Surely Loveholidays can't do this!!!

[Zara445]

I booked a holiday to Dubai via Loveholidays for 10th April – 16th April, however, now because of PhD commitments, It’s not feasible for me to go on those dates. Therefore a couple weeks ago I tried to change the date to mid-May. I knew there would be a charge for this.

I was told the charge to change would be £250, so before I paid, I asked them to confirm that it involved the flight and hotel cost. I had two emails back to say yes it involved hotel and flight and amendment fee all included.

Then I get another email days later saying in fact it was £448. So I’ve rang everyday and they’ve said they were chasing it. I’ve just had an email tonight saying the overall price was £400+ and as they’ve already received the £250 I only owe an extra £190 for the change! I’m furious! They’ve already changed the hotel so surely my original hotel booking is not there, they just need me to pay the extra and they will update flights.

They have not listened – I’ve rang everyday and everybody is so vague. Surely after telling me twice that £248.99 covered everything, taking the payment, they cannot get in touch to ask for more money now to release flights.

Also with the current situation I’m not even sure we will be able to travel. Does anybody have any advice on how I can escalate this on a phone call tomorrow?

No, they can't do that.
Send them this
https://www.businesscompanion.info/focus/practical-holiday-law/part-4-advertising-and-pricing-requirements

They shouldn't be able to change what they told you, particularly if you have it in writing, but what has been linked here has nothing to do with changing or cancellation fees!

Yeah, I can’t imagine you’re going to be able to travel to Dubai. Hopefully you’ve got insurance?

@gtamum I haven't yet - i need to get it, however, I'm unsure whether to get the original date I booked 10th April or the new date which is 16th May?

You still want the go too Dubai? Have you not seen the news?

Think you might be a bit late on that!

@Jk987 Yeah that's what I've put on the bottom of the post

Insurance for cancellation due to current events will now either be very expensive or invalid.

You won’t be able to get insurance now for something that’s already happening!

Surely if the UK have advised against travel the holiday company will have to pay money back?

No that’s not how it works. Experience - used to travel to dangerous zones through work.

however, as they have said the final costs in writing, I’d pursue on that point and refuse to pay.

This is the reason you need to get travel insurance as soon as you book. Insurance purchased now, unless specialist, won't cover the situation in the middle east. Have you checked to see if you have travel insurance tied to a credit card or bank account?

There's a lot of uncertainty right now and a lot can happen in the next few weeks. I think you need to try to keep them to the original change fees that you have written confirmation for and then hope for a refund/voucher if travel is still not permitted.

The new dates are 16th May so hoping in 10 weeks time travel is safe

i would just chang destination its not worththe hassle

As far as I am aware, the reason that love holidays and on the beach left abta, was because they didn't want to refund when travel was stopped due to covid. Abta expected members to give refunds .

What they are legally able to do and what they get away with may be different. Also some businesses will do things that are legally allowed, but morally wrong and don't build a good reputation.

We had two trips booked for 2020 ( don't normally go overseas every year, but we
nt mad and booked 2 trips for that year 🙈).

The one we had only paid deposit, and were given a credit for the amount, to rebook at a later date.

The other was through magic breaks to disneyland paris. We moved the booking 4 times without any issue or admin fee. The final trip was half the price of the initial booking but that wasn't an issue either.

You may struggle to get insurance now, and if ypu do it will be very expensive, or will have a lot of exclusions.

Not sure Loveholidays is covered by abta as they book components separately(which is why prices fluctuate). The flights will probably be covered by atol but noone will give you cancellation insurance now until this situation resolves.

You really should book your insurance when you book your holiday and book for the date you are flying. Given the uncertainty about the current situation I doubt whether you will get anything affordable and that it would cover you. Can you change your destination without further penalties?

LH are an awful company to deal with, there’s a Facebook group full of people taking them to court.

You are unlikely to get anywhere with them.

If your holiday is cancelled due to current events, it would be insurance that covers the cost, not LH but as you don’t have it in place already you’re not going to get covered now.

I can only state what Martin Lewis says "Get your travel insurance when you book aa holiday."

You won't get anywhere with them. Absolutely horrific company and I've no idea why people keep booking with them, especially with them leaving ABTA and the continued awful reviews.

They are ATOL protected but not ABTA

No travel insurance eeeeek

You can't take out insurance after the event and expect to be covered.

Love holidays don't have to refund you anything if there are still flights operating. But you should be able to press them on the price difference. I'd just be sure that they haven't said the admin fee would be £250, not including any difference in the price of the booking.