Is there an alternative to ‘future cruise credit’?

Q A year ago, before anyone had heard of coronavirus, I booked a Baltic cruise for June 2020 with my elderly mother. By March, when it became clear that coronavirus was a global pandemic, we naturally wanted to postpone the trip or get our money back. We were told refunds were not available and instead took a “future cruise credit” to the same value as the original cruise.

As time has gone by, and we have learnt more about the virus, it has become increasingly clear that a cruise is not going to be suitable in any circumstances. I know that many cruise lines have been offering refunds, but our firm is insisting that we cannot have any alternative to time-limited vouchers. We pointed out that a refund was not offered to us originally but this has had no effect on their stance. What are our options?

Name supplied

A I am afraid you find yourselves in a situation that, over the next few months, will become increasingly common: you took what looked like a perfectly reasonable decision early on in the coronavirus pandemic, and voluntarily accepted a credit note. As the crisis continues, with a Foreign Office warning against cruises to boot, it’s understandable that your appetite for a cruise has dwindled. But regrettably you are now very much on the back foot in terms of consumer protection.

As you appreciate, by taking the initiative and saying you did not want to travel, you are losing out. Had you waited for the trip to be cancelled, you would have been entitled to a full refund within two weeks of notification. Instead, the cruise line will say, approximately: “In return for us allowing you to get out of the contract we agreed, you surrendered your right to your money back.”

Many travel firms, including airlines as well as cruise lines, have been cancelling trips very late during the crisis. There is a widely held suspicion that they are holding off sending out the notification knowing that the longer they leave it, the more customers will ask for a change and give up their entitlement to their money back.

One strategy to consider: check with your agent or cruise line whether, if you book a cruise with your credit and it is subsequently cancelled, you will be treated the same as other customers and offered a cash refund rather than yet more vouchers. Many firms are offering this.

If that is the case, book the first cruise you can – probably for March 2021. Sadly, for the cruise line, I think it is more likely than not that it will be cancelled. If I am wrong, then you will probably be able to cancel again without penalty (again, check this before committing) and get the future cruise credit – leaving you no worse off than you are at present.

Q I am due to fly out to Gran Canaria with TUI at the end of November. However, my region, West Lothian, has just gone into lockdown and I am not allowed to travel.  

TUI has told us that the flights are still going to the destination, therefore we can still travel. They will not entertain a refund, only a transfer of dates, even though we cannot travel to the airport. What are our rights?

David K

A Lockdown rules in specific areas – or entire UK nations – have been playing havoc with holiday bookings for months. I imagine that your holiday is not starting at Edinburgh or Glasgow, because TUI has cancelled all its departures from Scotland’s two main airports up to and including 11 December – which is when the present outbound travel ban from level 3 and 4 areas is due to end.

Holidaymakers booked on those grounded trips have been offered full refunds, as the law requires. But the general principle across the travel industry is that when a trip is going ahead, there is no entitlement to a cash refund – even though to take the holiday would involve breaking the law.

I asked a TUI spokesperson about your trip and was told: “We have constantly been reviewing our holiday programme throughout the pandemic and making changes where required. We understand that there’s still a lot of uncertainty about travel plans at the moment, so we’re being as flexible as we can.”

I infer you are not flying from an English airport, because TUI trips from England have been cancelled until the end of lockdown in early December. So in your case presumably the departure airport is Aberdeen. TUI says that if you cannot travel because of the restrictions in place in your home area, you can postpone to any holiday currently on sale, free of amendment fees.

I agree that it is maddening to be told, basically “you can’t go on holiday – but you can’t get your money back, either”. But that is just one example of a consumer-protection system that was not designed for these times. Rather than feeling negative about this, I would be looking forward to a Canary Island trip some time in the future – and feeling positive that you have not lost all your money, just restricted to a fairly narrow range of things you can spend it on.

Q Our dogs have their rabies jabs up to date but no blood test. We are hoping to go to France in March. Do you know when it will be decided if the UK becomes an “unlisted country”?

Daz

A “We’re getting ready. Are you?” – that is the government’s message to the public ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December.

The UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016. Two hundred and thirty weeks since then, and with just six weeks before the deadline, there is uncertainty over many aspects of travel – but the “pet passport” scheme is probably the biggest unknown.  

As you know, the present long-established system makes taking dogs, cats or even ferrets to and from Europe relatively straightforward. But once the UK leaves and becomes a “third country”, things get trickier. Last time I asked Defra, a spokesperson told me: “The UK government is working with the European Commission to ensure a similar arrangement [to now] for pet travel between Great Britain and the EU from 1 January 2021.

“We have submitted an application to the European Commission to become a Part 1 listed country under the pet travel scheme.” This would be the least bad option compared with what we have now. But: “We can’t give any more detail on timings at the moment – we’ve submitted our application and we’re currently negotiating our future relationship with the EU.”

The issue is still not settled, so for now we have to assume the worst – that the UK will be “unlisted”. In that case, your pet must have a blood sample taken at least 30 days after its primary rabies vaccination.Your vet may recommend a booster before this happens.

That sample will be sent to an EU-approved blood testing laboratory. Then, you must “wait three months from the date the successful blood sample was taken before you can travel,” according to the government.

So if your dogs’ jabs are still current, and you start the blood test process now, you should be able to take your dogs to France towards the end of February 2021.  

One thing we do know: “There will be no change to the current health preparations for pets entering Great Britain from the EU from 1 January 2021.”

Q I notice many commercial flights are arriving at and leaving from UK airports. Who are the passengers, as non-essential travel isn’t allowed? Surely it can’t all be business?

Ian G

A I am in a reasonable position to answer your question because I spent Tuesday morning at London’s Heathrow airport – partly interviewing passengers just arrived from New York, partly observing who was coming and going, and partly talking to staff. Clearly I didn’t have a chance to talk to everyone, but I hope that I gained something of an insight into the make-up of the very small numbers of passengers who are travelling.

I should emphasise that there is no ban on arriving at UK airports. Returning British holidaymakers, people who have been visiting family abroad, relatives coming to see British family and incoming business travellers are all entitled to travel to the UK. They must almost certainly self-isolate for two weeks under the quarantine rule, and will of course need to observe the prevailing rules and lockdown status in the part of the UK they are staying in.

The fact they are able legally to arrive is helping financially to support airlines operating many of the flights arriving in the UK. Each of those inbound flights has an equal and opposite outbound component which, I sense, is much more lightly loaded – but still carrying people with a legitimate right to travel.  

Relatives resident abroad are entitled to fly out, as are outbound business travellers. People involved in processes such as buying property abroad can avail of the specific right to deal with legal proceedings. Sadly, a number of people will be travelling for the limited number of compassionate reasons: seeing family members who are in hospital abroad, or expected to pass away soon, or to attend funerals.

Some of the departures from Heathrow are also carrying travellers from Africa, Asia and elsewhere in Europe to North America and vice-versa, in the standard way that flight connections work. Add in Scottish passengers living in tier 2 or lower areas, who are able to travel for leisure and can connect in England in order to get away, and you have a fairly comprehensive cross-section of a typical, sparsely populated plane.

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