Tour operators do sometimes make major changes, and in such circumstances you're entitled to a full refund plus compensation depending on the period of notification.

Mark

As you have now accepted the day before I do not think you have any recompense, I hate to say if you had taken legal advice prior to accepting the change so you knew your rights you may have had a stonger case, however still pursue them for compensation.

Dave

I agree with Dave. They had to offer you a full refund, but instead you accepted the alteration. Now I think you are stuck with that decision.

Peter

We were never offered a refund, simply we could change to a flight the day before or the day after. As we are going for a wedding we obviously chose to carry on with the holiday. We did ask before we made our decision whether we would be compensated and we were told 'no'.

Babs135

If it's a package holiday then it's classed as a major change but they have given you the 56 days notice which is required.

OK Babs.

Regs 12 & 13 of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 will apply, see HERE

Under Reg 13 (2) (a) & (b), you were offered substitute packages of superior and lower quality and you chose the superior one. Had you chosen the inferior you would have been entitled to recover the price difference. There's nothing about paying more for a superior one.

Compensation under the regulations is a different matter. That's for being messed around essentially and is covered in Reg 13 (3) & (4).

Suggest you contact our friendly Travel Law Solicitor, Ros Fernihough - TEL. NO. 0845 2262332 (local) or 01922 621114, FAX NO. 01922 629042. Her involvement can work wonders!

Peter

I'm confused! I can't work out how if you are flying out a day earlier this results in you now spending two extra days in the resort? Surely if you are now flying out on the 14th it is only one day extra? Or did the TA offer you a choice of flights at the end of the holiday too, that you could now travel back on eg either the 29th or the 31st and you opted to travel back a day later than you were originally due to travel home? In which case I don't see that you have much chance of any compensation. You could have kept the costs the same by keeping to the orignal length of stay and that it was your choice to add on the extra day at both ends of your trip.

If I've got the wrong end of the stick perhaps you could clarify exactly what dates you were supposed to fly out and back on , which dates you are now flying on and why arriving a day early means you are now spending two extra nights in the resort.

SM

We were originally flying out at 11.30 pm on the Wednesday night, so the first night in the room would have been Thursday. The new flight out is now at 11 am on Tuesday morning so we will have the Tuesday and Wednesday nights in the hotel. We were not told the times of the flights until we confirmed we wanted to go out the day before. (Perhaps we should have asked at the time, but its easy to be wise after the event).

Babs135

Babs, your first night allocated to you have been Wednesday night/Thursday morning even though you probably would not have got there until the early hours of Thursday, they would have held the room for you from 12 noon the previous day, the only extra night you are now staying is the Tuesday can't you go back to the TA and ask whether they would at least split the difference for the Tuesday night.

I understand what you say about whether it is one or two nights, but as we were led to understand it, because we would not land until 6 am on the Thursday morning (and probably not reach the resort until at least 7 am) our first night in the hotel would be Thursday night. Also the TA themselves are talking in terms of 2 extra nights. Having said all that, we now find that we don't know where we will be staying the extra nights! The two others in our party (son and daughter) were already in another hotel and they have been confirmed as having the extra nights, but our hotel is full and we have been told it could be the end of June before they can confirm anything! This is ridiculous, but once again, as we are going for a family wedding we feel that to some extent we are being held to ransom. I feel so frustrated. We spent 6 weeks last year on a round the world trip and it didn't cause any of the hassle we are having for just 14 days.

Babs135

What do you REALLY want here ?

I guess it's extremely important for you to get to the wedding, so have you attempted to find an alternative package with another company ?

What about looking at a flight-only option with you booking a hotel direct ?

If you decide to stay with the package you now have press the supplier to confirm which hotel you will be staying in those extra 2 nights. If the operator is unable to provide this information it would leave me to believe that those days are not yet booked. Look at sorting this element out yourself if necessary and pressure the operator to provide compensation for the cost of those two nights.

