Q: In 2019 I booked a package holiday for 2020 with a local travel agency and paid the requested deposit. Due to the pandemic the holiday was postponed to 2021
My travel insurer won t pay out for a cancelled lockdown trip to Crete
Gill Charlton assists a reader struggling to get a refund for a £1,596 holiday to Greece
One reader s trip to Crete was scuppered by Covid
Credit: Getty
Peter Arnold writes
A day before I was due to travel to Crete last April, I was forced to cancel my booking for flights and accommodation made through Pure Crete. The company had already offered to rebook the holiday later or in 2021 because of Covid-19 restrictions, but I felt that I could not commit to alternative travel plans at that time. I did not ask for my money back as I was confident that my travel insurer – InsureandGo – would cover the loss.
Teletext update
24 March 2021: An investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has identified that Teletext Holidays failed to refund many of its customers for package holidays cancelled due to the pandemic.
The CMA has now written to Teletext to set out its concerns that the company has not refunded many of its customers in accordance with its obligations under the Package Travel Regulations. The CMA has also set out its expectations regarding how the company should now comply with its obligations.
Teletext now has the opportunity to address the CMA’s detailed concerns and avoid any potential court action by signing formal commitments – known as ‘undertakings’ – to refund the affected consumers as soon as possible and take steps to ensure it complies with the Package Travel Regulations going forward.