We have a 10 day trip booked at the end of May to Corfu. My wife, young daughter and I booked it through LoveHolidays and the flights are with Ryanair. The trip came to just over £2,000, but luckily I only paid for 20 per cent upfront with American Express.
We are due to pay the remainder in mid-May, but are unsure what to do and cannot get hold of LoveHolidays to find out.
Should we: cancel the trip and claim on our insurance for the £400, not do anything and hope that we'll still be able to go, or something else?
We're currently at a loss as to what to do, but don't want a payment of £1,600 to come out only for us to then have to battle to just get a credit note, but we also don't want to just write off £400 if we chose to cancel.
Grace Gausden, This is Money, replies: There are many questions being raised at the moment about upcoming holidays and what people should do about them.
If you decide to cancel your trip, you will be £400 down as it was your decision and therefore, you won't be eligible for a refund.
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However, you face the dilemma of paying the full amount and finding yourself out of pocket by a couple of thousand pounds for a holiday which - at the moment - is incredibly unlikely to go ahead.
While you would likely be able to reclaim this cost through your travel insurer, or through the ATOL scheme, as your holiday is protected, this could be a lengthy process and you will be unlikely to get your money back within the coming weeks – it is far more likely to be months of waiting.
It is also unhelpful that you have been unable to speak to LoveHolidays directly about this.
Understandably, many holiday firms are swamped with concerned callers right now, with most asking that customers call only if their holiday is within the next seven days of getting in contact.
However, when people are paying out large sums of money to said companies and are not able to have their questions answered, this is also an issue.
LoveHolidays have said that, in line with Foreign and Commonwealth Office guidance, it has decided to cancel all bookings made by LoveHolidays customers with departures up to and including 7 May 2020 at this time.
For customers who are due to travel later this year, their holiday remains unaffected at present.
Travellers have been unable to get through to their holiday providers to discuss future trips
A spokesperson for LoveHolidays replies: We are monitoring the situation closely, keeping the FCO advice and our cancellation period under continual review, and will extend this period as and when appropriate.
As this readers holiday is fully ATOL protected, we can confirm that he will not lose any money if his holiday is cancelled due to COVID-19.
We also recommend our customers who still have outstanding monthly payments to make towards their holidays taking place after 30 April continue to pay these.
While we understand that this may be unsettling given the current uncertainty, their money is fully ATOL protected and so not at risk should their holiday subsequently need to be cancelled.
We recommend that customers do not pre-emptively choose to cancel their holiday at this time to ensure they avoid incurring cancellation charges.
If customers wish to amend their holiday bookings they should note that while LoveHolidays has waived its own amendment fees where such amendments arise as a result of holiday bookings requiring cancellation due to travel restrictions within its cancellation policy period, hotels and airlines may charge their own fees.
Should the readers holiday be cancelled, we will be in contact with him as soon as possible to provide him with options. If his holiday is cancelled, at that point no further payments will be taken.
We are really sorry that he hasn't been able to get through to us. As I'm sure you can imagine, we are dealing with unprecedented demand at the moment.
We are trying to get in touch with everyone as quickly as we can, but we understand our customers' frustration and want to apologise for any issues they've encountered trying to get through to one of our agents.
We are prioritising contacting everyone by travel date and by those most vulnerable at the moment.
We also understand that the uncertainty is extremely frustrating and so want to reiterate that no one will not lose any money if their holiday is cancelled due to COVID-19.
Holidays remain uncertain for thousands of British travellers who have been left in a dilemma
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, replies: Which? has heard from countless people who have been asked to pay thousands for holidays, leaving them in the impossible position of having to choose between losing their deposit or paying for a holiday that may never happen.
Where possible, you should continue paying the installments for upcoming package holidays to avoid losing your deposit. If cancelled, package holiday providers are legally obliged to refund you.
It's important to be aware you may have to wait for the money to be returned to you though, as some firms have told customers they will not be processing refunds for a number of months, while others are only offering credit notes.
Unfortunately, if you decide not to pay for the remainder of the holiday it's unlikely you will be able to claim the costs back from your insurer.
If you cannot afford to pay, speak to your holiday provider about rearranging the holiday for a later date and delaying the payments.
Grace Gausden, This is Money, adds: In your situation, it sounds like the best course of action is to pay the full amount and wait for a refund. Whilst this is frustrating, you should at least eventually have all of the money back, rather than taking a £400 hit.
This is not the only issue travellers have been having with many passengers left frustrated after trying to claim cash refunds after their flights have been cancelled.
While they have been asked to call to get their money back, most say they can't get through at all.
Although they could claim a voucher or change the date of their flights online, they do not want to as they don't know when they will be allowed to travel again.
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