Travelling mid July 2020

[BruTamUK]

If you pay the remainder of any element of your booking (hotel, villa, car hire etc) between now and when you travel I'm sure that you will be covered by insurance as long as there are no FCO/government announcements for your travel dates prior to the payments.
For example, we have paid in full already for £1500 flights (Lufthansa), £600 Hotel (Virgin) and £300 park tickets (Orlando Attractions).
We have paid deposits of £200 Disney (£4100 still to pay), £600 Anna Maria villa (£600 still to pay), £450 Legoland Hotel (£400 still to pay), car hire DFCH (£900 still to pay).
All of these payments are due between May and early July. If we pay them and then in July the US/UK governments/FCO announce no travel or our flight is cancelled, then I'm sure our insurance will cover us for all money paid.
We have paid out nearly £3700 last year way before all this started. We have £6000 still to pay.
Our insurance is with Nationwide.

[plastic orange]

We're due to go on 18th June, flights paid for and balance due on Villa soon, and car hire already paid. We have annual insurance which is due to be renewed on 20th April and don't know whether to bother paying as probably won't be covered, plus will be going nowhere for a year anyway. All I can hope is TUI will cancel flights and I get my £6k back as I can't rearrange family holiday. Already booked (4 months ago) and paid for flights for next year Sept/Oct. I won't be booking in advance again.

Pete

[goggles]

Due to go 14th July with Virgin Holidays for 3 week package. Deposit paid and full balance due mid April.

I've lost a job which we needed to pay for this holiday, so even if the world was back to normal in 16 weeks (?!) we really couldn't afford to go this year. I'd like to move holiday to next summer.

I've been shocked to see Virgin have been so difficult at this exceptional and stressful time. We can't really afford to pay the balance £7k in April.

If we don't pay balance we in effect cancel and lose our £700 deposit . Am I right? But we would rather keep the booking and transfer holiday to a next year and therefore pay that balance off 12 weeks before we are due to travel in 2021.

I've looked through Virgin terms and conditions but doesn't seem to clarify.

[Redsnapper]

Due to travel end of June - not looking great at the moment.

Due to pay the balance of the villa by end of April but as its privately booked direct with the owners I am not sure I want to take the financial risk.

[toonarmani]

Originally Posted by goggles

Due to go 14th July with Virgin Holidays for 3 week package. Deposit paid and full balance due mid April.

I've lost a job which we needed to pay for this holiday, so even if the world was back to normal in 16 weeks (?!) we really couldn't afford to go this year. I'd like to move holiday to next summer.

I've been shocked to see Virgin have been so difficult at this exceptional and stressful time. We can't really afford to pay the balance £7k in April.

If we don't pay balance we in effect cancel and lose our £700 deposit . Am I right? But we would rather keep the booking and transfer holiday to a next year and therefore pay that balance off 12 weeks before we are due to travel in 2021.

I've looked through Virgin terms and conditions but doesn't seem to clarify.

See more...

Have you contacted them to ask what your options are given the circumstances?

[lam]

I agree with toonarmani

Holiday co's are losing money hand over fist at the moment and (where they have had to cancel)are offering vouchers instead of refunds in an attempt to keep the business.

I'd sort out the dates you want for next year first and if they are the same, I'd start by saying you want to cancel your holiday BUT if it would be possible, you'd prefer to 'postpone' the holiday for 1 year WITHOUT LOSS OF DEPOSIT.

IF you have free dining, WAIT until it is released for 2021 (if you can) and THEN contact Virgin.

Free dining is usually released in april of the prior year although I'm not sure with such losses it will even go ahead.
fingers crossed.

IF you DONT have free dining then no need to worry-just give Virgin a call.

If they wont postpone without loss of deposit, hang up

try another agent and consider your options.I've a feeling the travel co's will 'relax' their payments ie extend time or monthly debits etc as things go forward.

[goggles]

Thank you. Much appreciated. Yes we do have free dining but we booked one week at The Beach Club direct with Disney last year - we're going for 3 weeks in total so got flights, car and all other hotels with Virgin Holidays at the end of Feb (awful timing...)

I haven't called Virgin as they say only contact them if travelling in the next few weeks which we are not.

Should I contact Disney first and see if I can rebook for next July with free dining before I call Virgin?

We stand to lose £700 Virgin deposit plus £200 Disney deposit which is a lot so if there was anyway too minimise that loss I would obvioulsy rather explore that than just resign myself to losing £900. I realise it's not their fault, but it's not my fault either.

We took out travel insurance with added travel disruption but unless the FCO ban remains in place until July, I fear we may not be able to claim on that! Then again if the ban is in place when my balance is due on April 20th, surely that's a basis enough to be ask to re-book for next year, don't you think?

[cmpjdp]

We are due to go 29th June, we have just cancelled the villa as the balance was due in a couple of weeks and thought if by some miracle the flights still go ahead we can look for accommodation quickly.

[itz_baseline]

I’m not sure more people don’t contact their insurance companies and ask these very specific questions. No one on here can advise what to do as they don’t know who people are insured with and what the T & Cs are.

Call them and ask them if you are covered to pay the balance. They will say yes or no, ask for a note to be made on your policy and make a record of the date and time of your call in case there is dispute as to what you were advised at a later date.

[Tinklebell]

Originally Posted by goggles

Due to go 14th July with Virgin Holidays for 3 week package. Deposit paid and full balance due mid April.

I've lost a job which we needed to pay for this holiday, so even if the world was back to normal in 16 weeks (?!) we really couldn't afford to go this year. I'd like to move holiday to next summer.

I've been shocked to see Virgin have been so difficult at this exceptional and stressful time. We can't really afford to pay the balance £7k in April.

If we don't pay balance we in effect cancel and lose our £700 deposit . Am I right? But we would rather keep the booking and transfer holiday to a next year and therefore pay that balance off 12 weeks before we are due to travel in 2021.

I've looked through Virgin terms and conditions but doesn't seem to clarify.

See more...

Our booking was for 5th July so in a similar position to you (with balance due 12th April). I contacted them on whatsapp. The alternatives are Cancel entirely and lose deposit OR change the date to 2021, changing date incurs an admin charge of £50 per person. They were very helpful on whatsapp. There is a message to only contact them if travelling imminently but they understand that there are some of us with a large balance to pay imminently soon too.