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?

Hmm interesting.

It does seem very odd that instead of booking an alternative flight they’ve changed the holiday itinerary without even asking the OP.

Yes, not lots to do in Jo'burg but there are tours of Soweto which you might find interesting. Make sure you're in a decent hotel. Cape Town would have been a nicer stopover but you're further from Kruger or wherever you're going on safari. 3 days safari might be enough you know so make the most of it if it can't be changed. Not sure it's a true 'package' if the trip is arranged this way.

Are you equating the decision to have kids (raiding the careers and workers f tomorrow) with unecessary flights for holidays. They are not equivalent. Having a child is a right and a biological function of being human. Having a holiday is an unnecessary luxury. No equivalence.

Not derailing. Responding to the OPs question of is she U. My view is yes. For booking such a carbon heavy holiday in the first place. She gets zero sympathy from me.

Surely you would therefore be supporting OP getting a refund then, and saving on carbon?

I would leave 1 day earlier. Even if it’s the last day of school before half term, schools usually give permission because they know flights do get cancelled.

Frankly I don't see the BIG DEAL sounds like you have tried to find a reason to get your money back. I have used DIAL A FLIGHT for more than 20 years and a fact they will always do their utmost to help. If the airline has cancelled a flight not their fault, as stated above stay longer in Mauritius and shorten your Safari probably far less boring.

Flight cancelled, fine. So call the OP ask her how she would like to resolve the issue. She would no doubt have said, book another flight, not a night in a hotel she didn’t ask for in a city she doesn’t want to visit.

In short: flight cancellation = not their fault. Everything else = their fault.

I don’t know about the technicalities, but I would not be happy with a change from 2x4 nigh stays to an overnight in Johannesburg. It’s a waste of a day and packing and unpacking is a ball ache.

Jo'burg is not a safe city – I say that as someone who once lived there – so I wouldn't want to spend a night there with children on what's supposed to be a dream holiday. Fine to travel through the airport to get a connecting flight, but not to stay. For that reason alone I would want a refund.

Absolutely this, and I'm surprised nobody's said this before. We used to joke it was safer to just leave your wallet outside your hotel room door.

Frankly I don't see the BIG DEAL sounds like you have tried to find a reason to get your money back. I have used DIAL A FLIGHT for more than 20 years and a fact they will always do their utmost to help. If the airline has cancelled a flight not their fault, as stated above stay longer in Mauritius and shorten your Safari probably far less boring.

😂😂😂 DIAL A FLIGHT in the house obvs.

And of course you can't make your own choices about what's boring or not.

I would not be happy. But me personally I would have booked way longer than 4 nights on Mauritius and 4 nights on safari. To me if it was all that hassle it's better to stay longer. I guess you can try and get compensation but do you want to veto the whole thing as I don't see how you can get around the fact the flight was cancelled if there isn't an alternative flight.

@Loveabathtub

3 nights in Mauritius instead of 4?

And you are complaining and want a refund?

Seriously?

Words fail me. Holiday has 'changed substantially'??? Errr no it hasn't!

On what basis are they asking for extra costs? That would be the thing I would probably focus on. Whilst the changes are annoying, are they so annoying that you now don't want to go on this holiday at all? Could you even book the same thing at this short notice, and for the same price, via another company? If not and you still want to go then I'd focus on the cost increase. Sounds like there's nothing they can do about the flights.

This is a huge change (despite the strange posts saying it’s not). It’s quite a short holiday anyway for that distance (but doable how you are doing it). But to waste an entire night in Jo’burg? A very unsafe city (and yes I have experience and you couldn’t pay me to go there). This completely ruins the holiday. I would be furious. I hope you can get a refund.

Words fail me. Holiday has 'changed substantially'??? Errr no it hasn't!

😂😂😂

Err yes it has
😂👌🏼

I’d be interested to know where OP gets to re the ts and cs. If she paid on a credit card she may have an argument for not getting what she paid for - not as described.

Errrr, no it hasn't.

It’s a significant change. One night of an eight night holiday in a city she has no interest in and losing a night in a place she does want to be in. At a greater cost. Plus all the faff.

to the posters saying it’s not significant change -

a delayed flight etc is minor change but having to spend some of your holiday in a place you never set to is a major change. if this was any other holiday provider you would get a full refund end of!

i booked a 3 night trip with easyjet and they changed the flight out by only 6 hours but it was classed as a significant change given the already short time i was there for

losing a night and spending it on a place you were not visiting is a major change

Errrr, no it hasn't.

Beach > City
2 Locations > 3 Locations
25% of Mauritius lost
3rd UNWANTED location
extra expense

Yep

All those saying that this is a complete change to OPs holiday... It is not. They most likely have to fly into Johannesburg anyway , to then travel by road to the safari lodge.

To do all that travelling in one day is quite a lot. Flight from Mauritius to Jhb is 4.5hrs and then IF they are going to Kruger then that road trip is another 4-5 hours. It can be more depending on which gate they enter . Even if not Kruger, most lodges are a good few hours from Jhb.

This is just travel time. Not including arrivals, customs and baggage claim. Nor any stop offs on the drive.

I really think OP should stay over one night to break up that journey.

I am very used to long travels, it's a big country. But even that one is pushing it a bit imo.

OP, where are you going for safari? I see you say you are flying there. Now I'm thinking it might be Kzn. A shorter flight yes, but still involves road travel time.

So looking at currently available flights some days there are 3 flights a day between Mauritius and Jo'burg other days there are just 1. I am guessing that originally you were on the early morning flight to Jo'burg, and were being picked up and taken immediately to Kruger (or somewhere similar) but now you're having to take the 4:30pm flight a day earlier, overnight in Jo'burg and then taken to Kruger as originally planned the next day. So you aren't losing any time on safari. You lose an afternoon and a night in Mauritius, but the new schedule save you getting up early for a morning flight. Also you arrive at 7pm in Jo'burg, and so you will just be going to the hotel to eat and sleep. It doesn't seem like a big deal to me, though not sure on the legal stance.

I'm not sure it is really possible to expect that this sort of holiday can be planned so precisely with climate and political change. Coincidentally a friend was sharing photos of floods in Mauritius at the moment caused by Cyclone Belal. I wonder what all those tourists affected are thinking.

I'm not sure it is really possible to expect that this sort of holiday can be planned so precisely with climate and political change. **

You could be right there. But that's on the people selling the trips.