Expert Advice for Future Holiday Planning

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Kia, Movement that inspires Call eight hundred three three four Ka F details hostosa free event and seven six twenty six S deealer for warranty details. As Lifftanszer cuts, twenty thousand summer flights because of surging fuel prices. In today's Moneybox Live podcast, we're looking at travel. and what the conflict in the Middle East might mean for your holiday plans, whether you've booked flights abroad, you're planning a stacation, or you're even considering changing your mind entirely to Cottage jp in in Northumberland, not quite as warm as it would have been in the Maldives, but nevertheless idyllic and what I'd like to think is extremely safe. Holidays may not be the most important thing in the world, especially when you consider what's happening in Iran that's actually causing the uncertainty, but that doesn't mean they don't matter, and they are definitely a big expense. So today we're answering listener questions, from worries over jet fuel shortages to whether inflation at three point three percent is going to make it much more expensive to plan But let's start with that news about Luftthanzer. It says the rising cost means some journeys are quite simply unprofitable Now here in the UK, the government has been reassuring would be travellers. James Murray is the Chief seecretary to the Treasury. Here's what he said to Politics Live just a couple of hours ago when asked if they're talking to the airlines about potential problems What the airlines tell us and what the airlines say in public is that there are no current issues over the jet fuel supply But it's right, MPP would expect us to be making contingency plans and to be thinking about all eventualities. And that's why we're working really closely with the airlines and refineries to make sure we're thinking about all the potential options about what might happen, but even despite the fact there's no current issue with supply Well, listening to that and here to answer all your questions today are Emma Brennon from Abta, the trrade body for traravel agents and Tour operators, and Lisa Mino, traravel editor of the Sun Newspaper. Hello, good to have you both with us. Anoon afternoon. Lisa, we heard there then from a government minister, but also operators like Tuy have been reassuring travellers that they're confident there's no current shortage affecting flights for the UK. this just shows though, doesn't it that even just the rising cost can cause airlines to start reducing their flight schedules? That's right. I mean, these are companies that know they don't make huge amounts of money on each booking. It's the fact there's a very small amount of profit and lots of bookings. So lots of flights being booked, lots of holidays being booked. That's what gives these companies profits. But obviously, those margins are very small, and so any kind of shock to pricing like we've seen is going to have an impact in the long term, for sure And at the moment, travellers can still get to all those locations. It's more that the airlines are streamlining the flights they're putting on. But are other countries, Lisa, looking into this and looking ahead to the summer's rush Well, I think everyone is, we've already seen the Asian countries that really are even more exposed to the issues with sort of the straightit of Hormuz and the fuel coming through there or oil coming through there. They are already themselves actually making those kind of decisions. They are having less people in terms of flights But also somewhere like South Korea, I was there last week, at the moment there All of their state employees can only drive on every other day, depending on whether or not their car number play ends in an even letter or an odd letter. And again, it's about trying to preserve supplies they've got. So yes, I think it could have an impact, but for us for right now, we are being told by all our airlines, by our tour operators and by the government that in the short term, things are looking okay and there isn't anything to worry about. But things are looking more expensive. So we heard from the Office for National Statistics today that airfares helped push up inflation. There was a report from the consultancy Teno that shows the cheapest fares cost almost a quarter more than they did a year ago. Lisa, is that what you're seeing Yeah, I mean, that's definitely what's going to be happening in terms of those long haul flights and even some of those short haul flights. becausecause what you're going to see as well at the moment is there's been a bit of a marked increasing interest in Western Mediterranean resorts over Eastern Mediterranean resorts for all of us who do those those short hop trips in the summer to those Mediterranean resorts that we love So that's actually going to then start to see the prices increase on the Western Med because obviously the supply is there, thats the demand is there, then that's going to increase the pricing. But there's actually some really good deals if you're looking at the Eastern Med at the moment. So the likes of Turkey, Cyprus, some really good deals there Emma, are we seeing the cost of package holidays going up kind of alongside that? As you can imagine, package holidays are priced with the flight included in most cases. So if the cost of the flight is going up, then that will in turn increase the cost of the package holiday as well. But as Lisa said, there are still deals to be had out there. There's lots of places that are offering competitive prices. So if you're still to book you know, there is a deal to be done And are you seeing people booking more short haul flights because they're maybe worried about jet fuel Not necessarily. I think what's encouraging is that people are still wanting to travel. So despite everything that's going on, people are still determined to get away. The changes that