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!

I’m not very knowledgeable but I thought if the travel companies go bankrupt you could get a refund from your credit card company as paying by credit card protects against bankruptcies? Is this incorrect?

I agree OP, I have 2 UK holidays booked this year and don't think it's unreasonable of them to offer credit rather than a refund. Plus if they dish out too many refunds it could go bust and then no one gets a holiday OR their money back

Can someone explain whether paying by credit card will protect you if the travel companies go bankrupt?

I always thought so as I have a vague memory of a friend having this situation many years ago.

Is it not the case anymore?

Yes it will Strawberry

If you pay on credit card and the company goes bust, regulations known as 'section 75' allow you to claim the money back from your credit card.

Following the Thomas Cook collapse, Moneysavingexpert started strongly advising people to use a credit card for big purchases like holidays because of the protection given.

You can also claim consequential losses. I did this when Monarch went bust 2 days before we were due to fly with them. We booked new flights with another airline, which were obviously far more expensive than our original flights and I got the money back for the monarch flights, and also the extra cost of the new flights above what we had paid originally.

I haven't read the full thread so not sure what Edwin means by 'My beef is with ABTA pretending all our money is safe. When it isn’t' but if anyone is affected and not sure what their rights are or how to seek a refund etc, Moneysavingexpert has comprehensive and straightforward guides.

For anyone booked with jet2holidays, I've seen a few comments on Facebook from people I know stating that Jet2 are ringing people in turn to offer a rebooking, voucher or refund and a couple of people who want a refund have got their money back within a few days.

We had a flight only booking for next week with Jet2 (staying with friends so no other costs to worry about) and will be looking for a refund as we don't want to commit to another holiday at the moment.

I was booked to fly to the UK in 2 days time. I've completed the form for a 'travel voucher' on the basis that

1. If Emirates go belly up then the problem is way bigger than we are presently experiencing.
2. So, I give them an interest free loan, when I can get 0.01% at the bank!!
3. Ok, I'm in a financial position to afford to be able to do this.. therefore I should support an industry that is central to my business and lifestyle. 4. I've already booked in advance 8 further flights ( under their waver of change fees). and paid on Amex.
4. I'll claim on Amex if Emirates go bust.
5. If Amex go bust then its bye bye everyone. It was good while it lasted.

@Strawberrysweet
Yes, if it's over £100. Unfortunately there are timing t's+c's that differ depending on the c/c institution. As posted above, Amex ( in my view) appear to have the most consumer favourable rules.

There is going to be massive contraction of the whole travel industry in the next year or two. That will also include all forms of socialising (thus restaurants and pubs will have to change too.)

Maybe a bonus will be they have to re-format the seating on planes so we have 2 metres of space each. smile.
Or more likely, less passengers, greater travel restrictions and higher prices.

I was due to travel by Eurostar May half term. They are offering a credit voucher to be booked by Sept 30 and used by March next year. That is hopeless as my plans were linked to a special event and in any case the chances of travel getting back to normal are slim. If they are not providing the service they should give a full refund or at the very least credit vouchers with no expiry date.

I booked with Lastminute.com. The website said please wait until after your date of travel and we will contact you. About a week after I had heard nothing so logged onto my account which told me my refund was in progress.
Then I got an email the next day saying I could have a voucher for the full cost plus £50 or a full refund but that would take longer to process as they have to wait for the airline etc.

I know that the law it 14 days but I don’t mind if it takes longer. Every single holiday that is book everywhere is being refunded right now. Of course it will take longer.

Not everybody is fortunate enough financially to just let it go.

Nobody is being asked to let money go, just to accept protected credit notes which can be converted to cash at a later date if not used.

@edwinbear I posted a screenshot from ABTA’s website which states clearly that Refund Credit Notes are ATOL-protected. ABTA can’t go around saying that if it’s not true. Please can you explain why you believe they are lying?

We booked a holiday for a week away with Jet2 holidays for DM, Ds and myself, going on April 4th. Cost just over £2k.

Obvs it was cancelled with the pandemic and I was emailed to say jet2 would be in touch. Didn't hear from them so I called after our departure date and was told that a full refund had been issued.

Still haven't had it, and now they've shut the phone lines so I have no idea what's happening. I just want my money back!

@edwinbear see Simon Calder on the subject of. RCNs here

I think that you may be misunderstanding because there is talk of ABTA lobbying the government to be able to issue RCNs.

They can already issue RCNs, with full protection, if the customer agrees. What they are lobbing for is a change in the law to allow them to refuse to give a refund and compel the customer to accept a RCN. That requires a change in the law.

I booked to go away with hoseasons at the beginning of may.
I booked 4 nights as we were attending a function in the area and thought we would have a mini break at the same time.
Then the lockdown of holiday parks / campsites came, along with the general lockdown.
Hoseasons are offering a credit note, which I don't want as I have no reason to go at a later date.
I paid by credit card and I'm hoping to get a refund via section 75.
It's outrageous how holiday companies are treating customers.
The law needs to step in to protect everyone, not just the ones who have booked to go abroad, particularly when it isn't the customer doing the cancelling.
It's been cancelled by the government, not me, that's the difference.
I've never booked with hoseasons before and I'll never book with them again.
Bunch of crooks!

@helpfulperson I get that some people could do with the money but i don't understand those who say 'I can't afford to lose the money. Well actually you can because you were spending it on a holiday. If you really couldn't afford to lose it you wouldn't have spent it.

