clear it involves a layover in Tunis. It's madness an airline would even attempt to sell a flight like that.

But only VIA Tunisia - it's not a direct flight - so it is correct to say that Tunisair only fly to Tunisia from the UK. OP could use her existing flights to Tunisia and then fly from Tunisia to a destination of her choice (assuming it's somewhere they fly to) but this would increase both her travel time and cost.

I can imagine the airline only flies to different destinations from Tunisia itself, rather than from the U.K. to different destinations.

Exactly this. You only have to look at the link that the loveholidays' credit control staff member "helpfully" sent OP to know this is the case.

They aren't. They have a very limited number of planes. It is hard enough for big airlines to have their planes in the right place. This "route" is a cobbled route because all thier planes must leave from or land in Tunisia. So to marry up where a plane needs to be with flights paths and airport slots, occasionally you will see this. Actually it is happening all the time - but on a big airline you won't necessarily notice that the same plane you got on in Manchester actually left Dusseldorf, is going to Montreal, then to Havana and then coming back via the same route because you generally are only interested in the fact that you are going to Montreal from Manchester. That is a real "route" btw!

I'm waiting to hear back from them to change my flights. So I would end up paying for 2 sets of flights. But its still less than cancellation. And I can then choose a destination.

There is a note on my booking that says cancellation request. But I only actually asked for advice regarding cancellation and asked if there could be a payment plan . That when we hot onto the conversation about looking at tunisa airlines. I then said OK I would like to put cancellation on hold whilst I look . He said OK that's fine etc . But now there's a cancellation request on the notes

I am worried they might take a chunk of money from my account. So I'm going to call my bank tomorrow and see if they can stop card payments going to them. Then once I know what's going on I can then make payments to them.

What is the concern about him being gay in the country? How old is he?
As long as you behave respectfully and there are no public displays of affection I don't understand the problem?

He's just not comfortable. But i have not gone into deeper conversation with him. I don't want him to feel pressured so I have not said much .

Please be careful here. Whatever the rights and wrongs of it, you have entered into a contract and they have done nothing legally wrong in taking payments that you have authorised. You could end up in hot water preventing them from taking a legitimate payment - they could cancel absolutely everything and then sue you for the entire cost. Is there anyone in real life who could help you make a call to Love Holidays and find out exactly what their understanding of the current position is? In the end, they do not have to enter into any payment plan with you, and do not have to honour any booking you made if you cancel the payment authority. Don'y do anything without being absolutely sure about what you are doing.

I'm pretty sure they can't just go and sue me. They have to let me know they couldn't take payment. And give me the option to pay. At that point I can contact them and sort it out with them.

Citizens Advice Bureau and schools have more pressing issues than helping someone book their holiday (or at least I hope they have!). I'm also assuming the OP has booked during term time so she can't go to the school.

I agree the OP needs to find someone else who can offer assistance but disagree with some of your suggestions.

I don't think you understand. You cannot cancel the authority to pay them for X then expect them to allow you to book (and pay for) Y. If you stop payments you are in breach of your contract - why would they then be willing to enter into another contract with someone who can't be trusted to abide by the previous contract they signed? You cannot simply go around changing your mind, breaking contracts for no good reason (and you might think you have a good reason, but legally you don't) and expect there to be no consequences. With respect, you got into this situation by rushing into something that you didn't understand, and acting before thinking it through / being precipitate. We are all here trying to be nice and help you out with this, but in the end learning disability or not, the law doesn't care - you have capacity or you wouldn't be allowed to spend money on your own, so you are expected to understand what you are getting yourself in to. I am not saying that to be cruel - lots of quite "average people" with no disabilities manage to make the most stupid decisions regarding holidays (and lots of other things). But if you are demmed to be responsible enough to manage your own life - and you are clearly very capable of doing that - then you have to manage it even when you make mistakes or misjudgements. So please don't rush into something - find out what is happening properly, and if there is someone who is a bit more aware of holiday companies etc, get them to help you phone.

If your son is unwilling to travel to Tunisia and you are unwilling to travel without him, then you may have to pay to cancel the holiday. It's a shame to lose so much money. But you may have to chalk it up to experience.

Before you do that, though, why not have a longer conversation with your son? Ask him what he is concerned about in particular, tell him how much money you would lose by cancelling. If he still doesn't want to go, then ask him which destination he would prefer. Maybe he could even do the legwork of finding a suitable holiday for everyone, if he has more experience travelling overseas.

Schools usually have a Family Support person whose job is support families for all sorts of reasons. The OP and her children all have SEN so the Support Person is exactly the person to ask for help.
The one at my daughter's primary did things like help parents with such things as filling out a passport application, write formal letters to the council or help understand some medical issues (that's just the ones I know off because I knew those particular parents).
They were also involved with helping parents with claiming benefits or accessing food/uniform when needed.
That's their job. I'm not suggesting the OP asks one of the teachers 🙄
As for Citizens Advice - in my opinion the OP has been miss-sold a product because her learning disabilities mean she didn't understand what she was booking.
Isn't that exactly what Citizens Advice is for?

You have completely misunderstood me. But im not going to try and explain again because its just stress .

Well this sounds amazing but is not something I've ever heard of in my borough of London or anywhere

The schools here aren't even able to meet school needs for kids with SEN. Let alone anything else. 😌

I'm waiting to hear back from love holidays to sort our new flights so it might all be OK.

OK I have tried. I hope you get it sorted.

I live in London so it was a London Local Authority school that had the Family Support Person. I think the person covered several schools so they weren't permanently on site.
A lot of parents don't know they exist because they don't need them.
They are separate to the SEN departments.

I just typed in the name of my London borough and "schools family support" to Google and it tells you all about it.
Here is a general description of the job.
I believe all LAs should have one.

@Crunchymum sorry..... picture attached.

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They don’t come as standard in schools?
Maybe in very deprived areas?

Hi OP, who told you there's a note on your booking that says "cancellation request"? Is this just a "note" of your conversation with them, or an actual "cancellation request" that loveholidays will process in a timescale unknown to you? (They may be doing so right now.) I think you need to phone loveholidays back, as a matter of urgency, to clarify this, and if it's an actual cancellation request, get it corrected/removed. Your bank would have no authority to permanently stop a legitimate payment to loveholidays as a result of the contract you've entered into with them, which includes their cancellation terms, so you need to get this clarified and resolved with loveholidays NOW. I'm sorry OP, I'm not trying to stress you out, but I don't want you to lose money accidentally - you just need to stay on top of this to ensure it works out the way you want it to. 😊