we're seeing more so are perhaps people are booking a bit closer to departure. So instead of booking months out in advance, they're kind of waiting to see what happens which obviously can add some additional challenges for the industry. And we have seen the change in destinations in terms where people are traveling, at least was just saying, more people are showing an interest in the Western Mediterranean and actually the Caribbean as well is also proving quite popular for a lot of our members Lisa, if you book a package holiday, will people be thinking well, at least that's fairly straightforward? I'd get a full refund if there was disruption to the flights Well yes, I mean, it's not so much a full refund, but what you have is a huge amount of extra consumer protection. So if those flights are cancellled, it is the packaged operator's responsibility to get you to your destination, in any way that they can. They should be offering you a viable alternative. So yes, you have far more protection in terms of somebody's going to be looking after you as you are going through that process. That's up to them. if they cancel a flight to make sure they provide you with another flight. And you have far more protection than if you had booked all of those different elements, say a flight and then a villa and a car hire separately. So I definitely think this is the summer to go with that package holiday, and atult protected package holiday from one of our established tour operators or travel agents Emma, it can sound quite dramatic, cann't it? twenty thousand flights being cancellled and the kinds of questions that're being sent, but how worried shouldh we be about jet fuel? Are people really going to have holidays cancelled because of that Well, as you said, it can sound quite dramatic, but when you look at the detail, I think a L of Tans was saying they're reducing to one hundred and twenty flights on one of the days this week. So when you spread that out across the weeks and months to come, it is a small number of flights per day in terms of the grand scheme of things. We really don't want people to be worrying about their future holidays right now, the messages that we're hearing from airlines is that they've know there currently isn't an issue, but we know that obviously the government is looking at and work with airlines on this. So you know, for the short term, certainly there's no issue at presence. We're not seeing people's holidays being effective right now. And I've said that holidays aren't the most important thing, but people really do care, don't they? They really want to look forward to their break. It's not just jet fuel, O course, what about the cost of fueling up the car or even fulling up the van? That has of course soared to a three year high since the disruption began, and that is already changing people's plans. Here's Louise, who has ditched her dream of a driving tour around the west cooast and islands of Scotland with her dog Bow I saw an opportunity to go up there and do it in May, but with the price of diesel, I think it's become a little bit expensive. You were going to travel from the south of England? Yes, exactly. So it'll be about eight to nine hundred mile round trip including hopping onto ouron and B back. And with the price of diesel, I think it was about one forty nine Pence per litre and now it's almost two pounds a litre Have you lost any money? becausecause I know you'd booked campsites, You've done a lot of the planning Luckily Ive got all the money back from the campsites. With the organisation I belong to, you only have to pay a deposit if you cancel within twenty one days, which is why I made my mind up aboutb two weeks ago to cancel it. I think I did it at the start of April. thenen you don't lose any money. But so the only money I lost was on the Calmc Ferry because they decided because I cancellled it, they want to charge tenQid admin fee. Well, that could be worse, couldn't it? Yeah, exactly And then I'm also concerned as we go on into this thing and it's still going on the availability of it as well. so I didn't want to get stuck up in around air and not be able to buy diesel and they will have to hunt around for it. You canceled that trip, you considered going to France, but you've changed your mind on that too. Mbe things quieten down With our friend over the water, I might go to France later on. in June or July. What will you and your van and your dog be doing in May then instead of travelling up to Scotland? I think I'm going to try and do some partark run tourism on just occasional weekends and not have to travel too far so I don't need to buy diesel And when she says park run tourism, she literally means driving to new locations to do park runs Louise is really living her best retirement. Emma, but Louise has cancellled her holiday. Are you hearing from your members that's happening more No most people are committing to their holidays and they are getting away. And I suppose if we think about Louisea's holiday plans, they were quite specific and I can understand her thoughts around the cost of petrol, cost of diesel for being able to cover all of those miles, whereereas a lot of the holidays that our members are selling, it's attnding people overseas. so it's a very different thing. People have already agreed the cost of their holiday. There's fewer variables that they're going to be facing OkayK, that's a very, very important point, isn't it, Emma? So what about people who've already booked then and are feeling smug that they did so before the prices went up? Are they safe or can operators increase prices for holidays that have already been booked So there is something in the package travel regulations. So which just applies to package holidays that U that travel companies could increase the cost of your package holidays so what they call a surcharge However, it very rarely happens. And there's been so many situations of