To think people should cut the holiday companies some slack?

[sunfloweryy]

I’ve had my holiday cancelled for two weeks time - fair enough. Company are offering credit plus a discount on future holidays or you can apply for a refund but it could take several months.

I get this. They are obviously experiencing massively high call volumes, don’t have enough staff and are hemoraging money.

But loads of people are on SM demanding refunds, swearing, being rude etc. AIBU to think there are bigger problems and we should lay off for a while and let things die down?

I know it’s shit, I want my money back too but the cost is already sunk!

Sadly too, Thomas Cook going bust just before Civid seriously affected many travel agents and tour operators who booked TC flights.

Large parts of the industry were already vulnerable after that and needed time to recover.

I genuinely fear how many people will lose money through travel companies going bust over this.

@Lala241280 I accepted that I had to pay their extortionately inflated prices, or not travel for 12 years.

Doesn't mean it's now ok for them to operate outside of the law.

They are keeping within the law
Do you really think before they publish outcomes for cancelled holidays they don’t look into the law as I posted before though

force majeure
/ˌfɔːs maˈʒəː/
noun
1.
LAW
unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract.

@Watertorture Yes I know. I said there will be people who need the money. But many others don't. It's a cashflow thing as well. The law that was talked about being enforced was that you would get a voucher and if after 2 years hadn't used it could cash it in. I thought this was sensible as it spreads out the payments, hopefully enabling companies to survives.

@WickedlyPetite

Well considering the holiday companies have absolutely fucking rinsed me for 12 years, being confined to school holidays only, and paying through the nose, bloody extortionate prices, to go during those times, nah.

I'll have my money back within 14 days as per the law thanks.

Just so you know, those price hikes were made by airlines and hotels - not the travel agent.

Profit in and out of term time for a travel agent is often exactly the same. It’s the airlines and hotels that hike the prices.

In fact in many cases flight markups are £20 at most and often flights are sold with negative profit on them so as to then make money on ground arrangements as part of a package and also through things like GDS commissions etc.

It’s always painted that travel agents mark things up in the holidays. We don’t. The airlines and hotels do that.

Nah I think TUI are ripping the absolute piss to be honest.

If I move my holiday to the same dates next year its costing me £1040 more.

If they waived this extra payment then I would have changed my dates. But they haven't. So I want my money back.

dh is vulnerable & we have a holiday in Italy in Sept even if everything is open as coronavirus is going to be intermittent he would probably be at extreme risk.

This is my concern too. Except it's New Zealand in October. I have no idea when it will be safe to go so don't know when I could reasonably expect to postpone until.

@Morgan12 that's outrageous

@Hangingwithmygnomies I worked in travel for many, many years and am certainly glad I don’t now, it must be hell with customers not understanding why their holiday in say October this year is not as important as dealing with customers due to travel now. I am booked with Jet2 who I think are really good and I shall hopefully be travelling with them in Sept, if not then I’ll move it to next year.

"They are keeping within the law "

TUI certainly are not.

I would never, ever wish for a company to go bust simply because of the staff, but fuck me they are acting like a bunch of cunts.

🤣 33 days ago TIU cancelled my holiday. We were due to depart on 28th March. I’ve STILL NOT HEARD ANYTHING from them. No opportunity to rebook. I have tweeted, emailed and called. Apparently they have a high number of enquiries and will get back to me. Fortunately my credit card company hope to get my money back.

We are booked with Tui. It is a holiday of a lifetime . I saved hard for that money . Unlikely to ever happen. Due to Ds’s age .

So yes my money is safer in my account than theirs.

I worry heard some many things about Tui.

My DD works for a travel insurance company and they are currently running 4 weeks behind settling claims instead of their usual 3/5 days.
She says it’s been a full year of one disaster after another; from TCook collapse, Airlines folding, several storms and now Covid 19.
She’s wfh 10 hours a day to try and get through as many claims as she can, a lot of people just arent being rational and considering the reduced workforce but huge increase in demand.

If you accept a retail credit note from jet2 it is valid until 31july 2020, if you haven't rebooked anything for this year or next year by then you will be refunded cash. If jet2 go bust your credit note is covered under an ATOL certificate so you wont lose your money. They confirmed this to me

I know some firms can’t afford to refund all those requesting it so “keeping within the law“ is having to take a backseat to be dealt with later. It’s literally a case of them going bust within days if they did that.

They know they might have legal cases to deal with later but that’s a lesser evil than the whole firm going bust and hundreds of jobs being lost. They’re hoping that by surviving, they can sort out the mess of compensation later or ideally get help from the government in some way - be that financially or regulatory. This is a situation like no other. New laws & travel regulations will come out of this directly.

