Now advising to cancel holidays indefinitely

[NemophilistRebel]

News today is now saying that travel abroad for holidays should be cancelled indefinitely

This is going to be a massive hit on the industry and people in general

Especially those hoping for September or October half term breaks.

xenia - how will you get the deposit back?

Do not cancel a future holiday yet in my view as you may be in a worse position than if the holiday company cancels on you.

Unless they go bust in the meantime ...

Where does it say indefinitely
This is what is says on the FCO website and has done for a while
As countries respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including travel and border restrictions, the FCO advises British nationals against all but essential international travel.

No date on it at the moment as no one knows

I’ve got flights to Portugal booked with Ryan Air, they’ve now been cancelled (end of April). Ryan Air’s website is not allowing refunds though, even though the email says click here for a refund.

@Skeletoninatutu I booked my holiday in September 2019 to travel on 31 March 2020. I paid the balance at the beginning of January before Coronavirus became an issue. I don’t want to go on holiday. Just want my £6,600 back.

@BunsyGirl that I completely understand. The situation is shit. I was purely commenting on people still thinking the world will snap back so they can book a trip OS later this year...

Life won't stay the way it is forever- at some point the need to get people back to work and keep the economy from total collapse is going to outweigh the need to keep people at home- but it is not going to be like it was before, not any time soon. It's not doom mongering to recognise that.

Is it likely to you that foreign travel and holidays is going to restart anytime soon?

Mamabear - Foreign Travel is still possible.....* difficult but still possible..

chocolat, not sure how I will get my deposit back. the package holiday company currently says you WILL get it back in September if you cash the voucher in then and if they they are bust ABTA will pay. If the foreign office allows travel again in June we will got but not otherwise.

If the holiday company cancel eg in May because I have not paid the final balance their terms allow them to keep the deposit I think although their terms keep changing and I wish I had printed the full original set of terms.

If I have to I might sue them and they might settle quickly and I'm a lawyer so suing is not a big deal but we shall see. We are not there yet. I am a total optimist so still hope the foreign office will allow flights in late June.

I was listening to Simon Calder earlier today and he himself said “indefinitely” but he did stress that no one knew how long indefinitely was - could be 3 weeks, 3 months, a year and a half.
He also said that Changi Airport in Singapore has closed one of its terminals for 18 months - guess they’re not expecting much traffic.

I’m waiting for something back from Lastminute.com. I should have been flying today.
I’m annoyed that my transfer I paid for through Holiday Extras has been refunded as a voucher. At least it’s got 18 months on it.

I bloody hope I'll be able to travel abroad this year! My fiance and I will be apart for as long as it takes for flights to restart! Some people seem to think that wanting to travel is selfish, but not being able to travel is affecting lives too 🙈🙈

Mil emergrated to Asia 12 years ago. Shes 69. Even if she wanted to come back now she cant. Every year that she get older I dont thinks she thought out emergrating so far so far away for the rest of her life. She has private health care but not sure how that pan out if CV explodes over there. Weirdly it seems to still be extremely low numbers.

I had an overseas trip planned for November and I have been resigned to it probably not happening for a couple of weeks now.

You'd have to wait a lot longer for November. It's only April now.

Indefinitely is a pain because the holiday company we're booked with have now said they won't be dealing with refunds or rearranging until the week before we're due to travel as it could change. Given that it's June that's not going to happen.

Shehz check with the embassy on a regular basis, as you have dual nationality and it is an important family matter they should be able to advise in a few weeks time.

2 summer trips cancelled here (DD’s) already got refunds for most of the money. Airlines don’t necessarily do a refund. Emirates only agreed to over 50%. It doesn’t actually matter.
DH’s work trips all already cancelled for the rest of the year for him and all his team. And that’s a lot of travel.
Realistically I personally don’t expect us to travel abroad for leisure at all this year although I would dearly love to go visit my parents if it is allowed.
Airline industry is suffering a lot, travel companies seriously affected by this so most of these business might not exist come August time. It is really sad for all those loosing their jobs. And of course our travelling expectations will be reshaped - no more hopping over to Nepal on a whim or weekend in Venice at the drop of a hat.

Germany announced today that from April 10th they are introducing a 14 day quarantine period for people entering the country. I've suspected since the start of this that most countries will start to do similar once they near the downward curve of their peak. That way countries will be able to minimise restrictions on normal life. Schools can reopen, most people can return to work and their leisure pursuits. Hopefully the elderly and other vulnerable people will be able to leave isolation. Inside every country is bubble of near normality. But international travel won't resume in any way close to normal until we have a vaccine.

Travel won't be forbidden but most countries will have quarantine procedures that mean two weeks of quarantine in the country you are visiting and two weeks of quarantine when you come home. Over time some countries will sync up to each other and faster travel between those countries will be allowed. In fact countries with difficult to manage shared borders like Ireland and the UK may sync up right away. As reliable antibody testing becomes available and more people have 'immunity passports' those people may find travel easier. (Though allowing one set of people more freedoms based on them having had a disease would be a dangerous incentive for envious people to try and deliberately become infected.)

We have a hotel and holiday cottage booked in Scotland for August this year, do you think that will be going ahead ?
The cottage company has said that we cannot get a refund

MamaBear, nobody needs the glee or the trite soundbite answers. Not sure what's funny about it either but I don't get my jollies like that. Mumsnet is the last place I'd come to for advice and I feel sorry for posters that do.

I'm really glad that I don't experience people like that in real life. Enjoy your pandemic.

We were meant to be going to Disney in summer. We've decided to cancel it and loose our deposit. As much as I'd love to take the kids I just can't see how in 4 months we're going to shift out of 'social distancing mode' to the extent a holiday like that will be pleasurable - it's reads like a checklist of everything to avoid at the moment. Travelling to a place where there is a huge mix of international visitors in mass crowds in a relatively small area, laying on sunbeds, kids running all over, queueing for prolonged periods of time, catching the buses to the parks, eating in restaurants etc. I'm usually pretty laid back but even I can't see how it's going to work out.

I don’t think many people will be getting refunds, the airlines and holiday companies would go bust. Insurance companies work on basing their payouts on a minority of claims. There’s no way everybody is going to get their money back. I was supposed to be going to Prague in June. I’m assuming I’ve lost my money now. Don’t think I’d want to go abroad at all for a while.

Our April holiday was cancelled by the company and we received a full refund. DS had a holiday booked for July and he cancelled it as they were asking for the full amount to be paid with no certainty that it would go ahead.
We have flights paid for for a short break in July with EasyJet who haven't said anything to us yet except we can re-arrange them which isn't practical. We have also paid a deposit for flights to Canada in August and am waiting to see what the advice is for them.

Tbh I made my peace with the fact I wont go abroad this year. There might be end of lockdown, but probably many countries will keep the quarantine for people from other places

OK, that's me out of a job then. To all of you losing holidays, I'm sorry, we've also lost one in May. To people losing jobs and business I'm really sorry.

@chocolatesaltyballs22 I think the press are going on forward estimates from health and govt advisors, just because a website only has listed up to another 30 days at the moment, doesn't mean anything.