Martin Lewis has told anyone booking their holiday this summer that they will not get money back if their flight is cancelled and they can’t get to their hotel – if they book in a certain way. Appearing on his Money Show Live last night on ITV, the financial guru was asked by an audience member ‘If my flight’s cancelled due to no jet fuel will you definitely receive all your money back even for your hotel booking as well.’
Mr Lewis explained that people would lose their hotel booking money if they have booked it separately from flights – as they won’t be covered by consumer rules. He said: “No. And I think this is what people need to be very aware of. If you booked a package holiday where you booked everything in one, then under the package holiday regulations and rules and protections generally if your flight went you would get everything back.
“And so actually at the moment package holidays give you a certain level of extra shy that you wouldn’t get if you did a DIY booking where you bought your hotel and flight separately.”
It is because there is no problem with the hotel booking, he explained: “Because the point is if you lose your flight and you’ve DIY booked, there’s nothing wrong with your hotel. The issue is you can’t get there. Your hotel is still there. It’s not faulty. It’s not cancelling. So, you don’t have those consumer rights.”
If the hotel isn’t doing anything wrong, then people might consider how they have booked their stay – but there is no help there. He said: “So, you would then say, ‘What about using a credit card or debit card protection?’ It won’t work because there’s nothing faulty. And that’s just giving you the same replica rights that you would have with the retailer.”
Finally people might want to try their travel insurance. Mr Lewis explained: “So, you’ then say, ‘What about travel insurance?’ This is the bad bit. We were checking 40 travel insurance policies. Of those, only a few would have covered you for the knock-on eventuality of your flight being cancelled due to jet fuel and then your hotel costs.
“Only about three or four and most of those were package bank accounts where it’s linked to your bank account. Only one standalone provider. So we need to be blunt at the moment. There is a big risk in those circumstances. If you’re booking, you want something with free or limited cancellation quite short before. So you could just cancel it. You should always talk to the provider.
“The reason this is important to know is if you are in that position once you understand you have no rights and they say, ‘Well, we’ll give you a voucher and you can come back in 6 months.’ You suddenly realize you’re doing well, not badly, right? If you didn’t have free cancellation and that this is going to be a problem if we get to that jet fuel shortage.
“Government are saying there isn’t one at the moment and they’re working on consolidating flights and doing things so there won’t be one, but people’s hotel costs if they book separately and other knock-on costs are potentially at risk.”
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
