I travel to Egypt in nine weeks: should I alter plans?
Q I’ve just seen the alerts about Egypt. I travel out to Hurghada in nine weeks and now I’m extremely worried about what’s going on out there. Do you honestly think we should change our holiday or wait to see what happens?
Carol B
A Hurghada and the area around it on Egypt’s Red Sea coast is lovely in late September. The intense heat has dissipated, along with the crowds. But aviation between the UK and Egypt has taken another twist. Around 1,500 British Airways passengers have found that the airline has cancelled all its flights from Heathrow to Cairo and back between now and Saturday 27 July because of heightened security concerns.
The circumstances indicate to me that there is intelligence available to European governments about a specific threat involving UK-bound flights departing from Cairo airport. EgyptAir is continuing to fly twice daily between Heathrow and Cairo, and many BA passengers have been transferred to the Egyptian airline. Crucially, flights on Thomas Cook and easyJet to and from Hurghada airport, the main Egyptian gateway from the UK, have continued as normal.
Unless the Foreign Office itself grounds planes, as it has done in the case of Sharm el Sheikh airport since November 2015, then normal conditions will apply to flight bookings. Passengers will not be able to cancel without losing some or all of their money.
The same goes for people like you with package holidays booked to Egypt: there is no legal right to a refund or to be switched to different destinations, but you may find they are prepared to be flexible. While you can’t expect your money back, if the tour operator has space available in other destinations, you may get a sympathetic hearing and be allowed to switch.
Personally, I would stick to Egypt – but I would be very careful on the roads, which I regard as the biggest source of danger to travellers.
Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder