Money Box Live: Your Summer Holidays

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Hello. As Lufthansa cuts 20,000 summer flights because of surging fuel prices. In today's Money Box Live podcast, we're looking at travel and what the conflict in the Middle East might mean for your holiday plans, whether you've booked flights abroad, you're planning a staycation, or you're even considering changing your mind entirely.

We booked a cottage up in in Northumberland. Not quite as warm as it would have been in in the Maldives, but nevertheless idyllic and what I'd like to think is extremely safe.

Holidays may not be the most important thing in the world, especially when you consider what's happening in Iran that's actually causing the uncertainty, but that doesn't mean they don't matter, and they are definitely a big expense. So today we are answering listener questions from worries over jet fuel shortages

What the airlines tell us and what the airlines say in public um is that there are no current issues with the jet fuel supply. But it's right and people would expect us to be making contingency plans and to be thinking about all eventualities. And that's why we're working really closely with the airlines and refineries. uh to make sure we're thinking about all the potential options about what might happen, but even despite the fact there's no current issue with supply.

Well, listening to that and here to answer all your questions today are Emma Brennan from ABTA, the trade body for travel agents and tour operators, and Lisa Minnow, travel editor of the Sun newspaper. Hello, good to have you both with us.

Afternoon.

Lisa, we heard there then from a government minister, but also operators like TUE have been reassuring travellers that they're confident there's no current shortage affecting flights for the UK.

That's right. I mean, these are companies that, you know, they don't make huge amounts of money on each booking. It's the fact there's a very small amount of profit and lots of booking. So lots of flights being booked, lots of holidays being booked. That's what gives these companies profits. But Obviously, you know, those margins are very small and so any kind of shock to pricing like we've seen is going to have an impact in the long term for sure.

And at the moment travellers can still get to all those locations. It's more that the airlines are streamlining the flights they're putting on, but are other countries, Lisa, looking into this and looking ahead to the summer's right?

Well, I think ev everyone is. We've already seen the the Asian countries that really are even more exposed to the um the issues with the sort of the Strait of Hormuz and and the fuel coming through there. um or oil coming through there. Um, they are already themselves actually making those kind of decisions. They are having, you know, less um less less people in terms of flights, but also somewhere like South Korea. I was there last week.

But things are looking more.

Felly, dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r dyna'r Rwy'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n

Emma, are we seeing the cost of package holidays going up kind of alongside

Rydyn ni'n meddwl, rydych chi'n gwybod, rydych chi'n gwybod, rydych chi'n gwybod, rydych chi'n gwybod, rydych chi'n gwybod, rydych chi'n gwybod, rydych chi'n gwybod, rydych chi'n gwybod. Mae'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio. Mae'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio.

And a are you seeing people booking more short haul flights because they're maybe worried about jet?

Not necessarily. I think we're you know, we're what what's encouraging is that people are still wanting to travel. So despite the everything that's going on. mae pobl yn ymwneud â phobl. Mae'r newid sy'n ymwneud â phobl yn ymwneud â phobl. Mae'r newid sy'n ymwneud â phobl sy'n ymwneud â phobl sy'n ymwneud â phobl sy'n ymwneud â phobl sy'n ymwneud â phobl sy'n ymwneud â phobl. which obviously can add some additional challenges for the industry.

Lisa, if you book a package holiday, will people be thinking, well, at least that's fairly straightforward? I'd get a full refund if there was disruption to the flight?

Well, yes. I mean, it's not so much a full refund, but what you have is a huge amount of extra consumer protection. So if those flights are cancelled, it is the packaged operators' responsibility to get you to your destination. Um, you know, in any way that they can. They should be offering you a viable alternative.

Emma, it it can sound quite dramatic, can't it? Twenty thousand flights being cancelled and and the kinds of questions that we're being sent, but how worried should we be about jet fuel? Are people really gonna have holidays cancelled because of that?

Rydyn ni'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd uh the weeks and months to come, it is a small number of flights uh per day in terms of the grander scheme of things.

And I've I've said that holidays aren't the most important thing, but people really do care, don't they? They really want to look forward to their break.

I saw an opportunity to go up there and do it in May, but with the price of diesel I think it's become a little bit Too expensive.

You were gonna travel from the south of England.

Yes, exactly. So it will be about eight to nine hundred mile round trip. Including hoppin onto Aaron and Back? And with the price of diesel I think it was about one forty nine pence per litre and now it's almost two pounds a litre.

Have you lost any money?'Cause I know you'd booked campsites, you know, you you've done a lot of the planning.

I luckily I got all the money back from the campsites. With the organisation I belong to, you only have to pay a deposit. If you cancel within twenty one days, which is why I made my mind up. about two weeks ago to cancel it. I think I did it at the start of April. Then you don't lose any money. But so the only money I lost was on the CalMac Ferry because they decided that because I cancelled it they want to charge ten quid admin fee.

Well that could be worse, couldn't it?

Yeah, exactly. And then I'm also concerned as we go on into this thing and it's still going on, the availability of it as well. So I didn't want to get stuck up in around air and not be able to buy diesel and or have to hunt around for it.