disruption uncertainty in recent years and we haven't seen this happening. And even if a travel company did choose to do it, there's quite strict rules around it. So for example, it would have to have been in the terms and conditions. They can only do it up to the cost of eight percent after that And that's cost of eight percent of the cost of the holiday. afterfter that, you'd be offered a refund and it can only apply to various cost increases they're facing. So there's very strict rules around it, but in practice it just doesn't really happen that often. Okay, good to know. Lisa, even if you're saying in the UK like Louise, rising prices, inflation pushing up the cost of everything can hit your plans Yes, I mean that is the case, but what we're actually seeing is sort of companies in the UK saying they are seeing a bit of a staycation boom. So similar to what we had in the pandemic where we had that uncertainty about whether we were not be to get abroad, peopleeople are choosing to holiday closer to home. They are choosing those staycations. Now that could mean, of course that prices are going to increase. Again, we're talking about supply and demand But there seems to be that same surge to actually want to try to just have a holiday at home and perhaps just not travel as far. The great thing about the UK, of course, is that we're no more than two hours from the coast in any direction, wherever you live in the UK. So there's always the opportunity to get that holiday in if you are concerned about heading abroad And we do have some beautiful, beautiful beaches, don't we At Lisa that, we have seen hotel rooms and flights rising in price faster than the typical rate of inflation for a while now. So even before the current situation, travel has been getting more expensive more quickly It has been, yes, but I mean I think you have to take that into consideration in terms of everything else that has been increasing in price. And I think the one thing that we've always found with us as Brits,, that the last thing we're going to sacrifice is our holidays. know We will do without a takeaway or an extra pint in the pub. We want to make sure that we have our holidays. It's really important to us saw again during the pandemic, it was an issue that yes, of course we were going through a global pandemic, but people still wanted to know whether they were going to be able to take that precious time off. Although we should acknowledge, I suppose, of course, that rising prices and just the current economic uncertainty means plenty of people listening will be feeling they can't or they won't spend money on a holiday. Yeah I mean, and that is exactly what we have seen. So tour operators are reporting that demand has slumped quite dramatically because people are waiting to see what's going to happen or looking at what they've got to spend again. We're going to wait tillil the last minute and then we're going to actually say, right, we've got the money, now let's book. So it's a much later market, which is not great for operators airlines, they would much rather that we booked everything much further in advance and they could guarantee exactly who was going to be traveling and when. But I can totally understand people doing that saying, look, we'll wait to see what the situation is and then we'll look to book. And all we can hope is that what we don't then see is if people start to do that and the price increases do start to because they inevitably will at a certain point in the sort of medium to long term, that they're then priced out of the market Cckout starts with the ultimate ingredients. At Whole Foods Market, no antibiotics ever burgers and kebabs are prepped and ready to throw on the grill. Fire up a juicy ribbeye. Grab creamy potato salad and savory flatbreads from the prepared foods department, and round it all out with three hundred sixty five brand condiments, chips and dips at everyday low prices Whole Foods Market, Make your summer sizzle This message comes from Capital One Commercial Bank Your business requires commercial banking solutions that prioritize your long term success withith capital one Get a full suite of financial products and services, tailored to meet your needs today and goals for tomorrow Learn more at capital. one slash commercial Member FDIC Let's hear from somebody else. Louise is not the only person holidaying a bit closer to home. Some people are scrapping their overseas plans and they're booking UK breaks instead, part of that stayation trend you were just talking about. David is one of them. He' booked a luxury break stopping off in Dubai and he's had a change of heart because of the conflict book a holiday a rather nice holiday to the Maldives for five nights, followed by five nights in Dubai. We actually booked it for late March, which is when my wife's birthday was That was all booked and good to go. thenen the war started Neither of us were comfortable. but luckily for us, we booked it through trailfinders. so we had an app to package. They said you can try and rebook or you can cancel and get your money back. So that's what we duly did. And that led us on to thinking about, well, where do we really want to go that's safe and We decided to do a couple of things. One was to take a short hop into Europe and the other one was to take a holiday in the Northeast. So we booked a cottage up in in Northumberland which is idylllic notot quite as warm as it would have been in the Maldives, but Nevertheless, idyllic and what I'd like to think is extremely safe As it turned out, what we've pared for a week in Northumberland isn't a lot different to what we did a couple of years ago hundred quid more, but not significant My worry is is that they may well start to push the price of home based on demand And therefore,, you know, you start to get those higher prices David, thank you very much for that. Lisa, both Airbnb and Sykes Cottages told us they are