I know this doesn’t help individuals who want or need refunds. It’s just a fact of how serious and nightmarish things are right now in the travel industry. It’s literally on its knees because of this. 1000’s and 1000’s of jobs at very high risk.

A few of you have said that credit notes are not ATOL-protected, and you are worried that you would lose the credit if the tour operator went bust. This is not correct- they ARE protected. See this screenshot from the ABTA website and/or go to the coronavirus FAQ on www.abta.com.

There is no financial risk involved in accepting credit as it can be converted to cash at a later date. If you don’t have immediate cash flow problems of your own then waiting a little while for your money would make a huge difference to stopping the travel industry from going under. It doesn’t take much, as the Thomas Cook failure showed, and that was in much easier circumstances than we find ourselves in now.

Some companies don't deserve to survive this . We booked a holiday with Powell's cottages and have been able to move it to next year at just a small additional cost (in line with normal year on year increases). They were busy but we were patient and received helpful service.

Sykes cottages, however, have treated lots of friends appallingly. Most would have moved their bookings had Sykes not drastically hiked prices - in some cases they're double this year's prices.

I feel sorry for their employees but I won't be sad to see Sykes go under after the way they have treated their customers. We've booked 2-3 holidays a year with them for the last 8 years or so, in fact this is only our second holiday not with them, but, if they do survive, they will never get another penny from me.

I’ve had the same confirmation from Virgin about the credit note being valid until the end of July for bookings until end of Dec 2021. Except now I can’t actually rebook as their calendar for most destinations stops at the of this year! Plus they won’t speak to me because we’re not flying in the next 72 hours. Well no because we should have come back yesterday!

I’d be happy to wait in a queue except that’s not even an option now. You have to enter your booking reference then they cut you off I’ve got £12k in this voucher so I’ll be really cross if they cannot rebook us a holiday that we can actually go on (restricted to school holidays if they ever go back!).

I think people should try to reschedule instead of cancel where possible, but then of course that won't work for everyone! I had 2 UK holidays booked during lockdown and both have been rescheduled for same or only slight increase in price.

@edwinbear

ABTA are currently lobbying Government to change the law so that the Refund Credit Note scheme they have come up with as a concept, is an acceptable alternative and remains ATOL protected. As things stand though, the law hasn’t been changed so these notes are worthies if your travel agent goes bust.

No, that’s not right. The credit notes already are ATOL-protected. See my post above and/or look at the ABTA website.
What ABTA are lobbying for is a change in the law derived from the package Travel Directive to remove the obligation to refund in cash within 14 days.

Text between asterisks above is quoting what @edwinbear said.

Morgan12 We’re due to go on holiday with Virgin Holidays in 4 weeks and as of yet it hasn’t actually been cancelled. They’re so far offering the option to reschedule but, like with your holiday, it’s substantially more to go next year. I know from previous experience when the cheapest times to travel to our destination are and to go then would add around £1000 to the cost, to go in May next year (same week as we’ve booked for this year) almost doubles the cost. Not an expense we need at the moment when our household income has taken a big hit.
Suffice to say I’m holding out to see if they cancel so that I can get a refund.

@Sportycustard
Are you for real ?
You want the companies to go bust then of course it will effect the employees
Let’s hope whatever job you do comes out of this in a good place eh ?

I actually boiling with annoyance over the way me and my family have been treated by eDreams OP and your post is not helping. We are all damn well aware that we are living in unprecedented times but that is no excuse to shut down phone lines and refuse to respond to emails for an entire month!!!

Our trip is scheduled for Tuesday. I’ve left at least ten unanswered emails to their customer care department since mid March. I’ve paid £1,300.00 I can’t afford to lose and eDreams have given me nothing but a blank fucking wall!

This is an outrageous way to treat their customers. No matter what happens I will never, ever book a holiday with eDreams again.

@maddiemookins16mum it's not been fun recently that's for sure, with TC, Flybe and now this but I have to say, most of our customers have been very understanding - I can only think of a handful who have really kicked off because the date they now want is more expensive but sadly we are dictated by the airfare. I've been furloughed at the moment and genuinely I am worried if I will even have a job to go back to.

Those who are not happy because they've not had their refund within 14 days of cancellation - I get that's what is written in PTR law but physically there is not the staff now to get it done that quickly. Your refunds will come but please be patient with the person who answers the phone to you - they are a human being, ultimately being told what to do/say by senior members of staff. Please don't take your frustration out on them