Q: In 2019 I booked a package holiday for 2020 with a local travel agency and paid the requested deposit. Due to the pandemic the holiday was postponed to 2021 and now it has been postponed again to an indefinite date.

My life circumstances have changed in these past two to three years and I have asked the travel agency to refund my deposit. However, I was informed that they are not obliged to give me a refund.

Is the travel agency right? What are my legal rights?

A: When your holiday was first postponed in 2020, as per the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations, the travel agency should have offered you a choice between a refund and postponement. If you were not offered this choice but instead you were only informed that your holiday was postponed, you may now ask for a refund as your legal rights have been breached.

On the other hand, if you were given a choice and you willingly accepted to postpone, before claiming a refund you first need to check the terms and conditions you agreed to when you accepted the postponement.

If, however, your booked holiday cannot be held this year and you have signed a clause that allows the agency to postpone the holiday indefinitely, you may dispute the fairness of such clause as it is considered unfair to prohibit consumers from seeking the cancellation of the contract if the trader fails to fulfil his obligations.

It is also considered unfair to include clauses in consumer contracts that permit the trader to establish or alter unilaterally the period for supplying a service.