Tui holiday July 2021 amber list?

[Pleasure]

Hi all,

We booked a holiday with Tui last summer for this July, thinking it would be safe to go.
Paid £600 deposit, balance due 23rd April.
It's to the Canary Islands which apparently is going to be on the 'Amber list' of countries, meaning 10 days self isolation at home on return plus numerous tests.

On Tui it says that if you have to self isolate on return but not in a hotel then they will give you the option of changing the holiday for free. No mention of a refund though.

Unsure what to do, I don't want to pay the balance (it's nearly 4k) and really unsure about booking anywhere else at present. Do you think I'd get the deposit back or better to lose the £600 rather than everything? Or if we changed holiday to 2022 would we still have to pay the balance this month iyswim?

Anyone else in the same situation?

Meant to add, it's impossible to get through to anyone at Tui 🙄

It's a long way between now and then, it may not stay on the Amber list.
Unfortunately you have entered into a contract, and unless you move or cancel before the balance is due you will have to pay it.
What you lose will depend on at what point you cancel if you cancel. It will be in your terms and conditions.

You won’t get the deposit back. Best chance is to move the holiday as soon as they let you, and hopefully you won’t have to pay the balance until next year?

We are in a similar situation and have paid the balance on our holiday. If it can’t go ahead we will move it or request a refund (this is already rescheduled from last year!)

I think I'd move it to next year if I were you, I'm sure the balance then wouldn't be due till a year's time.

The Canary Islands might be taken off the list next week, or 5 days before you go. No one knows. It’s impossible to plan ahead this year. We need to start getting that.

Thanks all. I'll probably move it to something next year and hopefully the new balance won't be due then til next year. Tbh I'm not even that bothered about the holiday, I just don't like the uncertainty 😊

If you move it before the balance due date then your balance due will move to next year @Pleasure
It's always either 10 or 12 weeks before departure.

How do you know which countries are going to be on the Amber list? Nothing has been announced yet, has it?

Lsat year our holiday company moved the payment requirement for final balance to 2 WEEKS before departure rather than 12 weeks (and then they cancelled on us - June holiday) and I got the full deposit back in cash within 3 weeks (not Tui).

This year we are going in July and I will not be paying the balance until just before and only if I am 100% sure we can go.

We booked a holiday to Turkey in 2019 for August 2020! Me, my partner and my 2 sons.

We amended it to Kos last year for this August. My sons are now 18 and 21 and the 21 yr old has a serious girlfriend- and I think if it was cancelled he'd be quite happy; his brother would still like him to go.

We're just waiting to see what happens. TUI have had our money for nearly 12 months now.

Let's hope we all get some answers soon and can either get a refund or amend (again)

I looked again at Tui, and it says:

If – before you depart – we know you’re travelling to a destination where you’ll need to self-isolate on your return to the UK, we will give you the option to change your holiday for free closer to your departure date.

So according to that, we'll have to pay the balance when it's due this month and then they'll let us change it shortly before July when we were due to depart. I'm hoping (naively) that they will maybe refund us instead. I'm sorry we never booked with Jet2 hols, we've never had any issues with them in the past.

Hope everyone in the same position gets sorted out anyway 🤞

Surely the list is going on to change a lot in the coming weeks?

If you change it to next year the balance won't be due until next year, I've done it.

I'm hoping to go to Spain in August, Spain will likely be on the red or amber list but I think there is a good chance it will be green by the summer. Am just going to hope for the best for now.
Am worried about potentially having to test before coming back though, if that is a thing then unless it is going to be a case of doing a lateral flow thing for free/no cost I won't be going.

My concern is a country moving into red whilst you are on holiday and having to then go to a quarantine hotel on your return to the U.K.. it will be difficult enough for amber countries (most of Europe?) having to self isolate on your return. Boris is doing 5pm press conference today to discuss travel

Would it be possible to change the holiday to go to a green destination (assuming there will be some)? Or is it date change only?

The Telegraph claims that Malta, Gibraltar, Portugal, Israel, Canada, Barbados, the UAE and the US could all be put into the lowest category because of their plans to vaccinate half the adult population by mid-May.

Other popular destinations, Spain, France, Greece and Turkey, would reportedly be on the amber list, which includes self isolation measures.

Surely the list is going on to change a lot in the coming weeks?

It might even change while you’re abroad. That’s what people need to plan for this year - what happens when two days before my return flight, the rules change and I now need to self isolate or find local testing centres that release express PCR results?

I would definitely move it OP..
Spanish (and other) Gov haven't specified yet how much they will charge you to quarantine in a hotel if you fail covid test on the way home and that would scare the shit out of me.

Not just the inconvenience of not being able to travel when expected, but the additional cost. As PP have said, last summer, many people were caught out by the rules changing whilst they were abroad too.

I want a holiday as much as everyone else, and I understand some are travelling to see family, but I think you would need to factor in the additional expense and time of all this when arranging any foreign travel for the forseeable