AIBU to consider cancelling Sicily trip over possible fuel shortages?

[Greyblankie]

Due to fly to Sicily in June but I’m having wobbles, with the current fuel issues - possible jet fuel shortages …

I’ve booked an airb&b which is costing us £800 but the money doesn’t come out until June. Tempted at this point just to cancel it all incase the airline cancels it for us.

Anyone else due to fly abroad and thinking of cancelling?

Im going to italy in may/june. Not cancelling.

There’s no need to cancel. Just get some travel insurance so you’re covered for the accommodation if the airline cancel.

Would you consider going by train if necessary?

Not cancelling here, the main thing that could happen is flight consolidation so if there’s 2 a day and both are half full only running one. I would ensure that accommodation is ok to cancel until nearer the time. As a richer nation we simply will pay more to buy fuel and power nations will miss out. Things will likely come to a head this week though, that’s the direction of the rhetoric

I have a trip planned to Spain in June although I'm staying with family so no real accommodation issue. Just one night the day before I fly near the airport because it's a long drive but if I lose it then it's £70, not ideal but not the end of the world.

I'll pay whatever I need to to fill my car up with petrol, I have a hybrid so day to day I use electric or walk so I'm saving money that way anyway.

If I can't get petrol or the flight gets cancelled then I can't go but until that point then I'm going.

Is your accommodation not refundable through insurance or something?

We are driving to southern Italy from the UK in June. Not cancelling.

We’re due to drive (diesel WAV) to Portugal from the UK in August (can’t fly) and have been thinking the same as need to pay the balance of the villa by middle of May but think we should be ok?

As a previous poster says, I think the main risk is flight consolidation so possibly having to get another flight back the day before or after the original one. If you could manage this without too much difficulty then probably no need to cancel.

Hopefully the OP will have already taken out travel insurance, which anyone with any sense would do at the time of booking.

Although travel insurance wouldn't cover cancelling because it got too expensive.

Don't cancel! Sicily is the most amazing place and holidays are much needed in these crazy times. As Mel Robbins says (I think it's her) 'what if everything works out just fine?'

Plus, if things do deteriorate massively and we are all in a bunker by June, you still have time to cancel the AirBnB then.

It's a bit of a worry. I have a European trip booked for August and it includes flights and car hire, though I won't be driving all that much. I don't see why you would cancel now though if you have free cancellation until June - you'll kick yourself if it turns out you would have been fine to go and you can't cancel the flights anyway can you? Most of my accommodation is free to cancel until much nearer the time, as is the car hire, so I'll be taking a view at that point. I certainly won't cancel unless I have to.

Dont you have any travel insurance

This. Honestly it’s such a stupid thing to do, book a holiday without getting travel insurance at the same time. It’s hardly expensive.

How do you know how expensive travel insurance for the OP would be? And often the cheapest wouldn't actually cover you for half the things that could happen anyway. Yes you should have it, but if I decided not to go on my trip because I was worried about fuel being prohibitively expensive for my car hire travel insurance wouldn't cover my cancelling it.

I have travel insurance, expensive cover because I have a disabled child with several conditions, thus the reason we have to drive and not fly. BUT that wouldn’t cover my cancelling the trip because of diesel shortage nor the substantial cost of the villa 🤷‍♂️

Going to Seville in June. Not thinking of cancelling.

Im assuming you do have travel insurance. If you cancel the flights you will lose your money why would you do this.

Isn’t that what travel insurance is for

The last tanker of jet fuel arrived a few days ago or is due to arrive shortly .
Op I'm in the same boat ( as will be many of us )

We are due to go to Germany in July

I will wait and see how the fuel stuff works out but I'll be amazed if we get to go
I suppose we could drive but our car is diesel which again is in short supply and hugely expensive

Travel insurance won't cover cancelling a flight because you can't afford to go away.

PP are mentioning travel insurance, but will insurance companies pay out due to the circumstances of the lack of fuel (if that happens)? That’s my concern, along with the fact that we have annual travel policies that need to renew before we go in August because who thought we would be in this position when we booked back in January ☹️

Just make sure your travel insurance covers losses incurred as a result of flight disruption. Often this involves upgrading from the basic cover.

I am hoping it might be similar to Covid if it comes to flights being cancelled in that companies will be legally obliged to pay refunds. Obviously I dearly hope it does not come to that. If you get ahead of yourself and start cancelling now then you would miss out on anything of that nature that potentially comes into play down the line. I'm glad I've already booked because it won't get any cheaper this year I don't think and if I do lose money, well, it would have been spent anyway and I will save money by not being on the holiday itself it that worst case scenario does happen.

Why would you cancel? Seriously. At present you have a flight booked, for somewhere that you want to go on vacation, at a price that you think is acceptable. Yes, there is a small risk that your flight might get cancelled, but the reality is that airlines are going to want to keep flying, and so they are going to be buying the jet for all where they can, and they are going to keep running as many planes as they can. In all likelihood you’ll be able to get on Holiday perfectly fine.

If you cancel now, with a view to perhaps rebooking later, you are planning to cancel your currently affordable holiday, in order to rebook at a late time when inflation and high interest rate rates will have done their work. So it will cost you more.

You are better off taking the Holiday that you have already booked. And you can get Travel insurance to deal with any cancellations.

If the airline cancel this will normally trigger travel insurance. If you cancel yourself then you lose all the costs so cancelling pre-emptively is the worst thing to do.

The best way for the OP to protect herself would be to book train or coach tickets to the airport now so she doesn't have to worry about having fuel to get to the airport.

Her flights are booked so if she cancels she will lose that money.