Travel question: Can we cancel our flights amid security concerns?

Have a question? Ask Simon Calder

One of Sri Lanka’s best-loved sites, the Nine Arches Bridge (Getty/iStock)

Q I booked five flights to Sri Lanka in February for our family Christmas and new year holiday, at a cost of £4,200.

Then we heard about the terrorist attacks and understandably want to cancel. But the airline says it will not be able to say until November whether or not our flight will leave, and has not offered a refund. Meanwhile, we can’t book anything else as we need the money back. Please, could you shed any light on this situation for us?

Name withheld

A After the appalling terror attacks on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, aimed at local Christians and visiting tourists, the Foreign Office placed the island on the “no go” list, saying: “Terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Sri Lanka.”

At the time the foreign secretary said he hoped it would not be for long. In practice, such travel bans tend to be in place for a couple of years, so I am not confident that it will be lifted before you travel. If I am wrong – and I hope that I am – then it will be because the British government deems Sri Lanka low enough risk for UK travellers to return. In that case I imagine you would be happy to take your trip as planned.

Because you have booked flights rather than an inclusive package, the airline has no obligation to refund you if the flights are going ahead. You bought seats to a particular destination, and if the airline can fulfil its contract then it can decline to return your money. Its obligation to you is to deliver you to Colombo airport, and the fact that you no longer want to go – and would invalidate your travel insurance by so doing – is not its problem.

Your best route for recompense is probably to claim on travel insurance. But the insurer will, like the airline, hope that the trip will go ahead, and will not want to pay out until fairly shortly before departure.

With any long-term commitment to an unstable part of the world, there is always the chance that events will intervene. In these difficult circumstances I fear all you can do is plan on Christmas and new year at home, and seize the opportunity to visit Sri Lanka if the travel advice changes.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder