Would I be mad to book a holiday in early April?

[Wittow]

I am looking at a week's skiing in the easter hols, would involve flying to Geneva around the 7/8 April. Would I be mad to even consider it or is the general consensus that we'd be OK to travel within Europe then?

I personally wouldn’t. I haven’t seen enough to convince me that there won’t at least be a few hiccups and I personally wouldn’t want to take the risk. If I were, I would be making sure cancellation due to government issues was fully covered by insurance!

Check the wording of your insurance policy - you might find it doesn't cover Brexit.

If you want to throw a large sum of money away, please pm me.

We're going away in early April.

We changed our initial plans. We're not going to book anything for April given the uncertainty around what systems will be in place. It's too much of a gamble, and no insurance policy will cover it.
No weekend away for my 50th

Yes.

Can you leave it until nearer the time and book a late deal if a withdrawal agreement is signed?

I’m not.

It’s our 30th wedding anniversary at the end of March next year. We had been planning to go somewhere but have decided to wait and see.

I've booked for May June. Either some specific legal arrangement will have been cobbled together for holidays by then or it won't have.
If it isn't, losing my holiday will be the least of our worries.

I would not let Brexit get in the way of a ski hol! Although my hunch is that there would be less disruption to Eurostar so I would go by Eurostar/TGV instead. I might be completely wrong though.

it's just such a bugger because obviously skiing in Europe is in a pretty limited window of opportunity anyway! The 2 week easter hol is about the last chance for 2019... so I'm trying to work out how much is media scaremongering as I hate buying into that sort of thing. Most insurers seem to be excluding Brexit unless anyone knows different?

I'd be happy to book a cheap flight or two and take the risk, but a ski holiday is a lot of money if it all goes pear-shaped and you're not insured.

Speaking of which, I've just booked a business class flight long-haul from the UK and a cheap flight to France for my mum (for before before next March). On both routes I got the best price I have seen for many years. Obviously not a "no-deal" effect quite yet but maybe business is slowing ...

I'm trying to work out how much is media scaremongering

It is not scaremongering as such, it's just that it depends on whether or not a withdrawal agreement is signed. And the trouble is we still don't know if/when that will happen.

If an agreement is signed then we will have a transition period which means travel is likely to carry on pretty much as it does at the moment.

If no agreement is signed, we drop out of all international legal frameworks, including any aviation agreements we are party to as EU members, which is likely to mean the grounding of flights in the short-term due to a lack of certification. It is likely some sort of emergency agreements will be rushed through, but I think it would be very risky to book so close to the March 29th deadline.

The travel expert in the Daily Telegraph offers his opinion and advice here: www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/brexit-day-travel-disruption-march-2019

Children
I agree completely. It's not scaremongering at all.
It's accepting that unless some MAJOR progress is made in a lot of areas in a very short stretch of time, the current agreements just won't apply and travel chaos in the first weeks (months?) is quite likely.
I know a local haulage company that's been unable to tender for jobs because of the travel uncertainty; if they can't risk travel problems, I won't either.

We've booked some cheap flights to Crete for early/mid April.
Worse thing that happens is that we can't go and lose the money. I can live with that. I wouldn't book an expensive holiday that I would feel really sick to lose out on.

Europe have announced I believe that in the event of a no deal British planes will still be able to land on European soil. We go 9 April and paid in full already.

"Last night it emerged that even if this does happen, the EU will not refuse to let planes from Britain land on European soil as had been feared. "

Two family members have arranged to go away, but both travelling out of the U.K. a couple of days before Brexit - in the hope that by the time they return two weeks later, any chaos will have lessened.
I personally wouldn't as I couldn't afford to lose that cash and don't have the flexibility from work / life / pets to allow me to hole up in France for an extra week or two if I can't get back!

The EU has never said that planes cannot go to various places. It is the paperwork, certifications, insurance and a vast pile of interconnecting deals that need to be sorted out and they are not specifically controlled by the EU parliament. The fancy pen that will be used to sign the departure agreement is still snuggled up in it's box. Nothing is agreed until it is all agreed.

@BlitheringIdiots have you got travel insurance that covers you in the event of a Brexit problem with your holiday?

Travel insurance won't cover it. But as won't be claiming compensation I'm confident of a refund. T&C say no compensation but refunds :-). Anyway planes won't be grounded at 11pm 29 March

I have booked flights for beginning of April for a wedding. I wasn't willing to book flights for the whole family (6 of us) but I am prepared to take a £200 hit. (B&G voted leave and don't believe any of the hype)

Why would there be a Brexit issue when you’re flying to Geneva? (Geneva is in Switzerland which not an EU member state)

You should get refunds for cancelled flights but not compensation or consequential loss, a bit like with the ash cloud so you wouldn’t be completely out of pocket

Why would there be a Brexit issue when you’re flying to Geneva?

Because the Swiss have an agreement with the EU. Not with the UK.

We’re a bit stumped as were due to go to our boat in March. Going out will be fine, I’m sure but our holiday dates are straddling Brexit. It’s already costing more because of increases in requirements for the dog. We may be stranded in France until they unblock the M20. I suppose worse case, we work from the boat and just eat bread and cheese and drink more wine until it’s all sorted.