So you cancelled that trip. You considered going to France, but you've changed your mind on that too?

Ma maybe things quieten down with our friend over the water. I might go to France. later on in June or July.

What will you and your van and your dog be doing in May then instead of travelling up to Scotland?

I think I'm gonna try and do um some part run tourism on on just occasional weekends and not have to travel too far so I don't need to buy diesel.

And when she says parkrun tourism, she literally means driving to new locations to do parkruns. Louise is really living her best retirement. Um Emma, but Louise has cancelled her holiday. Are you hearing from your members that that's happening more?

Rydyn ni, mae'r pethau sy'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio. Mae'r pethau o'r pethau, o'r pethau o'r pethau, o'r pethau o'r pethau, o'r pethau o'r pethau o'r pethau.

Okay, that's uh that's a very, very important point, isn't it, Emma? So d what about people who've already booked then and are feeling smug that they did so before the prices went up? Are they safe or can operators increase prices for holidays that have already been booked?

So there is something in the package travel regulations, so this which just applies to package holidays that um that travel companies could mae'n cael ei gweithio'r cael ei gweithio'r cael ei gweithio'r cael ei gweithio'r cael ei gweithio'r cael ei gweithio'r cael ei gweithio'r cael ei gweithio'r cael ei gweithio'r cael ei gweithio'r cael ei gweithio.

Okay, good to know. Um, Lisa, even if you're saying in the UK like Louise, rising prices, inflation, pushing up the cost of everything can hit your plans.

Yes, I mean, that is the case, but what we're actually seeing is, you know, sort of But c companies in the UK saying they are seeing a bit of a stacation boom. So similar to what we had in the pandemic, where we had that uncertainty about whether we were not gonna be able to get abroad, people are choosing to holiday closer to home. They are choosing those stacations. Now that could mean of course that prices are going to increase. Again, we're talking about supply and demand.

And we do have some beautiful, beautiful beaches, don't we? Um uh Lisa though, we have seen hotel rooms and flights rising in price faster than the the typical rate of inflation for a while now. So even before the current situation, travel has been getting more expensive more quickly.

It has been, yes. But I mean, I think you have to take that into consideration in terms of everything else that that has been increasing in price. And I think the one thing that we've always found with us as Brits, you know. that the last thing we're going to sacrifice is our holidays. You know, we will do without a takeaway or a p an extra pint in the pub. We want to make sure that we have our holidays. It's really important to us.

Although we should acknowledge, I suppose, of course, that rising prices and just the current economic uncertainty means plenty of people listening will be feeling they can't or they won't spend money on a holiday.

Yeah, I mean, and that is exactly what we have seen. So tour operators are reporting that uh demand has slumped, you know, quite dramatically because people are waiting to see what's going to happen or looking at what they've got to spend again, we're going to wait till the last minute.

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Let's hear from somebody else. Louise is not the only person holidaying a bit closer to home. Some people are scrapping their overseas plans and they're booking UK breaks instead. That staycation trend you were just talking about, David is one of them. He'd booked a luxury break, stopping off in Dubai, and he's had a change of heart because of the conflict.

We booked a holiday, a rather nice holiday to the Maldives for five nights, followed by five nights in Dubai. We actually booked it for late March, which is when my wife's birthday was. That was all booked and good to go. Then the war started. Neither of us were comfortable. But luckily for us, we booked it through Trailfinders. So we had a an app to package. They said you can try and rebook or you can cancel and get your money back. So that's what we duly did.

David, thank you very much for that. Um, Lisa, both Airbnb and Sykes Cottages told us they are seeing a spike in interest for UK holidays. You've you've kind of touched on this already, but i are we expecting then, as David says, that that might push up UK prices?

Well it that is, you know, part of the inevitability of it, but I do still think that there's plenty of decently priced holidays out there for the UK. Um the likes of Butlins, they've also said that they've seen a big increase in the number of people booking holidays.

One of the things that people get uh in a bit of a you know, bit a bit confused, a bit lost by is who's responsible depending on which country they're in and which airline they're booking with Lisa. We've had um an email uh from Dr. Ellis who says we've booked flights to Australia via British Airways for September, but it's a flight operated by Qatar Airlines.

Well, i th th there is a difference in the rules between British air British and or UK and EU airlines and airlines from other countries, but that's only actually going to be triggered if you are flying, say, from Australia to Doha. So because what we're talking about here is flights from the UK to Doha, that actually is covered by the sort of l legal rights that you have as an a in the airline industry. And there is a much greater set of legal responsibilities.

Mm-hmm.

With the flights, car hire and all of the the accommodation booked, the cost has already gone above five thousand pounds. There's still excursions and activities that I want to book that we'll add on to that as well.

Before everything kind of kicked off, what did you think the biggest risks to your holiday might be?

The obvious one is yeah, unexpected volcanic activity. Not so long ago there was an eruption that caused global disruptions to to fight.

And then obviously what we've seen in the last few weeks has focused your mind on a different risk. What are you concerned about?

