The government has recently announced that holidays won’t go ahead until 17 May at the earliest. It means if you’ve booked a package holiday, the company should cancel and give you a full refund.
Whether holidays beyond that date will still go ahead is still unknown. The date is dependent on a review of health data.
Additionally, to help curb the spread of new COVID-19 variants from overseas, people returning to the UK from high-risk red countries currently (only those permitted to tavel), as outlined on the government website, have to pay to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days.
It is unknown if this system will continue in future. However, it casts further doubt on holidays planned for late spring and beyond.
Government ministers regularly reiterate it’s too soon to book a holiday abroad this summer, but many people have already done so, including lots of holidaymakers who chose to push back their cancelled 2020 trips to this year in the hope that travel restrictions would no longer be in place.
If you have already booked a holiday for 2021, find out:
- Quarantine hotels: what are the new rules?
- Will my package holiday be cancelled?
- Do new quarantine rules count as a ‘significant change’ to my holiday?
- What are my rights if I’ve already postponed a holiday due to COVID-19?
- What if I’ve booked flights separately?
- My refund credit note or voucher expires soon – what should I do?
- Should I book a holiday for summer 2021 or beyond?
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Quarantine hotels: what are the rules?
To help stem the spread of new coronavirus variants, the government has introduced compulsory quarantine restrictions for people arriving in the UK from high-risk countries, where there is concern about the spread of new variants of COVID-19. These include countries such as Panama, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Brazil and South Africa. Find the full list here.
The latest additions to this are Ethiopia, Oman, Somalia and Qatar which will be added to the red list at 4am on 19 March. However, Portugal and Mauritius which are currently on the list are set to be removed at the same time.
Ministers may add countries to the quarantine list in the future if they are deemed high risk.
Under the rules, new arrivals from these destinations will be transported to a hotel as soon as they land in the UK, where they will have to quarantine for 10 days. They will not be allowed to leave for any reason and must eat and exercise in their room, without exception.
As is the case in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand, where similar rules apply, travellers will have to pay for the hotel stay out of their own pocket. This will cost £1,750, making overseas holidays unaffordable for many.
The government also announced that travellers wanting to leave the UK will have to declare their reason for doing so. Those attempting to travel for non-essential reasons will not be allowed to leave the country.
Will my package holiday be cancelled?
Definitely don’t cancel your holiday if it is due to take place before 17 May. Package holiday providers should cancel package bookings as a result of the travel ban and most will if the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) continues to advise against all non-essential travel to your destination.
We wouldn’t rush into cancelling your package holiday, beyond that date either, even if you’re worried your booking will be affected by hotel quarantine measures. You may have to pay to do so, whereas you’ll be entitled to a full refund if the holiday ends up being cancelled or significantly changed by the provider.
It’s not yet clear if all holiday providers will cancel package holidays as a result of the hotel quarantine restrictions however. T these rules may not exist by the time you take your trip though, meaning it can go ahead as planned.
Thomas Cook has already said that if there is a requirement for you to quarantine in a hotel on your return to the UK and this is in place two weeks before you travel, then it will allow you to amend your holiday with no charge, or cancel with a full refund.
Tui, easyJet, and Jet2 have all cancelled holidays up to and including 16 May. The government has said the earliest we’ll be allowed to travel abroad is 17 May.
If you’ve already decided you don’t want to travel past those dates and don’t want to wait and see if the provider cancels it, your best bet is to try and amend or postpone the booking. Many travel companies have introduced flexible booking policies as standard, waiving any fees usually payable.
You can help make sure all travel companies follow the law on refunds by signing our petition.
Do new quarantine rules count as a ‘significant change’ to my holiday?
Package holiday providers must offer you a full refund if they make a ‘significant change’ to your booking.
So, you may be due a refund if your package holiday is scheduled to go ahead but you’ll have to pay to quarantine in a hotel when you return to the UK. Whether this counts as a significant change to your booking may depend on how the holiday is defined in your contract.
For example, it might only include being returned to a UK airport, which could mean the fact you have to quarantine for 10 days once you leave the airport is beyond the scope of the agreement.
If so, you could try complaining to your holiday provider that the terms in the contract are unfair or that the contract is ‘frustrated’, but it may just be easier to postpone the booking until later in 2021 or beyond.
What are my rights if I’ve already postponed a holiday due to COVID-19?
Many holidaymakers have already had to rebook a holiday as a result of coronavirus. When holidays first started to be cancelled last March, for example, lots of people chose to postpone by a year, either to support their travel company, or because they were refused a refund.
If you chose to rebook, it’s probably too late to go back to your holiday provider and claim a refund for the original booking that was cancelled last year. But the good news is that postponed or rescheduled bookings are still protected by the Package Travel Regulations, meaning you’ll again be entitled to a refund if your new booking for this year is cancelled by the provider.
The largest package holiday providers in the UK — TUI, Jet2 Holidays, On the Beach, Love Holidays, British Airways Holidays and EasyJet Holidays — all confirmed that if they cancel a package holiday that’s already been postponed, the customer is again eligible for a refund.
There are a couple of caveats, though. If you used a voucher to rebook your holiday, you are likely to be refunded in vouchers, rather than cash. And if you booked a package holiday with On the Beach and Love Holidays, they may not refund you for the flight portion of your booking if the flight goes ahead.
You’re unlikely to be entitled to a refund if you cancel the booking yourself, so you should consider waiting for the provider to cancel the booking. If you don’t want to wait, you should be able to reschedule your holiday without incurring any fees.
What if I’ve booked flights separately?
Flights booked independently don’t have the same level of protection as package bookings.
Although airlines are obliged to refund you if they cancel your flight-only booking, they aren’t automatically cancelling flights to destinations the FCDO advises against visiting for non-essential reasons. Some airlines are also refusing to offer customers cash refunds for flights they could not legally take due to lockdown restrictions.
The Competition and Markets Authority is investigating this issue. In the meantime, though, if it gets to a few days before your departure date and your flight still hasn’t been cancelled, contact the airline to try and postpone your flights.
As with package holidays, postponed flights that end up being cancelled by the airline are still eligible for a full refund.
My refund credit note or voucher expires soon – what should I do?
Refund credit notes (RCNs) can either be used to book a holiday or exchanged for cash. Because it remains so unclear when travel will return to normal, if your RCN is about to expire, your best bet is to contact your holiday provider to tell them you want to exchange it for a refund. That way, you’re free to book a holiday at any time and with any provider you choose.
Vouchers, on the other hand, can only be used to book a holiday and they become worthless when they expire. You can try contacting your provider to see if they will extend the voucher, but there’s no guarantee they will.
If you feel you were pressured or misled into accepting vouchers, it’s worth complaining to your holiday provider and checking your legal rights. Remember that holiday providers are legally obliged to refund you for bookings they cancel.
If you don’t want to pursue legal action, the most important thing is that you don’t let your voucher go to waste. If it’s about to expire and you cannot extend it, use it to book a holiday as far in advance as possible.
Should I book a holiday for summer 2021 or beyond?
It is not known how long current travel restrictions will last, meaning any new holiday booking remains risky.
2021 holidays: Is it safe to book a trip in the UK or abroad?
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/03/will-my-holiday-go-ahead-or-should-i-cancel/