seeing a spike in interest for UK holidays. You've kind of touched on this already, but are we expecting then, as David says, that that might push up UK prices? That is part of the inevitability of it, but I do still think that there's plenty of decently priced holidays out there for the UK. The likes of Butlins, they've also said that they've seen a big increase in the number of people booking holidays. But there's still plenty of availability out there. We're talking about we did have that huge boom in staycation tourism during the pandemic and just afterwards. And then people started looking abroad again So there's the availability here and I think you would have to take a really really quite serious shift for the prices to be increasing by a serious amount. But it's definitely the kind of thing if you're looking to go away in the UK over the summer, now probably is the time to be looking to book One of the things that people get in a bit of a know a bit confused, a bit lost by is Who's responsible, depending on which country they're in and which airline they're booking with, Lisa? We've had an email from Dror Ellis who says We've booked flights to Australia via British Airways for September, but it's a flight operated by Qatar Airlines, scheduled to use Doha. If the flight is cancellled, who is responsible for getting us there? as BA is a UK or European airline Tatar is not, and I believe that means it's governed by different rules Well, there is a difference in the rules between British and UK and EU airlines and airlines from other countries. But that's only actually going to be triggered if you are flying, say from Australia to Doha. So because what we're talking about here is flights from the UK to DohA, that actually is covered by the sort of legal rights that you have as an in the airline industry and there is a much greater set of legal responsibilities for the airlines if they're doing that point to point. So if you're going from the UK to Doha, the other issue you do have at the moment is not really just about the flights being cancellled because actually most of the Middle Eastern airlines are running at about sixty percent of their current schedules. More of an issue is the fact that obviously the SCDO has advised against all but essential travel to the UAE Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. So you could possibly be invalidating your travel insurance if you're flying through one of those cities, onene of those destinations The FCDO of course the foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the foreign Oice is how most of us would think about it. We're getting so many emails on insurance. So let's dig pretty deep into that. We'll hear from Andrew supppposed to be heading off on a dream trip to Iceland later this year All this talk of possible disruption has left him pretty worried The flights car hire and all of the accommodation books. The cost has already gone above five thousand pounds. There's still excursions and activities that I want to book that will add on to that as well. Before everything kind of kicked off, what did you think the biggest risks to your holiday might be? The obvious one is unexpected volcanic activity, not so long ago. There was an eruption that caused global disruptions to fights Obviously, what we've seen in the last few weeks has focused your mind on a different risk. What are you concerned about? I'm really worried about the volatility of the situation in the Middle East causing fuel shortages. mean fightes might get cancellled or grounded for a long period of time I'm planning on doing a lot of moving around Iceland when I'm there. I know h had a car What if there's fuel rationing that means I can't get to other accommodation that I've booked You know, there have been concerns about Greenland and that sort of area, Amrptic circ colleagues I'm really worried about what if something kicks off in that area, how could Id be covered for any loss? Would you hope then that your travel insurance would protect you in that situation, or are you concerned about that I'm really concerned that they wouldn't pay out in that case, either that it might be a risk that is out of their hands, out of the airline's hands and as such, I'm not able to gain any compensation and having paid out so much for this holiday which is an unusual expense for me I would really sort of le me in the ho Thank you to Andrew for that, Emma. five thousand pounds is a lot of money to spend on a holiday. It's no wonder Andrew is feeling quite anxious about it. What is the deal? If a flight is cancellled? So let's look at flights first of all. If a flight is cancellled because of a shortage of jet fuel, presumably it's the airline's responsibility to reimburse you for that cost. Yeah, so if a flight is cancellled for whatever reason, then the airline needs to either offer you an alternative. So this is what we're seeing where some airlines are consolidating flights. They're offering people an alternative flight on the same day, or if an alternative can't be provided, then they need to give you a refund for the cost of that flight Thank you very much, R. As I say, lots of you getting in touch with your insurance questions. Allison says, My daughter has booked a flight to travel to Indonesia in June. The return flight is in July. What would be the best insurance to take out to recover any costs should the flights be cancelled? And Alison makes the point, I'm also concerned she may get stuck out there and not be able to return due to no flights. Sophie has emailed Get in touch as I'm concerned, I' booked flights to Japan in July, I've booked this independently. I'm worried these flights could get cancelled and if they do, what are my rights? I have travel insurance, but I've booked Airbnb's in Japan, which I assume are not insured. Lisa, this is The really important question, isn't it for Andrew for Allison, for Sophie What about