I'm really just worried about the volatility of the the situation in the Middle East causing fuel shortages, so it means these fights might get cancelled or grounded for a long period of time. I'm planning on doing a lot of moving around Iceland when I'm there. I mean If I had a car, what if there's fuel rationing that means I can't get to other accommodation that I've booked?

Would you hope then that your travel insurance would protect you in that situation or are you concerned about that?

I'm really considered that they wouldn't pay out in that case, either that it might be a risk that is out of their hands, out of the airline's hands and and as such I'm not able to get any compensation. And having paid out so much for this holiday, which is an unusual expense for me, that would really sort of leave me in the hole.

Thank you to Andrew for that. Emma, five thousand pounds is a lot of money to spend on a holiday. It's no wonder Andrew's feeling quite anxious about it. What is the deal? If a flight is cancelled, so let's talk about flights first of all. If a flight is cancelled because of a shortage of jet fuel, presumably it's the airline's responsibility to reimburse you for that cost.

Yeah, so if a flight is cancelled for whatever reason, then the airline needs to either offer you an alternative. So this is what we're seeing where some airlines are consolidating flights. they're offering people an alternative flight on the same day, or if an alternative can't be provided, then they need to give you a refund for the cost of that flight.

Thank you very much. Right. As I say, lots of you getting in touch with your insurance questions. Alison says. My daughter has booked a flight to travel to Indonesia in June, the return flight is in July. What would be the best insurance to take out to recover any costs should the flights be cancelled?

Well, in most cases, unfortunately, I would say that isn't the case. It very much depends on the type of travel insurance you have. If there's a situation where you are stuck in a particular destination or you cannot get to a destination... and perhaps you've got some tickets booked for a theatre show or something like that.

Okay,'cause uh a lot of people have this c this question over the fact that is it a war related risk? Nigel has emailed to say I'm booked to go to Austria via Munich at the end of June. My main concerns are that travel insurance doesn't cover war related risks. If a flight is cancelled due to a fuel shortage the policy might not cover the resulting losses. Is that how insurers are likely to see a fuel shortage as the consequence of a war and therefore potentially not not uh insurable?

Yes, I think that would be the case. But I mean I think you've got to bear in mind the fact that when you're talking about flights, it's the airline's responsibility here to make sure that they either get you to your destination, they have a duty of care to you, they have to get you to your destination ac mae'n cael ei wneud y gallu ei wneud ymwneud â'r hynny. Ac mae'n ymwneud â'r hynny'n cael ei wneud â'r hynny'n cael ei wneud â'r hynny'n cael ei wneud â'r hynny'n cael ei wneud â'r hyn.

Thank you.

Mae'n ymwneudol ar gyfer cyrraedd, ond, ond, ond, ond, ond, ond, ond, ond, ond, ond, ond, ond, ond, ond, ond, ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud hynny. Yn ymwneud hyn, mae'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli'r rheoli.

Let's just squeeze in one more. Uh Annalise says that she, her husband and their two children have flights booked to Sri Lanka this August. She says we booked these before the Iran War. Alas, our flights with Qatar Airways are via Doha, so we can't be sure they'll go ahead. If we cancel the flights and rebook, the prices have inflated such that it becomes Prohibitively expensive. Lisa, that's going to be the problem for a lot of people trying to fix this issue now is that prices have gone up.

That's right. Yes. So I mean d that's a it is a little bit of a word of warning. So uh where you have got the right to have a you know, a refund, you know, cancel if a flight's been cancelled you'd have a right to a refund. Sometimes that's not the best option because as you say, you've got your money back, but then flights are so much more expensive.

Emma, if I gave you twenty seconds, what's your last top tip, your main money message for people planning travel?

book a package holiday with an ABTA member and they'll be able to help you.

Thank you very much. Lisa, if you've got ten seconds.

And I think, you know, despite everything I've said, it is still absolutely imperative to get travel insurance at the same time. It does cover you for a lot.

Well, that is the end of the runway for this particular Money Box Live podcast. Thank you for all your questions and thank you to our experts. We've been hearing from Emma Brennan from ABTA, the trade body for travel agents, and Lisa Minnow, travel editor of the Sun newspaper.

If you want Money Box Live to look at a story or even appear on the program like I did Then get in touch. You can email moneybox at bbc.co.uk or send the team a message or voice note on WhatsApp. The number is zero three three zero six. seven eight three one eight three they really do read and listen to every message.

Thanks, Louise, we really do. In this podcast, the producer was James Graham, the studio manager Chris Branscombe, production coordinator Neve McDermott. Our editor is Jess Quayle, I'm Felicity Hannah, and this was a BBC News Money and Work Production for BBC Sound.

Hello, I'm Johnny Diamond and I'm the presenter of the Radio four series How Did We Get Here? Israel and the Palestinians. We explore the complicated backstory of that Middle East conflict as the region endures another wider war. through conversations with experts with a variety of perspectives. We travel back through the centuries to examine the history of the land that's now so contested between Arabs and Israelis, and we try and understand the past that's brought us to such a present.

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