‘My flight from Bali was booked to leave when the airport was shut'

Times

30-07-2025

✉ Last year, my friend and I booked Bali to London flights via Bangkok with Thai Airways for March 2025 through Booking.com. In November, Thai cancelled the first leg of the journey and sent us a revised itinerary with a new first leg that would have had us landing in Bangkok 20 hours after our connection had left for London. We thought it was an innocent mistake but neither Thai nor Booking.com offered a refund or viable alternative and in the end we had to buy new flights on a different airline. Only later did we discover that Bali airport would be closed for Nyepi, a well-known local festival, on the day we were supposed to make the connection there. Why were flights even sold for that day? After months of chasing, Thai finally confirmed in writing that we were entitled to a refund but Booking.com has told us Thai won't release the funds. Thai says Booking.com never asked. It has been eight months of stress and we're still £800 down. Can you help?Sophie Kemsley
Thai Airways should never have listed or sold a flight from Bali on March 29, when the airport was closed for the festival, and it's responsible for your refund. It apologised and agreed to investigate when I sent details of your case but fortunately Booking.com stepped up to put you out of your misery. A spokesperson said: 'We can see that the airline made a schedule change and, in this event, it is the responsibility of the airline to either rebook or refund the customer, as outlined in our terms and conditions. While our flight partner, Etraveli Group, promptly requested the refund, it has not yet been received. We understand the inconvenience this delay has caused, and as a gesture of goodwill, we have processed the refund in advance of receiving it from the airline.' You are delighted, having almost given up hope of getting your money back.
✉ Last year my husband and I booked an inside cabin on a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) voyage around the Greek islands, departing on September 1. Three weeks before the holiday, I asked my travel agent about upgrading to a balcony cabin and was quoted £600. I then received an email from NCL inviting bids for an upgrade and submitted a low bid of £155 per person. On August 29, while printing our boarding passes, we discovered we'd been upgraded, without any prior notification from NCL. However, I was shocked to find £910 had been charged to my credit card, far more than I expected or authorised. I immediately contacted NCL and was told a complaint would be logged but on board, guest services had no record of our case. Eventually, we were informed the charge was 'legitimate', without any explanation or evidence. Repeated attempts to escalate the matter were unsuccessful. I became seriously ill during the cruise and was hospitalised twice after returning home. Meanwhile, my husband submitted several formal complaints. My credit card provider refunded the disputed charge but NCL then disputed this and has since involved a debt collection agency. Can you help?Aideen McLaughlin
It doesn't make any sense that you would have bid far more for a balcony cabin than you would have paid for the upgrade offered by your travel agent. But NCL continues to insist that you made several bids, (although it failed to provide proof of the £455pp bid when I asked, citing data protection) and said you didn't receive email notification because of a 'typographical error' when you submitted your details. It added that 'multiple outreach attempts were made' by its accounting team in January and February to resolve the outstanding balance. The debt collection agency can't take further action if you are actively disputing the charge and your next step could be a complaint to Abta through your travel agent. The small claims court would be your last resort.
✉ A Finnish friend has sent me a tantalising book about the art nouveau architecture of Helsinki and now I want to go and see it. If I go solo in October or November, I'd want a specialist local English-speaking guide who knows his/her way around the capital to pack in as many of these sites as possible. I'd also need a centrally located medium-priced hotel for three or four nights. Any suggestions?Alexandra Richardson
• Read our full guide to Finland
Helsinki is art nouveau heaven, with more than 600 buildings from that era dotted around the city but especially in the Katajanokka, Ullanlinna and Kruununhaka neighbourhoods. The Art Nouveau Club offers three-hour private tours (including a visit to a 1904 house owned by the mother of one of their guides) from about £300, for up to four people (artnouveau.club). Stay at the Home Hotel Jugend, built around a century-old art nouveau castle in the design district. Rooms are Scandi chic and start at £82 for half board in a compact double (strawberryhotels.com). If you'd consider a package, Travel Editions has a four-night Helsinki Art Nouveau to Post Modernism group trip from October 6, which starts at £2,130 for a single traveller including flights and B&B at the Glo Hotel Art, guiding, two dinners and two lectures (traveleditions.co.uk).
✉ We're going to Barcelona on October 10 to pick up a cruise which finishes in Rome on October 21. I have read that the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) will be launched on October 12. Will they still be stamping passports on the way out if we arrive before October 12? I know a gradual rollout is planned but I can't find any information about which countries are implementing it first?Julia Janes
Granular detail about the new EES is tricky to find: even the widely publicised start date, October 12, has now disappeared from the homepage of the EES website (travel-europe.europa.eu). It now just mentions 'October 25' and apparently the precise date will be revealed 'closer to the launch'. There's no information about which countries will be in the vanguard of the new scheme but passports of non-EU citizens will continue to be stamped on entry and exit during the initial rollout period (which is expected to last six months), so you don't have to worry.
• When will EES start? Full guide to the EU's new Entry/Exit System
✉ I'm in my seventies and am a fit yoga teacher living near Manchester who swims and cycles, and I'd like to go on holiday in late September with my 50-year-old son who lives in Trondheim, Norway. We're looking for B&B in two rooms in a hotel in or near Malaga that would fit in with cycling and swimming. Any suggestions?Anne Goldstraw
• 18 of the best hotels in Malaga• Why Malaga should be your next cycling destination
Malaga is an excellent choice for your mother-and-son trip because it's surrounded by fantastic road, gravel and mountain bike riding. Stay at the small and stylish Room Mate Collection Valeria hotel, near the waterfront, which has a dinky rooftop pool and bar and is about a 20-minute walk from Malagueta beach; the sea temperature should still be comfortable for swimming in September. It's also a short stroll from the brilliant Eat Sleep Cycle shop, which offers rentals and tours as well as storage for your bike (eatsleepcycle.com). B&B doubles start at £181 in September (room-matehotels.com). There are direct flights to Malaga from both Manchester and Trondheim.
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