“My wife’s mother has been taken ill, and rushed into hospital, and understandably my wife wants to be with her. We can’t possibly go on the skiing holiday that we’ve been planning since last year, because it’s in France and if anything happened to my mother in law, we wouldn’t be able to get back home. She has no other relatives close enough to take care of her.
“I asked the travel company if we could cancel the holiday, but they say that because we are only four weeks from the date we were due to travel, we aren’t entitled to any refund at all.
“We booked the holiday through a specialist ski company, and they are refusing to budge, pointing at the clause in their contract that says we can’t cancel and get a full refund at this short notice. When I asked why, they said it was because they would have difficulty selling the holiday. Surely they, as a company, can afford to lose the money more than we can as a family?”
Advice on the Next Step
Firstly, check your booking conditions. It’s quite likely that the tour operator is within their rights to deny you a full refund, however unfair that seems, because they will have set out the terms in their brochure.
Tour operator cancellation charges are usually calculated on a sliding scale, with the cost of a late cancellation increasing as you get closer to the departure date of the holiday. Legally, by cancelling your holiday you are in breach of your contract with the trader, the tour company, and this means that they are entitled to compensation for that breach of contract just as you would be if they had done the same to you. The Competition and Markets Authority (which replaced the Office of Fair Trading in 2014) previously looked at these clauses under consumer protection regulations, and decided that in most cases, cancellation charges weren’t disproportionate.
The cancellation charge can be almost as much as the entire cost of the holiday, unfortunately. If you cancel a holiday earlier with more notice, you may only lose your deposit, which is reasonable as the holiday company will have a much better chance of reselling the holiday and therefore you’re only paying a nominal amount for their inconvenience.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
What Can I Do?
There’s not much that you can do in this situation – unless you have taken out holiday insurance cover which sets out the circumstances under which you can claim.
Check your insurance policy carefully – make sure that covers you for this type of cancellation, as some of them do have exclusions. Most insurance policies will cover emergencies like illness, death in the family, or redundancy but you might have to haggle with the insurance company over the meaning of the phrase ‘close family member.’
If you knew that your mother in law was ill before you booked, you could also have problems, as most policies exclude cover for anything that you knew might happen when you booked the your holiday.
All in all, this is an unfortunate situation, but as far as the law is concerned, there isn’t much that you can do to get your money back. See here for more information on holiday cancellations .
I was due to fly on the 17th October however my Dad passed away on the 15th so obviously I didn’t go. My friends went and mentioned at the check in desk that I wouldn’t be flying but that was it. I wasn’t in the right headspace to think about it
I have submitted my insurance claim but they want proof I didn’t fly. How would I go about getting this. Also my friends still went on holiday so the hotel wasn’t cancelled I just wasn’t there. Again they say they want proof
Any advice ? Thanks. Alison
Love holidays continued to take month out of my account per month I rang them and said I cancelled the holiday, they said I didn't and to cancel would cost me £500 because flights are non refundable. So I decided just to pay for the holiday because I didn't want to pay the cancellation fee
Now a month before am set to fly I tried Checking in, and the flights have been cancelled, easy jet said I did cancel on that day but love holidays are saying they didn't know I cancelled because easy is an independent company and they weren't to know. They are offering me a full refund with a fee of £130 to cancel. I don't know what to do
Thanks you
My two sons are booked on a school ski trip in January 2019.
One of the has a precondition (epilepsy) but was accepted on the schools annual group insurance.
Unfortunately in November he had a seizure and is now back on medication. Whilst his specialist says he is OK to travel, I understand the insurers are no longer willing to cover his illness.
His brother is very close to him. With this in mind if we have to option but to cancel his trip due to a lack of cover, would we be able to claim for both sons as neither would travel without the other?
please help as my wife is disabled and I have heart problems.
I therefore will be unable to travel on holiday in 4 weeks, my cruise company have advised that they will charge 75% cancellation fee of our holiday, which is over £6,000.
My insurance cover is a bit confusing, but looks like I will only get maximum £2,000 on any claim.
What can I do?
I would have been interested on even transferring our holiday to another date, but doesn't look like I can. Is there anything I can approach them with to change to another date or have a credit note so I can book another cruise when I am finished bereavement ?
thanks
My sister was taken ill and had an operation therefore we had to cancel our Cruise holiday.
My sister received the refund for her and my brother in law.
I went through my insurers as paid for myself and my mother.
