To ask for a refund as holiday has changed substantially?

[Loveabathtub]

Not really a AIBU, more can anyone help me with where we might stand legally?

We booked a tailor made holiday through a company called Dial A Flight on 23.09.2023. It was to be a holiday of a lifetime that straddled the exact dates of February half term, my birthday and Valentines day. It cost a considerable sum of money. It took weeks to plan and book and involved choosing direct flights to Mauritius where we would stay for 4 nights before flying onto Johannesburg from where we would travel directly onto our safari lodge. There we would spend a further four nights before flying on a direct overnight flight home.

However, yesterday we received a phone call to say that the flight between Mauritius and Johannesburg had been cancelled which meant that we would now only spend 3 nights in Mauritius and would then have to spend one night in Johannesburg before flying onto safari.

This is bitterly disappointing. We would never have booked or paid out so much money to travel all the way to Mauritius for just three nights. Neither would we have ever booked to stay one night in Johannesburg. I certainly do not relish packing and unpacking three times over the course of a week for me and my children. The holiday company are suggesting we change dates but this does not work with school holidays. They say we cannot get a refund just for the Mauritius hotel. Neither could we fly directly straight to Johannesburg from UK without considerable extra costs. We feel that this holiday has now turned into something we would never dream of booking.

We paid Dial a Flight for a specific holiday that we have in writing as being as being four nights in a specific Mauritius followed by four nights at a in a specific safari lodge in South Africa, it is now turning into something completely different. To add to this Dial a Flight are expecting us to shoulder all extra costs and losses.

We would like a full refund to be able to reconsider and rebook at another date. Dial a Flight say this is not possible as they have found an alternative flight that will be less than seven hours delay on the original. However due to the knock on effect on the connecting transfers this new flight results in more than a 24 hour delay in getting to safari.

Our contract is with Dial a Flight. We booked the whole thing as a package. We were only informed of this yesterday, three weeks before travel is about to take place. Can anyone help advise us of our rights?

I believe a pilot was kidnapped from the Melrose arch area just the other day. He was taken and beaten/tortured until he handed over thousands of pounds to them. That's not normal "be aware in a city" stuff. Not somewhere I'd fancy taking children or wandering around myself tbh.

If the terms and conditions disagree with the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations, the regulations win (assuming OP booked both flights and accommodation through Dial a Flight).

However due to the knock on effect on the connecting transfers this new flight results in more than a 24 hour delay in getting to safari.

I don't understand this part...... surely if you are in Johannesburg a day earlier you would just catch the same connection to the safari destination?

i read that to mean that they have a delay on arrival of 24 hours before they get to the safari

ie instead of heading straight there they now have to wait in the city 24 hours

Have you been to Johannesburg? If not then you won’t realise how dramatically awful the place is 😄I couldn’t be paid to spend a night there. OP push back, they’re trying their luck.

What additional costs have they asked you to incur? The hotel in Joberg? Or is the new flight more expensive? Have to say i'd be really pissed off myself although you didn't leave much wiggle room with such a short itinerary. I do feel for you though!

Well I certainly hope those that don't think this is a significant change for the OP aren't going to pop up this summer calling for their comp (EU261) if their flights get delayed by a few hours...

This discussion is moot because the OP has read ts and cs and has reached the 8% threshold so she can now cancel, she just hasn't been back.

We don’t know if she’s succeeded in cancelling on that basis.

Jo’burg used to be the murder capital of the world - safety has now improved post apartheid but this is still the UK gov official advice….

Violent crime

There is a high crime rate, including carjacking, ‘smash and grab’ attacks on vehicles house robbery, rape, sexual assault and murder. Violent crime can take place anywhere, including in tourist destinations and transport hubs. Most violent crimes occur in townships on the outskirts of major cities or in isolated areas. The threat is higher in central business districts of major cities and increases after dark.
There have been violent incidents involving tourists in some popular tourist locations. There are usually additional security personnel in the main tourist areas who can assist tourists. However, policing and security can be limited, so always remain vigilant.

My family lived a suburb of Jo’burg and when I planned to visit SA with my son, someone in the UK actually said social services shouldn’t allow me 🤣

I have SA friends who wouldn’t go on a holiday due to the danger.

That said, the average tourist for one night is going to be absolutely fine. We did go for two weeks, stayed with friends and travelled in an RV and although we had some moments of fear, we were entirely safe.

General advice from friends was not to go outside gated complex after dark and if you’re asked for money to ‘watch your vehicle’ give them some!

