Covid and travel discussion

manchester blue said:
Right I’m doing it. Cheers Rob.
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Just make sure you have the option to cancel/move or refund and you'll be fine.

We're lucky in that until February, we are still in the EasyJet flight club and moving dates and even switching destinations has never been an issue. Two of next year's holidays are with TUI which were booked before the pandemic so we've been able to move those round freely as well.
 
RobMCFC said:
Just make sure you have the option to cancel/move or refund and you'll be fine.

We're lucky in that until February, we are still in the EasyJet flight club and moving dates and even switching destinations has never been an issue. Two of next year's holidays are with TUI which were booked before the pandemic so we've been able to move those round freely as well.
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I’ve booked accommodation which I can cancel up to day before. We are flying from Scotland but back to Manchester so limited options but think moving is an option. All done now! Enjoy your trips.
 
Rumours kicking about in a few places that the requirement to test in resort before flying home is about to be dropped.

Given that it was only brought back in in attempt to slow down Omicron (look how that worked out....) it makes zero sense to continue it.
It actually made zero sense to bring it back in, but whatever, just another crazy decision from the Gov that the industry had to deal with.

On a more positive note, where are people going this year? Or where do people hope to go?
Is 2022 the year we finally see the world start to open up again?
Have people got stuff booked in or preferring to sit tight and see what happens over the coming weeks and months?

My predictions....

Long haul is going to remain difficult for many destinations; either border closures, or quite strict entry requirements around testing and whatnot. The days of being able to jump on a plane to USA/Thailand/Australia/Barbados etc etc with the minimum of fuss are long gone and may not return for a long time, if ever.
That's not to say that long haul travel will be off limits, and it looks like places like Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia are going to finally permit tourists this year.
But realistically it's 2023 before we can even get close to how the world was in 2019, in my opinion.

Short haul will hopefully become even easier, and I'd hope for no testing for all our main summer Med destinations.
I still think forms and that general ballache will continue, so some people might deem city breaks not worth the hassle, but I think anyone who wants a week or 2 in the European sunshine this summer should be able to do that straightforward enough.

Cruising....tough one to gauge. The big appeal of cruises for many people is the chance to visit multiple countries in a condensed timeframe.
A traditional Baltic cruise itinerary, for example, will likely see a ship visit Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Russia and Finland over the course of 10-14 days. That's a lot of potentially different entry requirements and makes it all a bit more logistically complex than a land based holiday.
Even a fairly standard Med cruise itinerary can touch into Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Greece and Turkey.
But cruising attracts a very loyal following so I think they will bounce back again in 2022.

'Staycations' will likely have another bumper summer. I think potential disruption/entry rule changes/general faff of going abroad will still put a lot of people off, and many will opt for the easy choice of staying put for their jollies.
I do hope that, if nothing else, 2022 is the year that some people finally stop chirping 'eVerYBoDy SHoulD hoLIDaY aT HOmE'.

My 2022 is already packed out, with trips booked to Dominican Republic, Lanzarote, Kotor, Gran Canaria, an MSC cruise, Ibiza and Tenerife.
I'm hopeful that most, if not all of those will go ahead as planned.....time will tell.

*edit to add that those predictions are based on being fully vaccinated....
 
We were due to go to Iceland in a few weeks but sacked it off as my other half doesn't want to risk getting stuck there with the current requirement to test before flying home.

We have just changed the flights to Spain in May instead and had accommodation booked that we could cancel, so not lost any money.
 
Packages will generally offer the most robust financial protection, but they can be a little inflexible close to departure.
Whilst I still think packages with reputable tour operators (Jet2, Easyjet Holidays, TUI.....not companies like loveholidays) is the better way forward, I wouldn't put people off short haul DIY trips but do consider the following.....

Stating the obvious but ensure any accom you have booked can be cancelled without penalty for as late as possible, ideally as close to 1 day before scheduled arrival.

For the flights, either use airlines that will allow you to change or cancel for a voucher/credit.
Easyjet have been very good for this and you can change until 2 hours before departure.
BA let you cancel flight only bookings for a voucher until very close to departure.
Even Ryanair at the moment are plugging their 'no change fee' for new bookings, but changes have to be done outside of 7 days before departure.
Wizz Air are very inflexible but their flights can be incredibly cheap (£4 return to the Canaries for example) so some people might be happy to take a punt on a cheap flight knowing their financial liability is pretty small if decide to sack it off.

