The Mock Turtle

I’m sorry- you’ll get a refund though, will you?

Oh yes, either a refund or a voucher or re-book. I guess I was just surprised that they cancelled 2 months in advance. Like I say we weren't intending on going anyway but now they've cancelled it will be easier to get a refund or whatever.

Yes, sorry, dates have lost all meaning for me. That is very far in advance.

Dates, years, it's all a blur.

Qantas have said they don’t anticipate flying internationally again until July 2021 at the earliest. I don’t know when the Australian borders will reopen so I can see my family again.

Gosh, that is a long time Dande, hard for you and your family. M's dad and half brother & sister are in Perth but they had no plans to see each other any time soon so just as well.

I had no plans to fly to the U.K., but now that I’m banned from leaving the country (actually my state really as I can’t travel to other states without the $3k mandatory hotel quarantine on return anyway) and there are next to no flights, I feel strangely trapped.

Estrella wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 11:20 pm I had no plans to fly to the U.K., but now that I’m banned from leaving the country (actually my state really as I can’t travel to other states without the $3k mandatory hotel quarantine on return anyway) and there are next to no flights, I feel strangely trapped.

That is exactly how I feel! Knowing if there was an emergency or a death in the family that I would be unable to get there.

That’s my biggest fear - that something happens to my family and I can’t be with them. Up until now I knew I could be with them within about 48 hours. I’m sorry you’re feeling the same.

Im so sorry, Dande & Est. The distance has never felt so so far. Mr O is in a similar position with his entire family in Aus and it’s really hard not knowing when he’ll see them again.

His parents trip to us in June was cancelled but we had hoped (optimistically!) at the time that we may still get to them at Christmas but they think even Christmas 2021 may be unlikely. :sad:

I feel the same too, and my family are only in Dublin. We haven't seen them since Christmas, and it's looking unlikely we'll get there this Christmas really. I know we technically could fly, but it's not happening in reality.

We had No.1 son to stay last week. He worked from our kitchen table. It was the first time I'd seen him since January.
We want to visit The Journalist's mum in North Wales and are planning to drive up at the end of September. He hasn't seen her in the flesh for over a year.

We looked into a short break in Jersey for my 60th in September but that looks like a no go. Looks like it will be a low-key milestone.

Dandelion, I was sorry to hear that STA had closed. I hope you're okay.

Tsu wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 8:12 am

Dandelion, I was sorry to hear that STA had closed. I hope you're okay.

Me too Dands.

Apart from some trips to the office (which is less than 5k from the border) I haven’t left my city state since the 1st of March.

I was supposed to see my teenage sisters for the first time in 2 years in mid March and we were going to see our 95 year old grandmother in her care home in Norfolk. I have no idea when (and in Nan’s case if) I will see them again

Smunder, it’s similar for me. I last saw my family at Christmas and I’m not sure when I’d feel comfortable flying over at the moment. Cases are on the rise and 75-90% of them are from people travelling from the UK - including a couple who had symptoms and travelled anyway (!). I feel intensely jealous of my sister, who gets to see dad and he gets to see her boys.

Dande, Est, it must be particularly hard when flights in/out aren’t even possible.

God this shitter of a year.

Hazey_Jane wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:36 am

Tsu wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 8:12 am

Dandelion, I was sorry to hear that STA had closed. I hope you're okay.

Me too Dands.

Thanks Guys! They fell apart financially within a week of lockdown and treated their customers terribly in terms of refunds (or lack of) so I always knew it didn’t look good. They are owned by a very rich Swiss family but have been cut adrift in a sink or swim scenario!

It’s the kick up the arse I needed to do something else after thirteen years, but it will be strange not being able to book my own flights!

I'm so sorry Dande - it's rubbish. Mr P is in the travel industry and I'm permanently on edge at the moment waiting for this to happen.

I'm just about to do a s75 claim for our Virgin flights booked via Travel Up but I think I may have hit a potential snag. We paid on my Barclaycard which is in my sole name, but Mr P made the booking in his name, albeit one of the flights is clearly in my name. Is this going to be a potential problem? I've never done one of these before.

Flora, I’ve had to do the same (re TravelUp). They had a refund for a BA flight almost immediately at cancellation in June and won’t respond to me at all. Also the flight I booked directly with BA I got the refund straight away.

I wouldn’t have thought it would matter as the payment transaction is traceable to your card?

Thanks Pov - I'm hoping that as well. I've also realised that we have no actual proof that our flight didn't go as neither Travel Up or Virgin actually told us this

Did you get in touch to cancel your flight with them, Flora? How did you find out it wasn’t running? I would recommend getting something from TravelUp confirming the status of your ticket as it stands (ie. credit) - then you can forward this to your bank.

Thanks Dande - we just checked the flight schedules in the run up and that day and the flight didn't go - stupidly I didn't take a screenshot or anything. I'm a bit worried now as Travel Up haven't replied to a single communication from us yet, so I can't see us getting any form of status update from them. I guess we can try and get some form of confirmation from Virgin.