What If My Destination Changes From Green To Amber?

With a lot of changes taking place at the moment in the travel industry, both travel companies and consumers can get panicked. The media amps up the news, and we are left with a million questions, one of which being, ‘what if my destination changes from green to amber?’

It can feel like reason to panic and cancel your holiday immediately, if you get the news that your destination is falling from the green list to the amber list. At the moment, travel businesses must be prepared for the fall out from Portugal being announced to become amber.

Don’t Panic

The most important thing in this situation is that you don’t panic. It’s big news, but you have time to respond to it.

When a country is announced to be removed from the green list to be put on the amber list, this is never a change that takes place immediately. This is the reason for the creation of the ‘green watchlist’ to give forewarning for countries that look like they will change lists. You can keep up to date with these changes on the government website.

This means that you will have at least a few days to decide what you want to do with your booking and get in contact with your Protected Trust Services (PTS) member if you need assistance with this decision.

Check Your Protection and Company Terms and Conditions

A lot of travel companies are adapting to the coronavirus situation to the best of their ability. This includes many of our wonderful PTS members. If you have booked a package holiday or linked travel arrangement, you will have some form of protection for this situation.

The best course of action when your destination has changed circumstances, is to check how you are protected against this change.

In some cases, companies will allow you to cancel or amend your holiday up to 24 hours before the start date of the holiday. Often, changing your holiday or delaying it can be done free of charge, as well.

This allows much more flexibility in the case of these situations, so we highly recommend that you scan your contracts or get in touch with your PTS member to find out how you are protected in this situation and what is the best course of action.

Things you could be looking for in your contract that will help you include:

• Amendments – as we’ve previously stated, some travel companies will allow you to change your package holiday for free up to 24 hours before the holiday starts if your destination has changed to amber list
• Flexible Booking – some companies might change when they need the final balance for your holiday. This means you won’t have to pay for the holiday in full possibly up to 35 days before the holiday, so if something happens before then, you still have that money.
• Cancellations – this is very dependent on the situation and the travel company, but you will still be pretty well covered for cancellations due to unexpected and extraordinary circumstances in many cases.

Alongside things in your holiday contract, it’s a good idea to look at the contract for your travel insurance. Though travel insurance may not cover any of this, if you have very good travel insurance, it’s worth checking there too.

Be Reasonable

If this has happened to your holiday, it’s probably happened to many other holidays as well. Your PTS member will be in a busy place trying to resolve as many issues as possible.

We ask that you consider this and give your travel company time to do so. They want to help and protect all the holidays they can, and for this, they need to give each one the attention it deserves.

Because of this, they may not be able to process a change for you as quickly as usual, but it will get done. We understand how you must feel, and our members will do everything they can do make it a smooth process so that you don’t have to worry about your holiday.

Keep in Contact

As we’ve already iterated, your PTS member is always here to help from the moment you book to the moment you’re home safe from holiday.

They are always available to get in contact with and keeping in contact with your PTS member will give you peace of mind. You can ask where your money is and get a swift response, and you can discuss the best way to move forward, whether you decide to change your holiday, cancel it, or go ahead with it after some research on restrictions.

If you need more assistance or advice and you’re still worrying over the question ‘what if my destination changes from green to amber?’, PTS is also here supporting you and our members. You can get in contact with one of our lovely staff by calling 0207 190 9988.

If you want to learn more about your consumer protection or the Package Travel Regulations that keep your holiday as safe as possible, please visit our pages.