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?

Agree! 11..5 hour flight UK to Mauritius. 4 nights there, 4+ hour flight from Mauritius to Jo’burg. Transfer to safari will take an hour or three depending on where and how. 4 nights safari, back to Jo’burg, 11.5 hour flight home. Even if the SA flights are overnight that sounds a bit punishing.

Having said that I’d be pissed off if I thought I had a night relaxing in Mauritius followed by a day journey / transfers only to find that I had to leave my pool lounger and probably miss out on a nice dinner and head back to the airport in order to sit round in Jo’burg killing time instead. That does feel like a poor outcome.

I’d be looking for a refund too, OP. I want 4 nights in Mauritius. Not 3 nights and then get shipped off to Joburg with kids in tow. Heck no.

What do you want them to do @Loveabathtub ? If the flight has been cancelled, that's surely outside of their control. Have you looked at whether the holiday would work in reverse, with the safari element first?

When Turkish airline changed my flight connections (and this was just by an hour) I was allowed the option to cancel and get a full refund , or book another flight. I think if they change the terms you are allowed a refund

I think that is a significant change! It adds a whole day of travel and removes 25% of the Mauritius time, a whole day and night, which is a lot when only 4 days were planned anyway.

Now instead of a day on a coral beach and an a relaxing evening in a beachfront hotel the OP has an extra flight, extra airport trip , a night in a city hotel that she didn’t plan to visit at all!

Another idea is to see if instead of a safari in SA you could switch to a safari in Kenya or Tanzania. The flight from Mauritius to Nairobi is the same duration as from Mauritius to Jo'burg and there are more airlines flying that route.

Could you fly to Mauritius one day earlier so you still get your four nights there?

I think you're being overdramatic. Of course you're disappointed and have every right to be. Flight cancellations and delays happen of course, which is always a risk when you travel, but they can't be helped and you have to make the best of it.

Your holiday isn't changing that much. 3 nights in Mauritius instead of 4 is not an enormous difference. I don't know anything about Johannesburg, but even if it isn't a place that is safe to wander around or even get an Uber to a museum or something, you can enjoy relaxing in the hotel, which with all the travel you'll be doing might not be a bad thing.

And to be honest your complaint about having to unpack and repack is ridiculous! Why would you unpack for one night in a hotel? That sounds like you're looking for something to complain about.

In summary, yes it's disappointing of course. But it's not a huge change and you should make the most of it.

I think this would be deemed a major change. They're trying it on.

Years and years since I was there, but I’d look at a night in sun city rather than joburg,

Years and years since I was there, but I’d look at a night in sun city rather than joburg,

Thats a long transfer for a night.

Meh. I've spent a night in Jo'burg a few times. Either at airport hotels, or nice suburbs (Sandton, from memory), in secure compounds. It's nice to sit at the pool, get a facial/massage, etc. I've also done a Township Tour, and been to a couple of museums - with private drivers, during daylight hours. I wouldn't be gadding about just anywhere, alone, after dark, for example. But, the OP could bargain to get Dial A Flight to pay for a very nice hotel for the night, as compensation.
BTW, I think it's an ambitious itinerary for a week, especially with kids. And this is coming from someone who once went from the UK to Sydney for 5 days.

I’ve used dial a flight for years and always found them excellent (I have a specific agent with them and he knows us well). The one time I said I wasn’t happy with something they were brilliant. I’d be very clear with what you’re not happy about and give them a chance to find a solution.

I have no idea 😂. I was a very young child. I just remember staying with my aunt in joburg and doing trips out the Kruger and sun city.

can’t really remember why I loved sun city so much but it left a big impression.

We went when we were kids (with family who lived in RSA). From memory, it was like African Vegas!

That again is quite subjective and depends on your definition of 'significant'. Not saying it's right but clearly there is a different of opinions as to whether it is major or not.

Well, when you only have 8 nights away I'd say changing one of them is pretty significant.

And swapping an island for a city is pretty major.

I know where I'd rather be out of beach side in Mauritius or killing time in a gated hotel in J'burg.

Ignore the MN types on here saying you're being over dramatic. I wouldn't like it at all.

I’m sorry. When you put in so much time and energy booking a once in a lifetime holiday, any change from you you finally decided on, booked and paid for is upsetting. We’ve done a similar holiday and did spend one night in Jo’burg just to break up the travelling (as the journey to to safari was about 5 hours from jo’burgh. We just stayed in our hotel in the evening, didn’t adventure into the city, but used the opportunity to book a balloon flight for early next morning. It was amazing! Such a shared family memory. Wonderful company and I could recommend them more highly- Bill Harrops Ballon Safari. https://balloon.co.za/

Perhaps you could do this with your extra day in Jo’burgh- company can pick you up from your hotel, about a 45 min journey from city center

They have excellent reviews for customer service but it's the airline that will have cancelled, not the agent. Your itinerary is incredibly tight for such a major trip so 1 day does make a difference but not enough for a full refund. You can take it up directly with the airline via their complaints process but you won't get a full refund, just a token for inconvenience, if that.

Unfortunately this is one of the risks with these "tailor made" holidays - you're not protected in the same way you are with a proper "two centre" package holiday.

I don't think I would ask for a refund but I would insist on a top class hotel in Jo'Burg for the night as well as maybe an upgrade for your flights.

OP, you sound incredibly unreasonable. That is not a completely different holiday. It is the same holiday with a minor scheduling change out of anyone’s control. I am struggling to feel any sympathy for you, nor can I understand why you now want a refund. Just go and enjoy it?

Any flight delay could put part of this short holiday in jeopardy. It's not a nice thing to happen but it could have happened while you were in Mauritius and that would be even worse.
You'll have to check terms and conditions as so many people have said. On the face of it, one date change in the middle of the holiday is not too bad - would be worse if you went a day later or had to come back a day sooner.
It's a shame but I would still go and make the best of it.

OP, you sound incredibly unreasonable. That is not a completely different holiday. It is the same holiday with a minor scheduling change out of anyone’s control. I am struggling to feel any sympathy for you, nor can I understand why you now want a refund. Just go and enjoy it?

Hmm feels like a major change to me.

25% of Island nights gone. Swap to a big city you didn't want to be in.

I'd ask for refund and re book with them. I'd want value for every one of my 8 days.
Different if I was going for 2 weeks or more.

Wow. Tiger King totally passed you by didn’t it!

It's one of the risks of trying to squeeze so much in to a small period of time, especially when you book an independent holiday rather than a package. Even without this issue, all it would take is one delayed flight and the whole thing would be out of whack.

Eight days isn't very much time to fly to Mauritius, then go to South Africa, then fly back to the UK - all with young children and with limited travel options.