My insurance company now only want to reimburse for me and not my 77 year old Mother. They are saying she should claim under her policy, but we had not yet taken out a policy for her, and i paid the full amount anyway as It was my treat for my mother.
Please advise,
kind regards
Dianne
I've booked a holiday with love holidays for march next year
It's for two people and I've put a deposit down.
This holiday was booked 24 hours ago but my circumstances have changed and we can no longer go.
Would I still get the same amount of cancellation fees ?
Within less than hour we had a reply to say the holiday had been cancelled and the funds held till we receive the death certificate to send to them then we are free to book another holiday!
This is such a relief and just want to let others know who are going through unexpected events that there are companies out there who are willing to cooperate during these times! Can't thank Thomson enough!
We have insurance so I could cancel but would Thomson consider rescheduling the holiday due to the circumstances! I could cope with the holiday after everything is sorted but need to be here to support my brother and dad during the arrangements etc!
We have spoken to Thomson customer services who were very helpful and told us to e-mail their 'exclusions' department with proof of her illness by way of a GPs letter which we sent along with a letter form her oncologist. We have holiday insurance however it only covers people that are travelling.
We're not asking for a refund and we know technically we have no rights as its fully paid etc but I was wondering what the chances were that Thomsons would allow us to defer as a goodwill gesture.
We're waiting for a response from them and we understand they can keep our money but we're curious as to whther anyone else has has a similar experience and what the outcome was.
many thanks
Me and my partner for a week my partners ex has been taken into hospital and we have full custody of the child where we have no birth certificate or passport and unknown how long she may be in for , we both have insurance does anyone know what we can do I have not slept for days any help would be grateful
However on 25 February my Husband broke his ankle and he could not travel with injury being so severe.
When i advised the owner that we needed to cancel he explained £200 cancellation fee, which I accepted! Expecting £840 refund.
He has only offered £690 refund!
Completely shocked of his actions..
We had stayed in cottage last year on 2 different occaisions.
Last year.
What should i do please advise
I have tried to request a change of name to passenger flight so that someone else could come with me even this is a hard thing to do all teletext tells me is that the holiday must be paid for in full in 10 weeks time. I cant afford to pay the balance on my own, and I don’t want to travel to mexico on my own either for my 50th birthday. I spoke to someone today to be told if I cancel I have to pay £1589 asap to cancel the holiday otherwise they refuse to cancel the holiday. I cant afford £1589 just to cancel a holiday on my own I work part time. please advise what i should do now, I am at my witts end. i really can not afford the money thay are demanding from me. many thanks for taking time to read any advice greatly appreciated
please help.... I booked a holiday to malaysia and Bali in august 2016 for myself and then partnerto both pay half each. At time of booking i paid a deposit of £761 to secure the flights. However the envitable happened and we split up and he didnt pay the balance of holiday being 640. For the past month I have been in contact with the travel agent to requset a change of passenger details but they are refusing to allow and want me to pay 750 for another flight.I explained that im not able to travel half way around the world on my own due to being a nervous passenger that could suffer anxiety and panic attacks! Still said not able to transfer or passenger change. i advised that I couldnt possibly afford a further £750 for new flight plus the balance of £640 plus the 761£ id already paid. They stated that they could not resell the ticket to me at a loss??!! how would it be at a loss when id already paid. i contacted the airline direct who said it shouldnt be a problem. Again I wrote to the travel company explaining this still no joy i also mentioned that in their terms and conditions they would do their utmost to accomadate changes to a booking but they just sed No. Well now they are chasing me for the balance of the holiday been a week. I wrote to them again explaining that as they will not change passenger details at reasonable cost and that I really cannot travel alone that distance due to onset of anxiety and panic attacks then i would have no option but to cancel the holiday (i still have about 7weeks before i actually travel) expecting to lose my deposit of £761 but they not bothered and are now asking for further payment of £240 .i advised that i could not afford this further payment. And to insult me further they repeatedly keep sending me emails advertising the exact same holiday special offeravailable every month until November 2017. All they wrote back is as per t&cs the vwry very small print. having to pay this extra amount brings the cost to thousand pound. £1000 for a holiday im not going in. I dont think it unreasonable to dispute these charges considering the amount of notice i gave to cancel and the fact that this holiday is available throught out the whole yr.
Please please advise what i should do now. i really can not afford a further £240.
many thanks for taking time to read
any advice greatly appreciated
Please do your have any clue?
The company which will go on a trip is sold to another I do not want to travel with her can I ask for return of the deposit?
