To say we wont get our money back for holiday?

[NillyFrickers]

We booked a package holiday with teletext at the beginning of January for May. Even though the airline we're flying with hasnt cancelled the flight yet, we know it wont be going ahead. We're ok with that of course but I've heard alot of people saying they're struggling to get their money back and that they had to chase it up with the individual companies themselves.

DM actually booked the holiday with teletext as she believed they were a good company from past experience.
We have our last payment due on the 12th April which we were planning to pay otherwise we know we wouldnt be entitled to anything if we didnt when the flights were cancelled.

Has anyone got any useful info? I have insurance with my bank but my DM is very annoying when it comes to insurance and often leaves it until the day before departure. She did get insurance this time but not until everything started to kick off with the virus and her insurance company has basically said shes not covered.

I have read some bad reviews about teletext online just now regarding cancelled holidays etc.
What are the chances of gettin our money back? How does it work if I had insurance and she didnt? Also I see teletext are atol and tta protect but jot abta so what does that mean? Everyone talks about abta so this worries me that they dont have it.

My DM is stressing me out now and I was already stressed to begin with. So if anyone could shed a bit of light on what happens with stuff like this as I'm not usually a package holiday person so dont know how it works.

Following this with interest ,as we’ve booked a TUI holiday through a local travel agent ( booked in November , fully paid end of jan ) due to go in less than 3 weeks
Easy jet have cancelled the flight , and we know we won’t be going , but TUI haven’t cancelled it yet
It’s just a waiting game , I would like a refund 👍not a voucher

From the other side, it was totally necessary, otherwise there would be no travel agents, tour operators or airlines left to take anyone on holiday once this is all over. And I'm pretty sure everyone is going to want/need a holiday once we're through this

The other side of this is a lot of people won’t have jobs and won’t be able to afford the spending money etc to go.

Plus they may need to money now to feed their families.

I can see both sides and the travel industry will take a battering even when it’s over.

There are so many that pre book holidays a year in advance and I think this will have to change in the future

@malsid thank you for that.

I obviously do not want any of the travel companies to go bust from all of this, and I totally understand that they will offer a voucher instead of a refund in hope that they can keep alot of customers. Teletext holidays are not ABTA protected but they are TTA protected, so if I get a voucher does that mean TTA will cover my voucher money if teletext were to go bust?

I'm not too sure how it all works. If they can guarantee that I would get the money back even if they went bust then I would take the voucher. But I'm just worried that wont be the case.

I know it's not the travel agents fault and I wouldnt take it out on them. It's still early for us yet but I would just like an understanding of how this all works so I can prepare myself and make.it as easy as possible on both parties.

Accepting vouchers is the equivalent of voluntarily giving an interest-free loan to a precarious company in a precarious sector in a precarious economy. (And you might not live to see it repaid.) Get cash while you can.

Martin Lewis tonight - said you can get a refund and if no joy contact your card/bank

I believe, Malsid, that that recommendation isn't yet true.

As of this morning (l keep checking) the desire for the companies to be able to offer a voucher has yet to be agreed on. The companies are asking for the right to offer a voucher for 4 months, but that has yet to be agreed and the legal right still stands at this time to get a refund within 2 weeks.

We have a holiday booked with TUI, ready to fly on Sunday if all had not kicked off. We are yet to hear from them, but when I phoned their line the other day they said they were only dealing with people flying within the next 48 hours. So I'm hoping for a phone call tomorrow, but now most of their staff are furloughed and only a skeleton staff workign from home, I'm not sure I'm going to get the call. So I will be calling them come Monday if I haven't heard. I'm hoping to get through and secure a refund before the rules do change. I have a text that mentions the word refund too, sent by them when the date was initially covered by the advice not to fly.

As far as the hotel and airline holding on to money, a lot of holiday firms pay their hotels at the end of the break, so that could be true, or a crock of bull!

I understand the need to keep the business going. But noone knows how long til it will be safe to fly again. Or whether I will be in any position to afford the cost of a holiday when it does, as costs of holidays may well change hugely by then. As will a lot of people's personal position re work and being able to afford the luxury of a holiday.

We’ve had a phone call from the agent we booked with , offering to look at rebooking us either later this year or same holiday next year
We’re self employed , so can’t plan anything at the moment ( apart from get through this somehow )

She was helpful , but can’t do anything yet , said easyJet are being a nightmare , but we booked a package with TUI , not with easyJet

So , the FCO have advise against all but essential travel , easyJet have cancelled the flight , the hotel is closed , and Madeira are putting any visitors in quarantine for 14 days , yet our holiday hasn’t been cancelled

@DrMadelineMaxwell, I hope you get something resolved soon , what a nightmare

We’ll keep waiting , I check TUI website everyday , they don’t update it very often though

I'm having an issue that we have a holiday book in the Netherlands in August. The holiday park aren't doing refunds just credits to be used next year but if I cancel by May 8th I'll only lose 15% of the booking cost (around £350). However if the flight then goes ahead I'll either have a flight and nowhere to stay or I lose £850 to BA. I need a bloody crystal ball!

Oh and the credit comes with the lovely addition of having to pay extra costs so you can bet your bottom dollar they whack the prices up for next year!

On another thread someone said airlines were contacting passengers asking them if they wanted to pay £150 to change their flight. This meant that they weren’t eligible for a refund when the original flight was cancelled. If they offer to change your holiday, I would say no. I would sit tight for the refund when the flight is cancelled.

This is making me thankful I booked through jet2 as they issued a full refund for my all inclusive holiday on Tuesday. We were due to fly yesterday

I don't think the legislation has been passed yet to enable package deals to be refunded via vouchers only.

@Misty9 our flight is with Jet2, as of yesterday Jet2 are the only company that haven't cancelled flights on the date that we are meant to be going and I dont know why? Obviously we wont be flying out then, so I dont know if they are just not cancelling yet to reduce the amount of people calling for refunds etc. But hopefully we get our money back through teletext. I dont hold out much hope for gettin it back if we have to contact the hotel directly.

Usually we stay in a hotel run by a family we've known for years and would have no problem gettin the money, coincidentally this was the first time we went all out to treat ourselves.

Hi, we were due to cruise today with Tui/Marella. Booked online with them. I understand the travel industry is in a horrible state right now, but we've been furloughed too, facing possible job losses and couldn't have seen that one coming even a month ago.
Tui/Marella have been a nightmare. Zero leadership from the top and the poor staff dealing with social media are clearly being forced to be liars. We need a refund (paid by debit card) but the only correspondence we've been permitted with them is a letter not mentioning a refund but talking about 'alternative options', such as rebooking. The world can't commit to that now surely? We certainly can't.
Does anyone know how likely we are to get our refund and how we could force this to happen please? The holiday is Atol and Abta protected. Thanks.
Ps: Be VERY careful ever booking with Tui/Marella again. Their customer care and customer service is turning out to be non-existent.

Replay Martin Lewis from last nights

He has all the leaflets details

They have to refund unless the law changes which they are pushing for

We July so payment due in next few weeks. Yes we would take a credit note. Think Love Holidays offer credit notes. We will have pay balance though as they could say we still owed. Have phone them this month..

Thanks Green Tulips. Will take a look at that. That's my fear, it will be rebookings/credit notes only and that's why I worry if they are delaying things.