There are lots of other factors as to why someone isn’t in a position to travel and it isn’t all to with the money. Our holiday has been cancelled and yes, the money has already been spent. However, we haven’t received services for that money spent and therefore acceptable to want a refund. We were planning on going to the Caribbean and our last big trip before trying for a family. We were going to start TTC in September and that is likely pushed back due to the pandemic. We aren’t prepared to push it even further back to wait for 3 months after a trip to the Caribbean with the risk of Zika. We spoke about concerns regarding Zika to our travel agent, they suggested sychelles. Whilst that would be a lovely trip, that is going to cost more than our original holiday, which was our maximum we could afford when we booked it last year. Since then DH has had a 20% pay cut so we can’t afford to find extra money for a holiday. Especially when we don’t know when we will get to on that holiday. They offered us Europe but the times that we can fly due to busy times at work don’t really work for Europe. I also don’t really want to spend the amount I was spending to go to the Caribbean on a trip to Europe, it is much more accessible and therefore what I’m willing to pay for a trip to Europe is not what I’m willing to pay for a trip to the Caribbean. That would be true before this situation.

In addition, DH’s work are also forcing him to take all his accrued leave by each quarter. This situation isn’t going to be resolved by September and he’ll have have taken half his annual leave doing nothing at home. After taking a pay cut, we can’t afford for him to take unpaid leave, not that his work will be allowing it after everyone is allowed back to work as they’ll be trying to get as much new work as possible. As much as I’d love something planned in to look forward to, it just isn’t possible with our situation.

But @cakeandgin you can get a refund a bit later if you take a protected RCN now. They can be converted to cash at a later date. It’s the people asking for immediate refunds who are making things unsustainably difficult for the industry.

@argumentiveAardvaak if that’s the case, that wasn’t explained to me. I was told I could get a credit note and it was valid for two years. At no point was it explained to me I could get a refund after that (and actually I think our travel agent has been amazing through all this so I’m not knocking them). I do not think I will be travelling again in two years. Our plan before this situation was that we would have our holiday this year and then do some long weekends over the next few years because we wanted to spend the money on the house. Now with the current situation, I don’t see us flying at all in two years, it doesn’t work with our existing plans or our modified plans. If we do travel abroad, it’ll be a last minute booking when we know what our circumstances are. It’ll likely be a European city break and it will not even come close to the amount of a Caribbean holiday for 2 weeks. Why should I take the credit note when that isn’t suitable to me? By the way, I was very apologetic to our travel agent. I understand the situation they are in and why they are desperate for people to rebook with them. I was also understanding when they said it’ll be longer than 14 days for our refund and I’m not insisting that they refund me within that time frame.

@cakeandgin Simon Calder explains it in the article I linked from my post at 08:34. The proposed redemption date is July 2021. There is also info at www.abta.com in the FAQ. Worth asking your travel agent if what they are offering is a Refund Credit Note structured as recommended by ABTA.

It’s not the Travel Agents decision whether people get a cash refund or credit note it’s the tour operator and airlines
All Travel Agents are doing their best for all their customer at a very stressful time
For all those people who book direct /DIY bookings you might to stop and think about using a Travel Agent in future instead of cutting out the middle man , the middle man who is working their butt off to help

@Lala241280 Surely one of the main points of using a travel agent is that the customer should be relatively insulated from the decisions and interactions with all the different suppliers
If I book a holiday myself I fully expect to have to fight with all the different suppliers to get refunds etc. If I'd booked with a travel agent then I'd expect a refund if the circumstances dictated it, and for the travel agent to deal with the hassle and stress of whether the suppliers refund them.

I had booked everything direct so was expecting several fights, but Virgin Atlantic rearranged all our flights via WhatsApp, Agoda started the refund process straight away on one of the hotels and by luck rather than judgement the other hotels we had booked with either free cancellation or pay when we got there. Other bits we'd booked like event tickets were automatically refunded or extended.

I realise we have been VERY fortunate

Yes. Because if you didn't have the payment or owed money the holiday company would be really chill about it.

Just like the government should bail out virgin, since Branson would obviously do the same for us.

bingoitsadingo regardless of if you book with an agent or direct your contract is the tour operator. So if the agent has package it themselves and protected it with their ATOL then yes they would be responsible for refunding you and dealing with the individual suppliers and they are the tour operator. If you buy a package from say Tui or P&O from an agent they are simply the agent and bound by the operators T&Cs so would only refund if the operator did. Any refunds depends on the operator not the agent.

@bingoitsadingo never have Travel Agents refunded money for their own banks to customers even before this situation we find ourself in.
If we were to refund like this we simply wouldnt exist

Apologies for typos, I think theres a lack of understanding of the difference between a travel agent and a tour operator, which is confused further by a business like Tui as they act as both! Then add in that some agents will have their own ATOL so can be the operator too and things get confusing. The industry is far more complex than people realise hence the need for patience to get refunds processed.

@bingoitsadingo

What your are describing is the advantage of using a tour operator, not a travel agent.

Tour operator buys flights, accommodation, transfers etc from the individual suppliers and sells it to you as a package for a single sum. So you’re right, you should not be concerned with how those elements are refunded to the tour operator.

However @Lala241280 works for a travel agent. They just sell the tour operators’ packages to you in return for commission. The agent never gets the full price of the holiday- it goes straight to the tour operator - so they can’t refund your money to you as they never had it in the first place.

Few cross posts there!