Would I be mad to book a 2021 holiday?

[LJZRBB]

I desperately want to book something- Dominican Republic for April. But with this ever changing world we are in at the moment I feel this might be foolish !

I know everyone will say wait and book in a couple of months but I am so impatient!

Hate that we cant plan for more than a few weeks ahead at the moment.

I'd hope not - I'm supposed to get married in the DR in 8 months time! Fingers crossed for us both!

I don't think you'd be mad OP. Life IS slowly getting back to normal, people are adapting to SD and mask wearing, there are hopes of a vaccine, etc. I think if you want to book something, go ahead, but make sure that you're protected if it can't go ahead due to Covid. We are busy planning a summer 2021 holiday and I'm assuming/hoping that by then people will be finding ways to live with this virus. Economies can't just be put on ice for years ....

Hope your wedding goes to plan @TheRoofIsOnFire !!

Thank you @zafferana for some logic ! What you said makes perfect sense.

At the moment DRS boarders are still closed and the hotel I had my eye on is now shut until November !!! So I guess that’s decided for me, I’ll wait to November time.

Then there is possibly a temperature check on check in. Imagine flying all that way....

Make your insurance will cover should anything happen. My renewal notice came with a full page of coronavirus exclusions so I just cancelled it.

Wondering the same thing but will probably book in September as I feel a big need to have something on the horizon to look forward too.

Echo the travel insurance comment above. There appears to be a number of companies offering Coronavirus travel protection insurance - I think we’d go for that but checking it also had good Scheduled Airline Failure cover just in case the airline goes bust in the coming year!

I've moved my holidays to 2021 already

@SJaneS48 it did cross my mind about the airline going bust! But my husband pointed out that “there is no way the government would let British Airways go out of business” hmmmmm

Maybe if I can wait until November. There might be Black Friday sales!?! That’s what I am telling myself ha

We have a holiday booked for August 2021, although it was booked pre locked down and covered by insurance. I'm relatively confident we'll go, I'd be a bit anxious to book spring though just in case we see something else over winter/spring. We had a holiday cancelled this year and we chose to do it in 2022 rather than move to May 2021.

We’ve deferred our 2020 summer holiday to next year and have a city break (Europe) booked for Feb 2021. I’m fairly optimistic that we will be able to do both

I would say you’re not mad but then the news isn’t that great in some countries so I’d be careful of where I was booking

Things may be returning to normal here and in many parts of Europe but I wouldn’t plan on any holidays to India, Brazil, or USA for the foreseeable

Not too sure what the siris took is like in DR

We've moved our holiday this year to 2022. It was to USA and Im not sure 2021 will be much better in terms of restrictions plus I was worried that next year would be super busy with re-bookings.
Im waiting until Jan/Feb to book something for 2021.

cjpark that's exactly what we have done. The US is in a bad way and I want to look forward to a holiday not be stressed hoping it'll get better for the next year (we were due to fly this week).
Have rebooked our Oct holiday for May 2021, but still with a view to moving again if necessary, but very much hoping we'll make it!

@LJZRBB you’d hope that our government wouldn’t let BA go bust! I have just booked a 2021 trip - it’s not the California holiday we’d talked about as DH was too sceptical about the US in 2021 or Vietnam which I’d been keen on but what’s seems to be a ‘safer’ option - a Croatia/Bosnia/Montenegro trip.

From what I can see, only Trailfinders and Staysure seem to be offering Covid 19 travel insurance protection. We’ve gone with Trailfinders (cheaper at £70 for the 3 of us) but it doesn’t include Scheduled Airline Failure. We’ve booked the flights with a credit card though which should cover us if EasyJet go bankrupt and all the accommodation through booking.com is cancellable until the last minute.

Not sure it’s not a case of hopeful optimism over common sense but it is great to have something to look forward too!

you’d hope that our government wouldn’t let BA go bust!

A lot of people hope you are right but objectively they're no more or less protected from going bust than the likes of Virgin.

Rumours of a right's issue..

uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-iag/british-airways-owner-to-raise-up-to-2-5-billion-euros-with-share-issue-sources-idUKKCN24P1LI

I've just rebooked our Thailand holiday for Easter 2021 from this Easter. Pick a reputable tour operator and insurance company who have handled the pandemic correctly. There is a list on " Which" to guide you.

I have been considering a holiday at the same time of year but I don't think I could handle the disappointment if it got cancelled/all facilities weren't available.

If you're willing to book via TUI rather than BA they're doing a Covid promise. Going by their website it looks like they're allowing free amendments or offering cash refunds etc if they can't offer the holiday as advertised, etc.

BA are also offering free amendments !

Also. The holiday I want has gone down almost £200 per person.

The same holiday through Tiu is hundreds more. Even though the flights are with BA.

I’m going to book it!!

Exciting stuff! I always used to swear by TUI but I've come to realise you can get their holidays miles cheaper through the likes of Expedia
I'm going to hold off booking anything for now but I hope you have a fabulous time!

@HansBanans well done you for having the self control!

I did it. However I’ve never booked with BA before so I didn’t know you had to pay for seats. I was rather annoyed to find that out after I booked.

I wanted to book a pair of two seats at the back. Don’t fancy sitting next to someone for 9 hrs breathing their covids over me. £212 later. #lessonlearnt

@LJZRBB I've never booked with BA either, I didn't know they did that! You would think with everything that was going on they wouldn't charge so that people can have that peace of mind... do they include transfers etc or do you need to organise that separately?

@HansBanans transfers are also separate !!

To be fair. We usually do book these separate for convenience. It’s worth the extra money to me not to be waiting around even etc.

@LJZRBB yeah that's true. We did a shared transfer in Jamaica last year and it took absolutely ages to even leave the airport as people were dilly-dallying round the duty-free, and then there were all the other stops on the way. Will probably do a private transfer in future!

@HansBanans yes! I haven’t got time for that!! I want to get me a cocktail at the earliest opportunity.

@LJZRBB yes! Can't remember what I was watching recently but the margaritas looked like they were to die for. Dreaming of white beaches and swim up bars until I manage to get away myself 😂