There may simply be a case here of attempting to squeeze a bit of compo. out of the operator rather than ensuring thois critical package is smoothly booked in order for you to attend the wedding.

With your mention of an extended world journey recently I guess money is not the driving motivation here.

I must say, after a flight of several hours starting at 11:30pm I would definately want a hotel room available to me even at 7am in the morning and I'd pay for that facility. So, in reality, you have one extra night to pay for and you've been caught-out in the hope of saving the other night.

Don't let this spoil your family wedding though - that's more inportant than money.

Mike

What really matters now is the fact that we have to wait until the end of June before the TA can tell us where we will be staying for the extra night(s). The holiday is all paid for so thats an end to any sort of change. We will wait to see what they are going to offer us but if we feel its not suitable even for the couple of nights then we will ask for a higher graded hotel and tell them that we will only pay the rates applicable to the hotel we should be staying at (Metropolitan). The TA can surely pay any difference. We also understand from another couple who have been similarly affected that we have been quoted a higher price for the extra night(s) then they have, although we are staying at the same hotel! The beginning of July sounds like it might be fun!

Update Checked paperwork and accommodation is booked from the Thursday so it is definitely 2 extra nights needed in Tel Aviv. We understand that the booking of the extra nights in the name of our children who are staying in a different hotel has been confirmed; but as we haven't received written confirmation I am not totally convinced on that one. With regards to finding hubby and I a hotel (hopefully at the Metropolitan where we are booked for the rest of the stay) we are still waiting! We spoke to a supervisor at the TA yesterday and get the feeling that part of the problem is that as the two bookings were made six weeks apart they keep forgetting us who made the earlier booking! I may well be reading that situation wrong but that's what it feels like. Date of departure is 14th August and we really would like to get this sorted. The supervisor says they will come back to us within a couple of days, but the firm has a branch in Manchester (we are dealing with London who took the original booking) and I'm wondering if its worth going in and actually speaking face to face to someone. It's much harder to fob someone off when they are stood in front of you. Failing that I think we will give them until Monday before I start contacting ABTA, ATOL and even Ros for advice.

before I start contacting ABTA, ATOL and even Ros for advice.

I'd forget about the first two and contact Ros as you were advised way back on 2nd June.

In my opinion the travel company made a significant change to the package that entitles you to get a full refund. Since there was adequate notice of the change I don't think compensation would apply.

What I am not sure about is accepting the change then going for compensation in respect of extra nights. You should get the expert advice of Ros on this one, as there's no point in banging your head against a brick wall

Peter

further update We have now had the two extra nights confirmed in the hotel we are already booked into for 14 nights. Amazing what you can do when you visit the local branch office of the TA and refuse to leave without it being sorted out! Also amazing is the fact that the hotel which was supposedly full now has a room available for us!! Mike, I was a little disappointed about your comment re money not a primary concern if we were able to afford a round the world holiday last year. One has nothing to do with the other. The problem here was with regard to accommodation not with any form of compensation. We had made the choice to take the earlier flight and on reflection realisedthat this would obviously cost us extra expense.

babs good result

Mike was only trying to make sure that the wedding you are attending was the main priority and too not stress out too much. I am sure he wasnt meaning any slight and is always very helpful on this site.

Although not always right

Have a great wedding and glad it got sorted.

Kind regards
Stewart

Stewart,

you are correct in each point you made - including not being right all the time.

Babs, I wasn't being offensive but apologies if that was how it sounded. Sometimes I feel that a complaint can take on a life of its own and the real central plank of the complaint can be lost - I'm guilty of this sometimes. I felt that the main issue here for you was to get confirmation of your two nights additional stay - and ideally, at the same hotel as the already booked nights. And you have the bonus of what I would consider to be a more "friendly" flight departure time.

The great news is you've got it sorted and that means you can have a hassle-free wedding trip.

Congrats in advance to the couple.