I’ve admitted defeat

I tried this morning to salvage my winter break to Hurghada but without success. The ‘alternatives’ that Kiwi.com originally proposed involved switching my outgoing leg to Hurghada from Basel to Amsterdam but that then involved a lengthy transfer by bus from Lille to Amsterdam with my having made my own arrangements beforehand to transfer myself from the airport to the bus station. I didn’t fancy that so I proposed a change of dates that if I’d booked the whole trip today would have cost 214€.

I then heard from Kiwi.com that easyJet had also cancelled my return leg from Gatwick to Bordeaux and their proposed ‘alternatives’ then changed – the cheapest being at an additional cost of 245€ ie more than if I just wrote off my original booking and made a completely new one! This obviously made no sense and I have therefore taken what I think is the sensible decision and cancelled the whole trip.

I’ve requested a refund which I may not receive for several weeks, or even months from what I hear, but as I’m cancelling within the normal 14 day ‘cooling off’ period, I think that I should be entitled for reimbursement in full. It’ll be interesting to see whether, as all four legs of my original booking were with easyJet, although by cancelling just two of them they’ve made the whole trip impossible, they’ll try to just refund for the two legs they’ve cancelled and hang on to the payments for the other two. I hope not as I think better than that of them.

I’ve also made requests for refunds of the sums I’ve paid for travel insurance and parking. I sent an email in connection with the travel insurance and again, as it’s within the 14 day follow-up period, I hope that I’m repaid without too much hassle. I know that the insurance would have covered me for any costs that I’d incurred from flights being cancelled but I’m hoping that if I do lose out, the amount(s) will be less than the just under 50€ that the insurance would have cost me.

Reclaiming what I paid for parking at Bordeaux was a bit more complicated as I had to download a form and send it off, but as it specifically mentions that full refunds will be made for claims made within the 14 day ‘cooling off’ period, I’m happy that that’s what will happen.

I know that I could now just make another booking for alternative dates but I can’t see the point as what’s to say that the same thing won’t happen again? The airlines are in an impossible situation with governments arbitrarily creating and closing ‘corridors’ and they have my sympathy but it’s making it almost impossible to make bookings for weeks ahead. For the moment at least, therefore, Covid has won, but I’ll leave it until closer to the day and see if I can arrange something at short notice which I know will happen. The trouble with that is that if/when it’s possible, prices are bound to have gone up 😐