We have been to our Drs to discuss this and one of the jabs is Yellow fever . We have been told to think very carefully about this as there can be potential serious risks from this injection for the over 60s . We are 65 and 72 .
In view of this situation we wish to cancel the holiday.
Please do you have any comments on the situation
Thank You
Do I have to pay the rest of the deposit?
People have said that we won't get the full amount of our holiday back, this is worrying me, can this be true?
How would this impact our travel insurance claim for cancellation due to family member illness?
Was due to go to egypt Monday 11 April. Was in pain diagnosed with inflamation of
of gallbladder on
8/4/16 two lots antibiotics and waiting for letter from hospital for scan. I felt so poorly and had a allergy reaction to antibiotics so was back at Dr on 12/4/16. I am 63 would I be able to claim on travel insurance if
My Dr said I was unfit to fly.
Be grateful for your reply.
since then my partner as decided to walk out on the relationship.
ive explained this situation to thomson who have said i wont be able to claim the money back what i have paid so far is this correct
"The FCO advise against all but essential travel to: the Governorate of South Sinai, with the exception of the area within the Sharm el Sheikh perimeter barrier, which includes the airport and the areas of Sharm el Maya, Hadaba, Naama Bay, Sharks Bay and Nabq; however, we advise against all but essential travel by air to or from Sharm el Sheikh; the area west of the Nile Valley and Nile Delta regions, excluding the coastal areas between the Nile Delta and Marsa Matruh (as shown on the map).
The areas to which the FCO advise against all but essential travel do not include the tourist areas along the Nile river (eg Luxor, Qina, Aswan, Abu Simbel and the Valley of the Kings) or the Red Sea Resorts of Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada."
I booked a holiday (flight & hotel) with an independent travel agent to Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh. Due to travel early May. They booked our flights with EasyJet but we have had notification that the airline have cancelled all flights up to end May.
The agent has refused my request for a refund on the holiday as they have said they can move my flight to another airline. Are the travel agents within their rights to do this or am I entitled to ask for a refund?
I booked a holiday to Cuba in Jan 2015 for July 2016. In November of last year I discovered I'm pregnant and due 2 weeks before flying (gutted ??) When I called Love Holidays, acting on behalf of Thomas Cook, they said they would refund excess paid but keep the deposit of £500. The assistant I spoke to suggested I may be able to contact TC when I receive MatB1 form as evidence of unfit to fly. As I'm now at that stage, I have searched my love holidays account to download insurance documents and the link is dead ?? My fault I know for not doing it sooner but can anyone please suggest how I should approach? TIA
Is this unusual or just a way of the company keeping your deposit if you cancel?
So i spent the day looking with other companies and found the holiday available with another company for a cheaper price on different dates. When i called Loveholidays, i explained that i am phoning to cancel as i have found the holiday cheaper elsewhere with different dates. As i knew it would take at least 3 working days to get the deposit back, i told the manager (Hannah) i had found the holiday cheaper elsewhere with better dates and what offer she could come up with to make me stay with Loveholidays raher than waiting for a refund and booking again. She said she will find out and call me back.
She calls me back in the afternoon stating that she has once again found the rooms (the 2nd option) and that i will still have to pay the extra money. I explained that i did not want it as the other company was still cheaper and the dates more suitable. She said i would have to pay £400 admin fees for the flights if i wanted to change them but i could not get a full refund as the flights are non-refundable.
NONE of this was mentioned in the call earlier that day. I told her to "make me an offer" so i can choose whether to saty or cancel. At no point did she tell me that if she found room availability i would have to take it. Basically, the choice was taken away from me. If she had stated that in the morning i would definitely have cancelled and she should have mentioned this. Within a few hours i lost the ability to cancel this booking. I never asked her to book the rooms for me. I asked for her to give me options but she has not.
It is strange how they finally found room availability when i explained i had found the holiday cheaper elsewhere. Am i able to still cancel as i never asked her to book the rooms for us?
We have been told tonight that we have to wait to see if the security measures change at the airport in Sharm but they are unable to give us any information on when updates are going to be available. We have not purchased holiday insurance as yet but have been told by the company that if we do not want to go and they lift restrictions we could claim off the insurance as a no show???
We are more than happy to travel if restrictions are lifted but we are stuck in limbo with only four weeks till departure.
If terrorism is a threat and the foreign office still will not allow flights to take place how long should we have to wait to hear news that they will cancel? Monarch have already cancelled flights till 20 December 2015 but the company we are booked with only have cancellations till 2 December.
