Santorini explosive argument

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I always go in holiday once a year with friend. Normally Europe, something chilled for 10 days. We switch who does all the admin / booking but will have a few places in mind. This year it was my turn to organise. Have booked Santorini. Got a fantastic deal. Beautiful venue. I booked it over Xmas for this July. Friend happy.
After several earthquakes we were nervous but agreed to wait it out (aware this is 'act of god' so couldn't get refund on insurance). There's been nothing major recently. So I assumed trip was on.

Over the weekend friend forwarded BBC article and said that the lead scientist said the " big earthquake/ volcanic eruption was coming this summer " and has said she's not coming.
I've read the article and it doesn't say that at all. In fact if anything it seemed the team had no clue what was happening and just let a journalist hang out with them for a day.
We can't cancel without losing a lot of money and friend said she would rather pay not to go. She won't reimburse me if I go by myself though.

We had a heated discussion and tbh I think she's making up earthquake scenarios/ catastrophising. What would you do ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm25lz56rezo

This is silly. Wait until she sees people getting ready for summer hols she’ll change her mind.

So basically she’s trying to blackmail you into going somewhere else?

this is not on

she is not not entirely unreasonable to not want to go, but why does she think it’s ok for you to be out of pocket?! You’ll be even more out of pocket if you go somewhere else instead

I don't know much about travel insurance so may be different, but I deal with home insurance- act of god isn't so much about the initial claim but it's used in recoveries- i'e there's no negligence etc and it's noones fault so no money can be recovered by the insurance company from any other party.

OP I think it's entirely up to your friend if she's not comfortable going but she does need to pay her share or get someone to take her place if possible.

Don’t accept her offer OP.
She should be ashamed of herself for reneging on the deal, -for whatever reason.

Tell her you will consider her offer and discuss it with her but only once she has paid you what she has owed you since December. Remind her that at the time of you making the booking and paying for the two of you, she was happy for you to do so. Therefore you booked on her behalf in good faith and she owes you that money and until she pays it, you will not be discussing or making any further plans with her.
Hold your ground OP. She is in the wrong here.

she needs to pay you for her half, if she does not want to go and wants to book something else she needs to pay the difference if you can switch it!!

if you lose it all then she needs to pay the entire bill then you can both re book!

How much money have you paid out so far for the holiday, and how much has she paid you?

Earthquakes are mostly unpredictable. If your friend wants to go somewhere else and it can be arranged then she should pay you the difference in costs, since she is choosing not to go to Santorini.

Let her pay you the difference in flights, then sort out a hotel - but let her book it so she has to pay.

As a risk averse person I actually don't think she is being unfair. I'm not sure I would book to go there at this time, there has been a lot of activity recently and she could have a fair point....I imagine prices for holidays there have gone down in recent months as others will be thinking along the same lines . I think you will have to agree to disagree and respect her opinion here. Could you go on your own or with someone else? If she's not comfortable with it then that is absolutely her call.

Does it have to destroy the friendship? You might think she’s being unreasonable but she is genuinely scared. It doesn’t seem like you are considering her feelings at all. Even if you think she’s being ridiculous do you not think her feelings are real? Do you think she’s making it up?

All this.

And this.

I'm not understanding her stance. She will only reimburse you for her half of the holiday if you don't go? And if you do go, you have to pay for two including the missing traveller - her? I don't get it. Any normal person would say they don't want to go and are happy to lose the money in order to be safe (as they see it) and then you'd trot off on your own. (Or take someone else.)

Would you be sharing a room? Is there anyone else you'd want to go with and would be OK about sharing with? If so, your friend could just swallow the cost of her flights, and the new person could book their own flight and come onto your your hotel booking, paying half of that.

I think her demand that if you go then she doesn't reimburse you at all is really odd. The only thing that makes sense is that she's so anxious that she doesn't want you to go in case you get killed in this earthquake that's apparently coming on your holiday dates!!!

Why don’t you get together & work out where you could afford to change your holiday to.

This person is obviously a good friend so I don’t think you should fall out over this. No one can guarantee that there won’t be an earthquake or volcanic eruption. And there is a real possibility that there will be an event.

Maybe you won’t end up with the holiday that you planned, but at least you’ll be in a position to take a better one next year with your friendship intact. Or you can go on holiday but lose your friend. And maybe end up as the next Pompei exhibit.

I can see it from her side really (having recently watched La Palma). I agree with others who have said perhaps work with her to find an alternative as you would hope she would do if somewhere you'd decided on together really didn't work for you if circumstances changed. Hope you can resolve it.

I'd be inviting someone else. But initial friend must pay for her tickets etc if she's pulling out.
If she finds out you're going with someone else she'll probably suddenly fail to care about being flattened by a non existent earthquake.

She’s fucking weird and controlling tell her you won’t go - get her to pay for her half then go!!! You can make a fake cancellation if she needs to see it. What a bint.

Are any of the hotels part of chains? You may get some goodwill if you’ve booked direct with them and call their customer services and see if they’ll transfer your booking to another hotel in their chain if you do go elsewhere.

We've got a Greek Islands cruise booked for this summer which has Santorini as one of the ports of call. We’re not thinking of cancelling yet and have heard nothing from the cruise line. They are usually very reactive to any sort of security risk. We were meant to be doing a similar cruise last year which got cancelled due the unrest in the Red Sea area.

This is her decision. And she’d leave you out of pocket for her choice. I’d not be too keen to go on holidays with her anyway- it’s not like I’d ever be willing to book and pay again after all?

I walked up the live volcano near Santorini last Oct. It was smoking. The hit springs in the sea was quite active. The area is overdue an eruption just like the Canaries are. There is a lot of movement of tectonic plates at the mo. Does this mean there will be an eruption? No. Does this mean you make a decision now not to go? No.

But I think YABU because your friend is frightened by what's happening and rather than support her you are arguing with her. If she is so uncomfortable she can't go.then that's her choice. If tgat causes financial.implicatiobs for you then she needs to cover those costs.

There are so many places to go on holiday why are you insisting you stick with Santorini?!

There are so many places to go on holiday why are you insisting you stick with Santorini

Perhaps because that's where they've booked and realistically, the earthquake/eruption risk is no different to what it was at Christmas. It's just the friend is now more aware of it.

Plus it's an island that depends on tourism and its good to support them when they're going to be suffering due to irrational fears of people like the OPs friend.

The friend should pay her half without further delay whether or not she decides to go. If she doesn't go, the OP still should and have a lovely relaxing solo break.

i would be so annoyed at her you aren’t wrong here

I agree with @Shelby2010but I'm confused with what she's proposing too. Is it because if you cancel you'll get most if it refunded, but if you still go she's out of pocket for her half? In which case I can see her point of view. I don't think you should be forcing her to go if she's afraid of going if she's genuinely your friend. Why don't you see if someone else can go instead and then they can pay her share?

Can you pay to change the name on the booking and take someone else?