Yes I meant back to the thread

Sorry, but what is the problem here? You’ve still got a fantastic holiday few could afford. You will arrive early for your safari- no loss there. If you really can’t live without 4 nights in Mauritius just book a flight to get there a day earlier at your own expense.
if you’re really that upset, just cancel the whole holiday and get real!!!!

I think you have every right to be upset over losing a day in Mauritius and it being replaced with a day in joburg however not to the point of a full refund for the whole holiday. I would want to be compensated over the loss of the day in Mauritius and would expect the cost of the stay in jburg to be shouldered by dial a flight. You need to fully read your T&Cs though to see what you have agreed to.

I would politely suggest to you that whenever one travels, particularly long distances with tight time-schedules involving less developed countries, one has to be prepared for glitches like this. Your tone suggests that the travel company has done this in some way to spite you — but these things happen. No matter how carefully planned an event is, things can and will go wrong despite the best intentions of everyone involved.

Use Skyscanner to see what the options are and suggest other flights that might fit the bill. Ask for a reasonable amount of compensation or an upgrade to a 5* hotel in Jo'berg and then go, enjoy yourselves, perhaps surprise yourselves by having an unexpectedly good day in Jo'berg and teach your kids a little lesson in being flexible and making the best of things that don't go according to plan. You can't always get what you want but sometimes you can get what you need.

I think the company were being ambitious selling you the holiday without a night over as to get two flights in a day is a big ask. It's about 4 hours from Mauritius isn't it? We went to Mauritius and had to overnight en route back to our destination.

For me it would depend on if the entire holiday from leaving the UK to returning was any shorter? If yes then I'd definitely want a refund

@whiteshutters
I think the company were being ambitious selling you the holiday without a night over as to get two flights in a day is a big ask.

Can't agree with that TBH, that sort of itinerary isn't ambitious and should be well within the capability of any decent travel company.

All around the world, everyday, countless numbers of people regularly connect between pairs of flights.: long haul>short haul, short haul>long haul etc etc...getting two flights in a day is absolutely normal...

The trick is making sure the connections are feasible (timing) and robust. That's where maybe the travel company has fallen down.

Two flights in one day ?

That's called " a connecting flight " Happens all the time.

A lot of people on this thread appear to be unaware of the law.

A package holiday is one including overnight accommodation or lasting at least 24 hours which is a combination of two or more of transport, accommodation, car rental, tourist services. Tourist services are things like theme park tickets, tours, sports equipment, etc. if they are a significant part of the holiday, either due to their value or because they are an essential part of the trip.

Linked travel is similar, the difference being that you select and are charged for each service separately. Many websites where you can book a flight and then choose a hotel are offering linked travel rather than package holidays.

It is clear from Dial a Flight's website that they offer package holidays. Their home page shows lots of holidays advertised at an inclusive price covering flights and accommodation.

Any operator providing package holidays is bound by the Package Travel and Linked Travel Regulations 2018. If the operator's terms and conditions do not conform to these regulations, the regulations win.

If there is a significant change to the holiday, the traveller has the right to terminate the contract and receive a full refund. The reason for the change is irrelevant. It doesn't matter whether the change is outside the operator's control. The regulations do not define what is meant by a significant change. That is up to the courts. However, a change that results in you losing 25% of the time at one of your destinations is likely to be regarded as significant.

The operator can only increase the price if it is due to changes in the price of fuel, changes in exchange rates or changes in taxes or fees such as tourist taxes, landing taxes, embarkation or disembarkation fees. Even then, they can only increase the price if their terms and conditions specifically say they can and give the traveller the right to a price reduction if these costs go down. The operator cannot increase the price for any other reason, so the attempt by Dial a Flight to charge OP extra because they've changed the itinerary is clearly not allowed. If OP accepted the changed itinerary, Dial a Flight would have to provide it at the original cost.

Even if the conditions for a price increase are met, the traveller can cancel and receive a full refund if the operator increases the price by more than 8%. The operator cannot increase the price at all for any reason if it is less than 20 days to the start of the holiday.

For those people saying that it’s only a minor change … it may just be 1 night but it’s a big change in terms of your safety. Jo’burg is not a city to visit on holiday. When I went on a sports tour, we had to have a police escort through the airport and then couldn’t leave our hotel for our own safety. SA people will tell you how dangerous it is and it’s a bit of a ‘no go’ area. I would be asking serious questions to the company you booked through and try and seek an alternative arrangement

Thanks for taking the time to write this out. It’s really useful to know.

OP are you OK? It must be really really hard to live with this level of emotional bouncing over not huge issues

OP are you OK? It must be really really hard to live with this level of emotional bouncing over not huge issues

Are you OK?

Dripping snark to complete strangers.