Can we get our Russian trip refunded before January?

Simon Calder on trip refunds and which countries are safe from quarantine

St Petersburg is particularly bright and beautiful in early summer (Getty)

Q We booked a holiday to Russia in May for nearly £2,300 for two people. Needless to say, it was eventually cancelled because of coronavirus. But before that, because things looked uncertain, we rearranged the holiday to mid-September – and paid another £300 between us to make the change.

The Moscow and St Petersburg trip has now annoyingly been cancelled, and we have been told that we can rebook for a future date, accept a credit note or request a refund. We want our money back but have been told they can’t get it to us until January, and that Abta has approved that decision.

Is the company allowed to hang on for six months? We are sympathetic to the problems of the travel industry at the moment but to keep our cash until 2021 seems a little unfair.

Carole S

A How frustrating. May would have been a lovely time to travel to the world’s biggest country: Moscow and St Petersburg are particularly bright and beautiful in early summer. September would have been fine, too. And now in return for missing the same holiday twice, you find yourself £2,600 out of pocket until next year.

The package travel regulations are quite clear. They specify that you should get all your money back within two weeks of the cancellation becoming known. Assuming the travel firm told you yesterday, that means 20 July 2020. (The fact that you accepted a rebook in May is not relevant; the sum and holiday in question is the September one.)

All travel companies are experiencing extreme financial stress at the moment, and it is quite possible that some of the cash is in the hands of the airline, which will be in no hurry to hand it back. Abta, the travel association, says: “Many tour operators don’t have the cash to pay customers a cash refund for a package holiday in a 14-day period.

“Forcing them to do so would put many of them out of business, which would mean customers would not get their money back for many more months, as the government-backed Atol scheme of financial protection could not cope with the sheer volume of refunds. It would also result in significant long-term damage to the UK travel industry.”

I would not clarify that as “approval” of failure to comply with the rules, but I think it is a fair reflection of the situation; there is little to be gained by getting legalistic. Tell the company that you are unhappy and will not countenance any further delay – or (and this is probably what I would do), ask them to propose a 2021 trip to Russia that will recognise your forbearance, perhaps with the odd upgrade or other bonus.

Tunisia is one of only 14 non-European nations on the EU’s ‘safe’ list (iStock)

Q We have a family holiday going ahead in two weeks to the Canaries. It was great to hear we won’t need to quarantine because Spain is on the “OK list”.

However, we also now need to travel urgently to Tunisia due to the illness of a family member. But I am worried that if we go to Tunisia first, then I won’t be able to go to the Canaries due to the need to quarantine for 14 days upon return. Is that correct?

Name supplied

A I am sorry to hear about the family issue but glad to be able to put your mind at rest. The only way to reduce the 14 days of self-isolation is to go abroad again. So if you arrive back from Tunisia on, say, 15 July and are due to go to the Canaries on 20 July, you just say so on the passenger locator form that you must fill in prior to arrival in the UK. You go straight home after touchdown and stay there until the day of departure to Tunisia, when you go to the airport as normal.

Just bear in mind that if you are away for only a week in the Canaries, then from 27 July – when you return – you will be required to complete your original quarantine until one minute past midnight on 30 July (14 days of quarantine begins on the day following the day of arrival in the UK).

There is a chance that Tunisia may be added to the no-quarantine list shortly; it has handled the coronavirus crisis pretty well, and indeed is one of only 14 non-European nations on the EU’s list of “safe” countries. This also means, conveniently, that your visit to Spain will not be jeopardised by your trip to Tunisia.

If the requirement to quarantine is lifted from travellers to Tunisia during your “14-day self-isolation sentence”, then you will immediately be able to end it. That was confirmed by the transport secretary, Grant Shapps.

Conversely, though, the UK government reserves the right to reintroduce quarantine in the event of a spike in cases – meaning that there is an outside chance that you might, after all, need to self-isolate on return from the Canaries. But I am very confident that won’t happen.

The island has just two cases of coronavirus at present (iStock)

Q I am baffled by the latest government advice about whether or not I can legally go to Madeira. Some sources say I can, some say I can’t. And if I do need to self-isolate for 14 days, can I provide a Covid-negative test as an alternative?

Fatima L

A No wonder you are baffled. Madeira and its sister island, Porto Santo, is surely one of the safest places on earth in terms of coronavirus. The islands closed to all tourism in March. As a result, there have been just 92 positive cases, of which only two are still active. No one has died from Covid-19. You would be far safer in Madeira – or the even more remote archipelago of the Azores – than in the UK.

Accordingly, the Foreign Office says: “Madeira and the Azores are exempt from the FCO advice against all non-essential international travel. This is based on the current assessment of Covid-19 risks.” After the announcement, the tourism promotion organisation, Discover Madeira, issued an email headed: “Newsflash – UK travellers can now visit Madeira without quarantining.”

But the Department for Transport (DfT), which compiled the separate “no-quarantine” list, is evidently unimpressed with Madeira’s record. “We want to see a return to normal international travel with Portugal, but we can only act once we are certain that that we can do so safely and responsibly,” said a DfT spokesperson.

Until that happens, anyone touching down from Madeira will be assumed to have contracted coronavirus from one of the two active cases – or an unknown carrier – and will be instructed to go home and stay there for two weeks.

Many people have urged the DfT to allow a negative coronavirus test to replace the need to self-isolate, but it is not currently an option. The Brexit Party leader, Nigel Farage, appears to be unaware of this; yesterday he tweeted a picture of himself in a pub fewer than 14 days after he arrived in the UK from the US, and wrote: “I have been tested – the result was negative.” That does not exempt him from a £1,000 penalty, and neither would it work for arrivals from Madeira.

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