Do we have any rights to cancel due to the situation or do we have to wait till they make their decisions
Thanks
Unfortunately I have had a mild stroke (TIA) at the start of October .
Will I have to change my insurance
This all seems extremely unfair. Any advice welcome?
Thanks
Thank you
My dad has had a major seizure in the last 7 days. He's never had any medical condition before. He is due to fly 4th August with my mum to see my sister in America.
We have been told that the flights are 100% non refundable. My mum was not told this at the time of booking.
We asked if we could defer but as she booked Jan 15 they have up to Jan 16 to fly.
No insurance was taken out because it wasn't explained to mum that if anything was to happen that she would lose £2k. She was going to do what others do which was wait nearer the time.
my questions to you are:
Do we have a case to fight? Either for a refund of whether the company would move it on more than Jan. We have medical letters saying He can't drive or fly for 6 months. I'm just unsure who to contact. The company who the travel agents used? the travel agents? The airline?
If we don't have a case do you think we could complain to the travel company for not explaining insurance to my mum when she said no. Not everyone is travel savvy.
My mum is looking at deferring the flights but with dad not being able to fly for 6 months even if they got something back it would help ease what is a very difficult time for our family.
Thank you in advance
My parents have advised me to cancell the holiday . Now the holiday company have refused to refund any of the money I paid them.
Please can you advise mw what my rights are and whom to contact by email or who I can ask about getting this company to refund my money,
Thankyou
I have had a look at the T's and C's and cannot see anything.
Thanks
Thank you
guarantees. What more must I do to retrieve monies from a legitimate claim.w erythema that they ask for in their policy wording as been produced in original form. They now want my original bank statements and Barclay add statements for flights car hire etched. Naturally my bank statements show all our personal banking details how can this be good practice as I now feel I,m being subject to my privacy being invaded.
Will I be able to claim the flight ticket money back,as I already have 2 seats booked on the original return journey in 10 days time
The passports were in the luggage in the back of my vehicle, to which I had the keys so my wife was unable to fly without me.
The police gave me the information about being detained to see if I could claim back on my insurance.
Would I be covered for this??
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
My husband has been taken ill and needs heart surgery. I have insurance for existing illnesses and baggage etc but on the second page no cancellation :(
I was thinking to change mine and my husbands tickets for another adult and another child.
Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do, this worry along with worrying about my husband is making me ill.
as you can imagine we are very concerned about going to this hotel as none of us want to become ill. The hotel is an all inclusive establishment and if we dont eat or drink there it is going to put an immense amount of money onto the cost of the holiday.
is there anything we can do??
I have paid in full and although th FCO say it's safe to travel there I don't want to take the risk and it's making me I'll.
I have booked with Thompson and I will gladly take an alternative destination or my money back.
What are my options please As I've paid £3000 for this holiday?
I find it hard to believe that it would cost or inconvenience an airline to resell a holiday, certainly not the amounts they do charge.
"The Office of Fair Trading...in 2003, and decided that in most cases, cancellation charges weren’t disproportionate."
Virgin for example charge 70 percent of the overall holiday cost in order to cancel a month beforehand, a week after they take 90 percent and after that they take everything. I honestly do not see how they can justify that, reselling a holiday will not cost them £1000 or even £100 even at the last minute. People book flights and holidays everyday. How often do you see a long-haul flight with empty seats?
They could always advertise real last minute flights on their website if they cannot resell straight away, which appears highly unlikely if you regularly check such already inflated fares that disappear quickly . Their trading practices are nothing more than common theft.
The original lead passenger asked for her deposit to be refunded, the travel agent sais as she was lead passenger she could transfer her deposit onto another holiday but could not be refunded in cash. The travel agent said that the other 2 girls would pay her the deposit, but she told us that we didn't have to because she had cancelled.
The travel agent has telephoned me today(18thMay) and said that the girl had been into the shop asking for her deposit and they had given her it back so we now owe another £175. I have a new reference number in my name and the original holiday had been cancelled.
Are the travel agents allowed to do this? I'm at my wits end.
Ask Your Travel Rights a question
Ask our editorial team a question and we will reply with our advice. Tell us as much about your situation as you can: the more detail you give, the more useful our answer can be.
You do not need to use your real name. Please do not include your full address, phone number, email address, or the names of other people. We may edit or remove identifying details for privacy and legal reasons.
Comments are moderated before publication.