hotels and other things you've paid for in the location? If you can't get to the location, would your travel insurance reimburse you Well, in most cases, unfortunately, I would say that isn't the case. It very much depends on the type of travel insurance you have. If there's a sort of situation where you are sort of stuck in a particular destination or you cannot get to a destination and perhaps you've got some tickets booked for a theatater show or something like that, there might be a possibility that because you couldn't get there, you can claim for that. but it very much depends on your actual individual So it's a really good idea that anyone who's taking travel insurance and you really should be taking travel insurance, not just for the flight situation, but just because of obviously the medical cover, you get, everything else, get it as soon as you book your holiday, booking your holiday, book your insurance at the same time. but make sure you read those policies. talkalk to your insurer and say, look, what am I covered for? What about What would happen in this situation? It's best to be forewarned. and that is the way to do it is I think to make sure that you're looking at that policy and checking that any concerns you have, is that going to help? And you know where you stand before you set off. Okay, because a lot of people have this question over the fact that is it a war related risk? Nigel has emailed to say, I'm booked to go to Austria via Munich at the end of June My main concerns are that travel insurance doesn't cover war related risks. If a flight is cancelled due to a fuel shortage, the policy might not cover the resulting losses. Is that how insurers are likely to see a fuel shortage as the consequence of a war and therefore potentially not insurable Yes, I think that would be the case. But I mean, I think you've got to bear in mind the fact that when you're talking about flights, it's the airlinine's responsibility here to make sure that they either get you to your destination. they have a duty of care to you. They have to get you to your destination, or they have to offer you the opportunity to rebook or issue you with a refund. And I think that's half it is extremely tough on airlines at the moment and to operators in that you the good thing is is we do have fairly you know robust protections as travellers. So with flights, yes, there could be an issue of, I think what we're going to see and I think it really does need to be put into sort of some kind of contexts here, we don't get all of our jet fuel from the Middle East. know The refineries that we have in the UK and in America and in Europe, they're getting their fuel from lots of different sources, not just in the Middle East. We're talking about perhaps between ten percent to fifteen percent. So if you look at it in that way, know if shortages are about ten to fifteen percent less than we would normally have Then it's a case of airlines looking as they are doing to streamline their schedules. So you look at a very popular holiday destination like Allicante or Malaga, or Tenerif, you might have multiple flights a day going into those destinations in peak season. It might be the case that they actually then start to just reduce the number of flights they're having each day because perhaps you, with a lot of travelers not actually making those bookings at the moment They might not filled every seat on that plane. And so consolidating those schedules so that you've got The flights are still going, but instead of maybe having six flights a day, you've only got five flights a day or four flights a day. And that would be I think what most airlines would do. I think the challenge they've got is the fact that it's working out where you're going to see those shortages. and that's why both the UK and the EU are trying to work very closely together to work out exactly where fuel should be and when and where we could possibly see some issues Thank you. Emma, Amir has been in touch to say they had to stay longer in Dubai during a package trip because he was there when the conflict started. He says, I had to pay for the hotel stay and purchase a new flight to return back to the UK. I paid for my holiday with a credit card. Please advise what rights there are and where I can claim from There are some rights when you get a credit card. However, if you were on a package holiday and you were unable to your flight back was cancellled, then it's on the travel company's responsibility to sort out an alternative arrangement for you. So it's certainly worth them going back and having a look at what what it was that they booked and just dble check that it was a package holiday and see whether there's something that they should be claiming back because in most cases people were having their package organizer was providing an alternative flight for them and helping them sort know making sure that they're not out of pocket Let's just squeeze in one more. Annalise says that she, her husband and their two children have flights booked to Sri Lanka this August. She says we booked these before the Iran war. Alas, our flights with Qatar Airways are via DohA, so we can't be sure they'll go ahead. If we cancel the flights and rebook the prices have inflated such that it becomes prohibitively expensive. Lisa that's going to be the problem for a lot of people trying to fix this issue now is that prices have gone up. That's right, Yes. I mean it is a little bit of a word of warning. So where you have got the right to have a refund, if a flight's been cancelled, you have a right to a refund, sometimes that's not the best option because as you say, you've got your money back, but then flights are so much more expensive. If it's a UK UU airline and you're flying either to or from the UK You know, they have a legal duty to get you to your destination. so they might cancel your flight, but they should be offering you an alternative