The Times - UK (2021-12-18)

the times Saturday December 18 2021

46 Travel

Don’t put

up with this

Lost honeymoon

after passport error

We booked our honeymoon with Tui

to stay at the Vine Hotel in Funchal in

Madeira from October 18, but because

of a miscalculation with the time left

on my partner’s passport we found,

on the morning of departure, that we

were unable to fly, so we lost our

honeymoon and all the money. That

was our fault, of course, but we called

Tui immediately to see if there was

any possibility of a credit towards a

later trip. The answer was no. My

partner then emailed the hotel to say

we wouldn’t be travelling and

received an immediate response that

it would cancel the room free of

charge. Given that Tui had not been

charged for our hotel stay, we hoped

it would give us a partial refund or

credit on another holiday, but no one

there seems willing to help me.

Sian Jones, via email

What a miserable way to start

your married life. Tui was correct to

say that it wasn’t legally obliged to

refund you because valid passports

are the passenger’s responsibility,

but given the hotel’s sympathetic

reaction to your plight, Tui’s failure

to respond seemed hard-hearted.

However, it has now delivered some

pre-Christmas cheer.

“We’re very sorry to hear about

Mrs Jones’s experience and the

confusion with her refund. We can

confirm that a full refund has now

been processed,” a spokesperson for

Tui said.

Q

We are planning on taking

the family skiing in Italy just

after Christmas but two of

our children are 12 and 14

and, despite either having

had Covid or the vaccine, they have no

record of this on the NHS app. How

can teenagers get their NHS records

updated on the app so they can

generate the necessary QR code to

access hotels and restaurants?

Kate Simpson, via email

A

I fear the ski kit will have to go

back in the cupboard. Italy has

tightened its regulations and

while unvaccinated 12 to

15-year-olds from the UK don’t have to

quarantine if they are travelling with

vaccinated parents, to qualify for a

“super green” pass, which is required

for ski lifts as well as to access

restaurants and other public spaces,

you now must be double-vaccinated.

Providing negative lateral flow tests as

an alternative is no longer allowed.

Children aged 12 to 15 can get a Covid

Pass letter for travel if they are double-

vaccinated (call 119 or apply via nhs.uk)

but few are because the first dose was

administered in late September at the

earliest and they can only have the

second jab three months later. Italy then

requires two weeks to have passed since

the second vaccine before they will

accept it. So holidays in February

half-term should be possible but not

this Christmas and you’ll either have to

cancel or change your dates; Inghams is

one of several tour operators offering

postponements to those affected.

Q Last week easyJet cancelled our

family’s flights from Gatwick to

Geneva in December, offering us

a choice of rebooking, a voucher

or a refund. We already have

accommodation in Les Arcs, so

we attempted to rebook on similar

flights on the same days.

Unfortunately, every flight that we

tried showed as unavailable on the

airline’s rebooking system — but for a

brand-new booking, all these flights

Travel doctor Solving your holiday dilemmas

Julia Brookes

Consumer expert

that we need a bit of SKI — Spending

the Kids’ Inheritance! It has always

been a dream of ours to go on a

horse-drawn sleigh ride, and Austria

or Vermont in the US come to mind.

What can you suggest?

Neil Myers, via email

A If you fancy dashing through the snow

on a one-horse open sleigh, stay at the

Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont. This

Austrian-style mountain resort

overlooking Stowe is the home of the

Von Trapps of The Sound of Music fame,

and sleigh rides through the woods and

fields cost just £30pp. A week on a room-

only basis with a sleigh ride is from

£1,625pp, with flights (bon-voyage.co.uk).

Alternatively, snuggle up for a sleigh

ride from the family-run Hotel

Wiesenhof in Pertisau, a small village in

Austria’s Tyrol; an hour will cost £82 for

the two of you. The Wiesenhof also has

a swish spa, as well as two swimming

pools. Seven nights’ half-board starts at

£1,430pp, including flights, transfers and

local area bus pass (inntravel.co.uk).

Contact us

If you have a gripe, suggestion or question

relating to your holidays, please email

[email protected]

were available. So we booked new

flights and claimed a refund for the

cancelled flights at a total additional

cost of £450. It doesn’t seem fair that

we have had to pay extra to reinstate

flights that easyJet itself cancelled. Can

you help?

Rob Wood, via email

A Easyjet told me that it had no

reports of issues with its portal,

which allows customers to transfer

free to another flight on the same

route if their flight theirs has been

cancelled. It said flights would show

as unavailable if they were sold out,

although seats may then become

available if passengers transferred,

which is why you were able to book later.

“We have been in touch with Mr Wood

to apologise for any inconvenience

caused as a result of the cancellation and

to refund him for the cost of the new

flights,” a spokesperson for easyJet said.

Q My wife and I are due to sail on a

28-day cruise with Cunard on January

14 from Southampton to the Caribbean,

visiting multiple islands. I expect

Cunard will carry out the new

Omicron testing requirement before

we return to Southampton, in

accordance with the latest government

rules, but I can’t find any information

on what we will have to do if one or

both of us test positive. We are due to

pay for our cruise soon and we are

reluctant to do so until we have full

details. Will we be transferred to a

government-approved hotel for ten

days at our expense or will we be

allowed to drive home to self-isolate?

Robert Devine, via email

A Quarantine in government-approved

hotels only applied to returnees from

countries on the red list (which didn’t

include any Caribbean countries and has

now been scrapped anyway). Before your

return to the UK, testing will be

provided on the ship and will cost £19pp.

If you have to isolate, you’ll be given a

Future Cruise Credit pro-rata for the

duration of this period; this would be

valid for two years and could be used on

any new booking. “Any instances of

positive tests on board will be managed

by our on-board medical teams in

conjunction with local port authority

requirements. Mr and Mrs Devine would

be able to go on to self-isolate at home

when they arrive back at Southampton,”

a spokesperson for Cunard said.

Q I am recovering from major heart

surgery and my wife and I have decided

Ortler Alps, Italy. Below:

Camara De Lobos, near

Funchal, Madeira

GETTY IMAGES