Zika Virus beware of Thomson First Choice advice

[dhare1]

Another member suggested I post this here as well as travel hope it helps people to stay safe.

Thomson Holidays and First Choice Holidays do not recognise Cape Verde as having Zika Virus (despite 4000+ cases) so you may find you have trouble getting refunds/ changing your holiday - I'm currently in this situation would have no problem going if I wasn't 25 weeks pregnant.

They won't change my flights until the FCO put out a specific warning for Cape Verde. Staff in shops also giving out its "safe as far as they are concerned" advice.

So please be wary if pregnant and check all advice before traveling or booking. Trying to get their attention via twitter but seems to be falling on deaf ears any retweets greatly appreciated twitter.com/HareDawn/status/691344415592468485
I've already decided I'll not go whatever happens but want to help awareness for all pregnant women

Thank you dhare1 An email will be sent today if I don't get my second call back from Thomson to advise me of this change! I too just want to change to another holiday! Thank you again for your advise!

sorry mummymeister missed that about Dominican. NHS & Public health England not yet added it to either list so may be more difficult but news.yahoo.com/dominican-republic-confirms-10-cases-zika-virus-043655609.html this shows they have announced they've got it.

I wish MNHQ would make this a bit more prominent. how many people out there with holidays booked to Cancun and the west indies know about this?

at last the BBC has it on their top 10 listing but no list of countries just a map.

Here is the link to the BBC story with the helpful map

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35399403

4,000 case in Brazil alone of babies born with microcephaly SINCE OCTOBER 2015.

Hi @dhare1 I'm having the same problem and being told NO, was mugged off on the phone and also via email by the pretravelservices, they wont amend our booking without charging us a fee!

concernedparent101 Tweet and copy in @thomsoncares @thomsonholidays (First choice and Thomas Cook have similar tags) and email CEO it worked for me. I did ask MNHQ to help me out in my twitter campaign but got no response. (Arguably I started on a Sunday so not many bums on seat) Include high profile tweeters in in your tweets and ask for them to retweet I never really tweeted before yesterday but it made an impact quickly. That said it was the email to the CEO that really worked.

I don't know how to get people to tweet? what about simon calder the travel journalist. bet he has a lot of followers. this is going to have a big impact especially as a lot of people have been turned off of Europe for their holidays because of the threats.

Hey @Dhare1 thanks for the tips, I had infact emailed David Burling before finding this thread, I've responded PreTravelServices saying its still not acceptable and copied David back in. I've also blasted them a fair bit on twitter.

I'm simply asking Thomson to allow us to change destinations without charging us a penalty. We only booked 2 weeks ago for pete's sake.

Thanks for info. I hope this is taken very seriously by governments. Had a look at that map..for Caribbean countries I can see Barbados, Guadeloupe and Martinique. But I know its in St Lucia now as my sister there just told me. Inevitable really, its just 15 minutes away from Martinique. Yet its not on the "alert map". I feel really sorry for the expectant mothers in south America and the Caribbean.. anyone pregnant planning to travel to that region should just abandon plans totally. I do think its pretty quiet on the news/alert front regarding this however

I've had another phone call from my local branch. Still refusing to do anything. Refused to give me a number for their head office and refused to give me any email addresses. Obviously thanks to you guys I have an email address so will see where I get with that!

I know mistressdeecee. 4,000 cases in one country in only a few months. It does make me really cross at the lack of media coverage. imagine if this was in Spain or mainland Europe. bet it would be splashed all over the news.

those poor mothers in the affected countries. ttc or even thinking about it must be a nightmare.

Any news Vaw1? if they can change for one person then they should be able to do it for others.

Someone at weekend got their booking successfully changed using this number 01582644100 and asking to speak to a duty officer might be another option for those with Thomson issues.

mummymeister the store called me and said no changes have been made. Wouldn't give me any head office details etc. so have also emailed the CEO and if I don't get a response from him I will email all of the directors (managed to find them online) I will no accept 'there is no danger!' As we all know there is one!

good for you Vaw1. put them under pressure. anyone know how to get people to blog or whatever about this? least tech savvy person ever.

I think there needs to be a facebook post done to their page for people to share. Personally think that's the best way to get people's attention!

Also try [email protected] and email proof of pregnancy I did get a response from this early on but they were playing the cape Verde not recognised card would be fine for Barbados or Mexico but they did call me back to keep me updated

Also had a tweet from FCO " @HareDawn We are trying to clarify the current advice with @NaTHNaC. You can read the latest guidance here: ow.ly/Xvb04 "

Agree with you Vaw1 but don't know how to do it. think twitter is a good one we just need some of the mn tweeters to do it for us.

I'm also having problems with Thomson in relation to this. I'm due to travel to Mexico in three weeks. I'm TTC and am really worried that I could be pregnant by the time of travel/during. I asked to change my holiday and offered to pay the £50 amemdment fee but they flatly refused to change unless I could prove I was pregnant. The agent I spoke with was extremely rude and told me to stop TTC until after my holiday! I'm going to see my dr and get advice, but there's no way I'm going to be able to relax if I go as I always get bitten no matter how many precautions I take.
I emailed David Burling but no response, not even an acknowledgment. I thought Thomson were supposed to be good at customer service?!

VM82, aren't they saying if you do get infected not to get pregnant for 6 months after? So the agent is giving out wrong advise for one. I really don't know what to suggest. I guess if you already have holiday Inaurance and the doctor can give you an exemption from flying you could get your money back that way?

Vm 82 sorry i'm with thomson here. You're not pg. Anyone can say they're ttc! Thomson are hardly in a position to be able to refund/change everyone that MIGHT be pg. That would be every family/group with a woman of childbearing age.
Go on holiday, enjoy it and pause on the ttc until you get back

Thanks Vaw1, I hadn't heard that! I'll go to the dr and see what he says.

Frazzled2207 - I can see where you're coming from, but we can prove that we've been trying as its on my medical record. I've been trying for over 7 months now, so don't want to pause, especially if what Vaw1 says above is correct. The whole point of the hol was for us to relax and hopefully help TTC.

Anyone had any luck?

vm82 - there is a big difference between ttc and someone like you whose doctor knows the situation and where there has been some medical involvement in the whole thing. the idea of putting it off for a couple of months doesn't work as the virus does apparently stay in semen for some weeks afterwards (posted elsewhere on another thread so no verification but am looking for this info now)

This is a big deal because because lots of people will have booked their holiday in January and picked south America and the west indies. only have to look at the figures on inbound tourism to see this is the case. of these what proportion are young fertile men and woman? even if you aren't actively ttc it can happen especially on holiday.

Many people will have booked their holidays to these destinations because they wanted to avoid travelling to Europe and also for that one last big holiday before having children.

so whilst I accept in part the point made by frazzled, no one wants an avoidable disease. sensible people are trying to avoid it but they do need the holiday companies to understand this.

I wonder what stance the big couples resorts like Sandals are taking on this? anyone know?

Hi Guys I've had two tweets from a PR/ consumer complains company they might be able to help anyone who's still struggling

A Spokesman Said ‏@spokesmansaid 1h1 hour ago Hereford, England
@HareDawn Hi there, I read your complaint about Thomson. We work with some journalists. Post your complaint on www.aspokesmansaid.com/make-a-complaint ...

@HareDawn Check this out www.aspokesmansaid.com/travel-and-holidays/stories/content-2715/thomson-do-the-decent-thing---couple-finally-get-holiday-refund-after-husband-hit-by-stroke … we work with some journalists.