Thank goodness for travel insurance! This is normally what we say when something goes wrong while travelling but in this case, travel insurance cannot provide any compensation to one family. It looks very unlikely that a refund for the full cost of the holiday (£3,000) will ever be provided for a skiing trip to Switzerland, that never even got off the ground, according to the article “Family’s dream holiday hits the skids”.
Isle of Man resident John Middlemas, his partner and daughter travelled to Ronaldsway Airport to set off for a well deserved holiday on the snowy slopes of Zermatt to be told he could travel but not his Colombian partner and daughter. They were told they would require a Visa according to recent changes in the European Union tourist red tape.
This came as a huge surprise to John Middlemas as he had checked with the airline before he’d set off that all was in order and as it should be. Unbeknown to John, changes had been made to these rulings, after he’d checked within eight days of their holiday. Overall the changeover of Visa regulations was insufficient with fifteen days notice. John did nothing wrong but will find himself out of pocket due to an irresponsible and inefficient changeover.
Unfortunately John’s insurance did not cover visa difficulties and his only hope now is for compensation from the Swiss Embassy.
Don’t let this happen to you!
Tags: airline insurance, holiday reimbursement, Swiss visa regulations, travel insurance