| You are in: Programmes: Working Lunch: Consuming Issues | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Holiday hints ![]() Adam and Adrian put questions to Kim Kim Winter from Holiday Which? answers your questions on travel. More than 1,000 British tourists are stranded in Kenya because BA flights to and from the country have been suspended. If people incur extra expenses trying to get out, will they be covered by their insurance? And how about those who have booked flights? In theory most travel policies will exclude incidents relating to terrorism. In practice what happens is that the companies get together and do their best to make alternative arrangements. Most people who are out there are going to be on package holidays so the tour operators will get together and the reps will arrange for them to stay on at the hotels or, if the worst comes to the worst, take them to another country so they can fly out. They won't need to claim on their travel insurance. Tour operators do have a duty of care to their clients so while they are out there they have to look after them. If you've booked a flight to Kenya, you should get a refund because they airline can't fulfil its contract to take you out there. Yvonne Robinson has a question about MyTravel. Because of the uncertainty about the company's future, is it possible to cancel a holiday you've booked and get a refund. Or will MyTravel survive? MyTravel announced earlier this month that their financiers had agreed in principle to refinance them until 2006. If she wants to cancel just because she's worried they might go bust she's very unlikely to get a refund. They are entitled to charge her a cancellation fee - the amount will be in their terms and conditions. If the company does go bust and you have booked a package holiday with them you will be protected by the Abta bonding scheme. They'll bring you back if you're abroad or if you're yet to go you'll get a full refund. Howard Rogers wants to know if it's true that to be covered by a credit card company for the cost of the entire holiday package, you only have to pay �100 of the total cost by credit card. Is this correct ? It doesn't even have to be �100. As long as the holiday costs more than �100 and less than �30,000 you will still be protected under the Consumer Credit Act. You can pay just �1 by credit card and the rest by cheque. By law all package holidays have to be protected by bonding insurance so this is more of a back-up scheme. But it's useful if you're travelling independently and making your own arrangements because you won't be covered by that scheme. Claire Fairlie from West Sussex signed up for a holiday club while abroad and coughed up the �3,000 deposit. They then got cold feet and and asked about a cooling off period, and was told holiday clubs don't have one. Is this true? Unfortunately that is the case. Holiday clubs are different to timeshares and package holidays, so there's currently no legislation covering them. We've heard from lots of members who've bought into these clubs and are still waiting for their holiday bookings or worse, have found that the company has disappeared altogether. We would like to see timeshare legisaltion extended to cover holiday clubs. The government is looking at European action, because what they're saying is that most of the problems happen in Spain so we could legislate in this country but it wouldn't cover people while they're on holiday. Be very careful - I wouldn't touch these clubs with a bargepole.
He has a heart problem which he has always declared and which has never stopped hom getting insurance. But this year, now he's 65, he couldn't renew his policy. He tried 35 different companies. He was told by some that if he had heart trouble in Europe he would have to pay the first �5,000; if it was in America it would cost �10,000. We do a survey of policies every year and specifically look at insurance for poeple over 65. These are some useful ones: �30 in Europe, �47.50 worldwide. �39 in Europe, �71.50 worldwide. �69 in Europe, �79 worldwide.The caveat is that whatever age you are, if you have pre-existing medical conditions you must tell the insurer before you go. Ian Breach from Derbyshire wants to know what he can do after his car hire voucher was rejected by the operator in the USA due to a non-payment of account by the company which issued it. He had to pay again, at their rates, to obtain a vehicle. He needs to go back to the company he booked the voucher through and ask them to pay. If they don't exist any more and he paid by credit card, he should go to the credit card company because they have joint liability under the Consumer Credit Act, as we mentioned earlier. It's not a common problem and if you have the voucher you at least have some proof that you have paid. So if you can't get any joy out of the company, go to your credit card company. Michael Newbrook wants to know why European hotels are charged on a per room basis, whereas in Britain you tend to pay on a per person basis? I'm not so sure that's true any more. Increasingly, hotels in Britain are charging per room, although if you're having dinner, bed and breakfast they might charge per person. Charging per room is great for families or bigger groups, but it works against single travellers because you have to pay for the whole room even if you're the only one in it. Eamonn Harris wants to know why it costs so much to travel from regional airports ? He wanted to fly to Washington and was offered �270 from Heathrow, �600 from Bristol and a whopping �1,500 from Cardiff! It's a question of demand and competition. Most transatlantic visitors who come to the UK want to go to London so there's more demand and that's why prices are lower. Pamela Clayton has recently bought a house in Spain and travels there quite often. They have house insurance here and in Spain and have breakdown cover for the car. They also take their E111 medical form with them when they travel. Do they really need to take out travel insurance every time they go abroad, especially as annual travel insurance rarely covers a stay of more than 31 days? If she has all risks cover on her home insurance which covers possessions when they're away from home and she's prepared to use state hospitals, which the E111 will entitle her to, then she may not need to take out separate travel insurance. The only thing is that if she's seriously ill and needs to be repatriated back to the UK, E111 doesn't cover that, Helen Forbes and Neil McAlpine have booked their honeymoon to the Far East for September this year. They didn't take out insurance at the time because they usually take it out separately. But they got sidetracked with other wedding plans and forgot. The government then advised people not to go to Hong Kong because of Sars. Is it possible to take out the insurance now against the curtailment of the holiday ? Also if one part of the insurance becomes void - ie, they go to Hong Kong regardless - does that make all parts of the insurance invalid? Insurers are taking varying views about this. Some are saying that they won't cover anywhere that's affected by Sars.and that includes both medical and lost luggage, for example. Others are being more flexible and say they will still cover people. They need to contact different insurers and see what they think about it. David Jones and his wife are planning to take out travel insurance with separate companies. His wife has a pre-existing medical condition which she will declare - he wants to know if he'll still be able to claim on his insurance if he had to cancel their trip because of his wife's condition. If it's someone whose health you depend on, and who could cause you to cancel a trip, you need to tell your insurers, especially if she's on separate insurance. The opinions expressed are Kim's, not the programme's. The answers are not intended to be definitive and should be used for guidance only. Always seek professional advice for your own particular situation. |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Links to more Consuming Issues stories |
![]() | ||
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> | To BBC World Service>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |