Coronavirus and the purchased trip

Vacation and Coronavirus – What About My Trip? The current situation in the country and in the world, many of us spend sleepless nights. We wonder what to do with previously purchased trips – whether to resign, whether we have any chance of a refund in the event of resignation, or can we take a risk and wait until the pandemic is over.

Holidays and the coronavirus – resignation from the trip

If a trip is purchased at a travel agency, the Act on Package Travel and Related Travel Services will apply. This act includes a provision that allows travel agency clients to withdraw from the contract and recover their money. I am talking about art. 47 ust. 4, which states that “the traveler may withdraw from the package travel contract before the start of the package travel without paying a withdrawal fee in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the destination or its immediate vicinity, which significantly affect the implementation of the package. or the carriage of travelers to their final destination. ‘

Therefore, the most important thing is “the occurrence of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances”. The place where we are going should be affected by such circumstances – e.g. numerous cases of coronavirus infection, restrictions on the population, etc. The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Tomasz Chróstny, explained that if we decide to resign from the purchased trip, the travel agency must check whether there is a real threat to our health in the place to which we planned the trip. If there is such a threat, the travel agency should return the money paid. However, the traveler is then not entitled to claim damages or compensation.

vacation and coronavirus

Does this also apply to trips planned for the summer?

Unfortunately, the above the provision does not apply to future events, as the existing threat may pass until the start of the tourist event. Of course, we can withdraw from the trip planned in the summer now, if we are afraid of departure, but we will have to pay a fee. It is worth considering changing the date of departure, in this matter, travel agencies go hand in hand with their clients.

What if a flight is canceled?

It may turn out that our plane flight was canceled due to the coronavirus. In this case, we are entitled to a refund for the flight ticket. However, we do not have the right to claim compensation, because according to Regulation (EC) 261/2004 “an epidemic outbreak is an emergency exempting the carrier from paying compensation for a canceled flight”. If we decide to cancel our flight ourselves, unfortunately we will not receive a refund.

Can I cancel the booked accommodation?

By booking accommodation on our own, we can cancel the booked accommodation for free if we have the option of free cancellation in our booking. It all really depends on the hotel in question. In this situation, it is best to contact the hotel directly.

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