Always double check with the airline before booking as the above policies will be subject to change and before long airlines will likely revert back to their inflexible models from pre-pandemic.

Finally, don't book flights with or through a consolidator for low cost carriers/BA short haul.
You might get a fare a couple of quid cheaper through someone via Skyscanner, but it's really not worth the tiny saving. Much better to be able to manage the booking yourself via the airlines direct website, and makes the refund process a lot smoother if flights do get cancelled.
On the same note, avoid companies like LoveHolidays/On the beach or anyone not ABTA bonded like the plague. They can and will do you out of a lot of £££ as they don't have to follow the ABTA code of conduct despite selling ATOL protected packages.
Use someone reputable for packages who is both ABTA and ATOL protected.
 
Not wanting to ramble as I've already done a couple of long zzz posts already today, but the reason why being ABTA bonded is important is because of the following....

I took a call at my agency back in early December.
It was from a gentleman who was booked to travel to the Canaries over Christmas and new year with his son and his 3 grandkids (14, 14 and 16 from memory)
It had been booked with LoveHolidays, and the guy was seeking some advice.
LoveHolidays had only sent them a couple of generic emails surrounding testing, and nothing had been communicated to them about the rule change in Spain for unvaxxed people aged 12+ not being permitted in December.

Despite it not being booked though us (which makes me reluctant to help for obvious reasons), I did fill him in with the details about the latest news and told him there's no way they can travel as booked unless all the kids were double jabbed, which they obviously weren't.
I told him he'd need to contact LoveHolidays to see what the situation was in regard to their booking (he'd been trying with no avail, as these companies are often difficult to impossible to get through to), we had a good chat and I wished him good luck.

He calls back a couple of hours later.
He'd managed to speak to someone at LoveHolidays.
This family had a package holiday booked, but this is where ABTA protection comes in.
The holiday cost was around £3700 total, and the flight element of it was worth about a grand.
The gentleman informed me on the 2nd call that LoveHolidays told them they need to take the flights up with the airline directly, in this case Ryanair.
Ryanair are absolutely not obligated to refund any flight that operates, and knowing Ryanair they will have told the customers to clear off or batted them back to LH.
The accom element of the package, about £2700; this was being offered as a credit and had to be used by and travelled within a month (so around early January). Bearing in mind that most of Europe was either closed, in lockdown or not allowing unvaccinated travellers, this will have been extremely difficult to use in such a short time frame given all the difficulties mentioned.

Had the customers booked their holiday through someone like Jet2 holidays, yes they might have paid a bit more but they will have been refunded in full by Jet2, as per ABTA code of conduct for refunds and package bookings.

Instead they went with LH, and unfortunately will have been stung for quite a lot of money.
Ultimately I don't know what happened with them and maybe they did manage to use the hotel credit somehow but there is no way Ryanair will have refunded the flights if they departed (which they 99% will have done as it was close to departure). A best case scenario of being out of pocket for a grand is pretty grim.

www.theguardian.com

Holiday firms quit Abta – leaving thousands fighting for refunds

On the Beach and Love Holidays’ split from travel agents’ association angers customers trying to get money back for cancelled holidays
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Blue Maverick said:
I’d never book with any of those dodgy companies heard far too many horror stories
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Totally agree. You either do it all yourself, go to a reputable high-street travel agent or go with a package. The holidays we book ourselves have hotels that are cancellable upto 24 hours before and you can generally move flights around at the moment.

It's outrageous that if you book with somebody like Love Holidays they tell you to go and sort things out with Ryanair directly. What's the point of them being there if they won't help you?

Anyway, we've got 3 holidays to Catalonia and 2 holidays to Disneyland Paris booked for this year.
We've pushed our one long-haul holiday to Florida (Virgin have had £7.5K of our money for nearly three years now) back to 2023. Seems like a sensible approach because then I reckon things will be pretty much back to normal and we've got plenty to look forward to this year anyway.
 
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