TUI refund with new quarantine rules?

[Dallydoggy]

We have a package holiday booked with TUI for July. We’ve only paid a small deposit and we booked fully aware it was unlikely to go ahead. Their COVID policy is that if the country you’re travelling to asks you to quarantine there, you can cancel and get full refund. However, if it’s that you have to quarantine once back home, you don’t get refund. This was before you had to do it in a hotel and pay £££ to do do though! At the moment the country we’re going to isn’t on the list but it may well be added. Does anyone know if this means we can cancel? Anyone else in the same position? Obviously I won’t be paying any more until I’m certain.

You could also check with your insurer if they will cover this, before making a decision to cancel or not.
I know this isn't the question you asked but worth looking into.

Yes will do @SunInTheSkyYouKnowHowIFeel - our insurance is through our bank account and they’re usually pretty good.

At the moment the country we’re going to isn’t on the list but it may well be added.

Also not the question you asked (sorry, no idea, but it sounds a nightmare) - but what other countries do we think might be added?

Sorry @Whitney168 I’ve no idea! I suppose it depends where new variants start/spread. Our holiday would be in the Balearics. I can always delay it by a year instead so it’s not a disaster.

I was under the impression that TUI weren’t operating holidays that required quarantine at either end of your holiday?

@Coffeepot72 when we booked it said it would be cancelled/refunded if you had to quarantine in the other country, but not if you had to quarantine once back home. I could have (maybe) handled two weeks at home but definitely not going to do the hotel quarantine so I wonder if they’ll change the rule.

Perhaps they won’t run any holidays to those red list countries anyway??

I’ve just looked at their website again and there is an update saying they’ll be in touch with people booked for red list countries.

We’re currently booked to travel on 29 May, with TUI, to a country that’s not on the red list. Like a previous poster mentioned, I could manage self isolating at home, but not in an airport hotel, and I was hoping that if our destination “goes red” that TUI won’t be taking passengers there. I have just tweeted TUI to ask.

I'm due to go to Menorca on 10th may highly doubt it will go ahead as now they are giving free amendments usually means they know it's going to be cancelled!
Tui will contact you if the country ends up on the red list, but the only thing is if you actually go on holiday and while your there it goes on the red list not sure what happens then?? X

I don't think you can cancel if you have to quarantine on return to the UK.

We booked with TUI in June 2019 to go to Lanzarote in July 2020. We paid a hefty deposit as our flights were with Thomas Cook. They then changed our flights to TUI when TC went under, then changed our flight times twice more, then changed our UK airport. We couldn't go last summer so were able to change it to July 2021, back to the original airport and flight time. Now it's not looking likely that we'll be able to go this year, we can't change it again without paying a ridiculous admin fee, we can't get a refund on our deposit and we can't afford to pay for private Covid tests before we go and when we come back, nor to stay in a quarantine hotel on our return. I'm very much hoping that we can get our deposit back nearer the time. They don't currently have any info for people who booked pre-Covid and are meant to be going away this summer.

@Mammaaof our May trip is to Majorca, and like someone just said, if they offer free amendments this generally means they know it won’t be happening. I also worry that we could find Majorca goes onto the red list while we’re there …

@Coffeepot72 yes it was me that said about the amendments usually meaning it's going to be cancelled 🙈 I had a voucher last year but I will be taking a refund this year!

@Mammaaof we’re due to pay our balance in early March (I’m guessing your balance will be due a few weeks earlier?) and I can’t decide what to do? Will you be paying your balance, or amending to a later date?

@Coffeepot72 please let us know if you get a reply.

@Coffeepot72 my balance was all paid 2 years ago as this was a holiday moved from last year 😢 but my advice would be to pay the balance otherwise if you don't they will cancel the holiday for you and you won't be entitled to any money back

@Dallydoggy I asked TUI that if Majorca goes onto the red list, would they still be taking passengers over there or would we be offered a refund. They replied to say they are monitoring the situation closely and if our holiday is affected they will be in touch to discuss our options.

I totally understand that TUI don’t have a crystal ball, but I was hoping they’d say they won’t be operating holidays to red list countries on account of what passengers would have to face when they land back into the UK. I would be disappointed if Majorca went onto the red list and then TUI refused a refund on the grounds that our holiday was still available. I’m getting tempted to reschedule our trip to next year.

@Coffeepot72 there is a FB page which I'm on its called TUI customer service and complaints, and the people on there are always giving information every day. It's through that group I found out that I was able to amend my may holiday if I wanted to

@Mammaaof thanks for this, I’ll check it out. We just can’t decide what to do for the best!

We're booked to go to Spain end of May. We've asked to cancel it, full refund. We rebooked after having to cancel last year's holiday. I'm not isolating more than I have to and it's a choice to go abroad.

I've no idea if we will get our money back. We paid in full at the time of booking and on a debit card 🥴. I won't do that again!

@Crakeandoryx you will lose £200 per person unfortunately, you should have waited for tui to cancel x

It’s the possibility of having to quarantine when we get back to the uk that worries me, and as TUI aren’t clear about whether they would still operate red list holidays or not, we’re reluctant to pay our balance and are thinking about rescheduling for next year. We will sleep on it.

DH has commented that even if we push the holiday back to next year, there’s nothing to stop us booking a last minute holiday for Majorca this year, if there are no restrictions/quarantine.

@Coffeepot72 you had to stay at home for 10 days before the hotels anyway, it will probably go back to quarantine at home like it's always been

I’ve checked this with TUI and they advised that if you have to quarantine on return then the holiday wouldn’t be cancelled but you could change it

I've been looking at TUI holidays this week and it's what Butterflyfluff said. If you have to do the hotel quarantine you can change your booking free of charge up to 21 or 28 days before departure, depending on when you booked.