✉ My partner and I booked a flight to Mallorca with British Airways but couldn’t check in online. We arrived at Gatwick more than two hours before departure, yet spent the entire time at check-in as various people tried to contact BA at Heathrow to print our boarding passes, which they could see but not issue. As a result, we didn’t make the flight, had to race to Stansted to catch a Ryanair flight four hours later and missed part of the wedding at which my girlfriend was a bridesmaid. Even then, the ordeal wasn’t over. Having finally got through to BA the next day (ruining the only bit of holiday I had), I was told that because we missed the outgoing flight our inbound flight was also cancelled, meaning we had to buy more tickets. Our total cost for alternative travel was £960. I’ve tried many times to contact BA and think I’ve received the worst customer service ever.
Lee Kassler
Just reading your email made my blood pressure rise, so I can only imagine how stressed you both felt. BA has now acknowledged that there was a “processing issue” with your booking and has arranged a full refund of your alternative flights and offered a £500 voucher or 50,000 Avios points. “We’ve been in contact with our customers to sincerely apologise for their experience. We’ve arranged to reimburse them and have offered a gesture of goodwill which we hope will go some way to restore their faith in us,” a spokesman said.
✉ I turn 40 next September and would like to celebrate somewhere in Europe with my extended family. We will be at least ten (possibly 12) adults plus two children and I’d love to find a place where we can all be together for a week. We love good food, wine, walks and swimming, while a village or shops nearby would be great. What can you suggest?
Renae McGregor
Le Manor du Vignoble is a magnificent pile 15 minutes from Bergerac Dordogne Périgord airport in southwest France and owned by a winemaker whose vineyards form part of the grounds and guests can tour his cellars. All your boxes are ticked: it sleeps up to 14 in five bedrooms, is right in the heart of wine country with lots of lovely walks on the doorstep, there’s a heated pool (plus the nearby Dordogne River) for swimmers and even a games room for family table tennis tournaments. Sigoulès, the nearest small town, is a few miles away and has a weekly market. In September 2023 a week’s self-catering will cost from £2,350 (vintagetravel.co.uk).
Another ideal spot for a family foodie gathering is Las Palmeras del Califa, a gorgeous guesthouse in the Andalusian hilltop town of Vejer de la Frontera in southern Spain. Tucked away in the heart of Vejer’s medieval quarter, it’s spread over three levels with seven beautiful rooms sleeping 12, a rooftop terrace and a 14th-century Moorish courtyard whose pool acts as the focal point. It’s on the edge of Andalusia’s “Sherry Triangle” so you won’t be short of an aperitif, and also near the surfing beaches of El Palmar, Trafalgar Bay and Los Caños de Meca. A week’s private hire would cost £6,775 at the start of September, including breakfast. Four children can be accommodated in extra beds for £25pp per night, also with breakfast (califavejer.com). Ryanair, Vueling and Tui all fly direct from Britain to Jerez.
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✉ I recently booked a holiday online with Tui to celebrate my daughters’ 18th and 21st birthdays. Realising that I needed to pay the £500 deposit on my credit card for the added security it offered, I rang the Tui helpline and asked to change the payments from a bank direct debit. I received email confirmation from Tui of this. A couple of weeks later, as I tried to access my online account, a banner said that my holiday was cancelled. I rang the helpline only to be told that this was because I hadn’t paid the correct deposit. Tui says it informed me via text, but I never received this. After many fruitless phone calls I’ve now had to rebook the whole holiday again, losing the sizeable deposit. Can you help me get it back?
Helen Lightburn
If ever there were an advert for booking through a trusted travel agent, this is it. By booking through Tui’s website you entered the online purgatory common to many travel companies, wherein any remotely complicated request can easily get lost in translation and customer service teams cannot correct mistakes. After I contacted Tui, however, it was swift to act. “We’re really sorry to Ms Lightburn for the confusion with her booking. This was due to an error made in our system. We can confirm we have contacted the customer directly and refunded the initial deposit amount,” a spokeswoman said.
✉ I’d like to go on a volunteering holiday in the UK, similar to those that the National Trust used to run, but I can’t find anything. Can you help?
Lucy Grant
Sadly, the pandemic has pretty much wiped out volunteering holidays but if you head up to the Isle of Skye in October you could take part in a five-night “volunteer adventure” in Tormore Forest helping with tree-planting, path-building and repairs. It’s not all hard work; you’d spend afternoons exploring castles, whisky distilleries or waterfalls as well as learn a smattering of Scottish Gaelic. It costs £475pp including B&B, sharing a twin room and departing from Inverness bus station (highlandexplorertours.com).
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Alternatively, sign up for one of the numerous “canal camps” run around the UK by the Waterway Recovery Group. This year’s are all full but they will run again next summer and autumn. Volunteers are taught bricklaying and stonework as well as piling, concreting and operating excavators and dumpers. You’d stay in a village hall or scout hut, with full board costing about £70 per week. There are also weekend camps run by regional groups where accommodation is free and food costs about £10 (waterways.org.uk).
✉ I recently holidayed in the Dolomites and paid extra for a hold bag because Ryanair’s website said collapsible walking poles are not permitted in cabin bags. However, others on my flight travelled with walking poles in their cabin luggage. Could you give me a definitive answer so I know what to do in future?
Caroline Stott
There’s nothing more annoying than shelling out for something you didn’t need to. Ryanair’s terms and conditions state that both ski poles and walking or hiking poles must be carried in checked-in luggage. However, a walking pole for a mobility aid (similar to crutches) that doesn’t have a spike at the end of it can be carried in cabin luggage. I assume you’ll need to take those mobility aids on your next trip.
If you have a gripe, suggestion or question relating to your holidays, please email traveldoctor@thetimes.co.uk
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