Coronavirus: Has the new Welsh circuit breaker left me stuck in a Rhodes block?

Q I live in one of the low-risk areas of Wales and have a holiday booked to Rhodes in Greece on Saturday 31 October, flying from Birmingham. Will I be able to leave Wales to make the journey?

Mike J

A Under the new “circuit breaker” rules that are in effect in Wales from 6pm on Friday 23 October up to and including Sunday 8 November, you will not be able to go on holiday.

The Welsh government says: “The fortnight-long action [actually 16-and-a-bit days] is needed to save lives and prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed. Travel abroad is only permitted for people with a reasonable excuse.We know this will be disappointing but travelling out of Wales for a holiday is not one of the permitted reasons under the regulations.”

So what are your options? The first thing to note is that your planned holiday in Greece may end up being cancelled. The rate of new infections per 100,000 people in the course of the past week in Greece is 28.3. While the UK’s rate is currently over six times higher, the stated threshold for the imposition of quarantine by the Department for Transport (DfT) is 20. The DfT stresses that other factors are considered, but Greece finds itself in much the same position, arithmetically, as Poland was three weeks ago before the country was unceremoniously placed on the no-go list.

Most holiday firms will not send clients to destinations to which the Foreign Office warns against travel. So were your chosen Greek island to be ruled off-limits, upon cancellation you will be entitled to a full refund within two weeks. My prediction, though, is that Rhodes will remain on the “low-risk” list, and your trip will go ahead. Therefore you will need to talk to your travel agent or the the holiday company and explain your position.

You are one of many thousands in this unfortunate situation. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says a refund is normally due “for any services they have already paid for but that are not provided by the business or which the consumer is not allowed to use because of government public health measures”. This view has not been tested in court in these circumstances, though. A more agreeable outcome might be to rebook for next year. If your travel firm refuses even this compromise, then by all means speak to your travel insurer – but I imagine you might be referred back to the CMA rules.

One other option: you can ask your card issuer if it can offer any hope of recompense, through a Section 75 claim (for credit card purchases) or the voluntary “chargeback” scheme.

Finally, I should point out that you are not allowed to travel elsewhere in Wales for a domestic holiday, I’m afraid, during the circuit break.

Q Me and my family are booked for a holiday to New York in November this year. We haven’t got any emails saying the flight has been cancelled. If it does go ahead, would we still have to go?

Callum J

A Many people who booked transatlantic trips before the coronavirus pandemic have had a straightforward refund entitlement. The vast majority of flights since late March between the UK and the US have been cancelled. That automatically triggers the right for a full cash refund (either of flights-only or packages, depending on which was booked). The fact that the US will not allow British holidaymakers and business travellers to visit has not been relevant.

A few people have been affected – when their long-planned flight has been one of a handful actually operated, for the purposes of carrying cargo and the few, mostly official, passengers crossing the Atlantic. The standard response of airlines to customers in this position has been to offer a voucher for future travel, rather than a cash refund.

Those who have been booked on package holidays, with flights and accommodation included, have normally been able to get their money back, as the trip has become completely impossible due to US regulations. (I recognise that many people have had to wait a ridiculous amount of time for refunds, regrettably.)

Now, though, the landscape is changing. British Airways, for example, plans to increase its flights from London Heathrow to New York JFK from the current two per day (at 10.45am and 4.20pm) to six – with the earliest at 8.25am. In addition, BA will add a single daily departure from Heathrow to New York’s Newark airport.

Unless things change further, that means the chances are about evens that the flight will be running. In addition, the presidential proclamation that has blocked travel to the US to all British visitors (except for political figures such as Nigel Farage and Tony Blair) since mid-March may be lifted after the election. If the law is abolished shortly afterwards, as it may be, that could make your trip feasible, if unappetising.

Amid the uncertainty, I suggest all you can do is wait. Once the picture becomes clearer, perhaps a week before your planned trip, if it still looks like going ahead then talk to the provider and see what options are proposed.

Just one more thing: please promise me you will never again book way ahead for a trip in November, the most off peak of months? A week or two is more than enough, and your risk exposure is drastically reduced.

Q Me and the family are supposed to be going to Turkey next Saturday. Do you think this will happen now? We keep getting emails from Tui saying we can amend our holiday up to 48 hours before we go.

Wayne C

A Tui is selling some remarkably good value trips to Turkey next weekend, with a week in the lovely resort of Marmaris available for only £188, including flights from Gatwick to Dalaman (with 15kg of baggage), transfers and self-catering accommodation.

But there is a strong chance that these trips – and yours – will not be going ahead. Currently Turkey is on the UK government’s no-go list, with the Foreign Office warning against travel there. Anyone who does go must self-isolate for two weeks on their return. If this is still the case around four days before you are due to go, then Tui will cancel your trip and give you a full refund within 14 days, as the Package Travel Regulations require.

You would be forgiven for thinking it seems unreasonable for holidaymakers not to know if their trip will go ahead until a few days before departure. In normal times I would agree. But Tui is – like the rest of us – dependent on the changes that are announced every so often by the Department for Transport and the Foreign Office.

You might imagine that Britain’s biggest holiday company and other interested parties might get tipped off so they can plan accordingly, but my understanding is that they don’t. Usually there is a weekly tweet from the transport secretary about changes to the quarantine list – at 5pm each Thursday, Grant Shapps announces on Twitter who’s promoted and who’s relegated. But sometimes it happens on other days as well.

Tui wants to take you to Turkey. The country was added to the no-go list earlier this month because of concerns about the reliability of its coronavirus infection rates. But as we saw with Crete this week and Zante last, the need to quarantine can be removed – allowing holidays to go ahead. Rather than cancelling and reinstating, I think it is fair for Tui to wait a few days longer and see if trips can go ahead  

Meanwhile the company is offering the opportunity to avoid the uncertainty by re-booking. This is arguably in Tui’s interests, because it avoids the firm having to pay out a refund. You might feel it is the right choice for you, but in your position I would wait a few more days.

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