Holiday Refunds Thread

[jamcg]

Back on original topic, now waiting for contact from Silverstone after yesterday’s announcement of British gp to be held with no #bestfans, options are refund or tickets for 2021 gp

[Orange Cola]

I can completely see how it could be a struggle to even lose 20%. It wouldn’t surprise me if 20% a month slush fund each month isn’t above the national average quite comfortably.

Really? It's reasonable to expect up to 20% of an employees income is spent on commuting, if the employee is being paid to stay at home then they aren't shelling out for commuting. If you spend less than 20% on commuting then you're just seen as being up on the deal.

[Rich B]

I can completely see how it could be a struggle to even lose 20%. It wouldn’t surprise me if 20% a month slush fund each month isn’t above the national average quite comfortably.

Really? It's reasonable to expect up to 20% of an employees income is spent on commuting, if the employee is being paid to stay at home then they aren't shelling out for commuting. If you spend less than 20% on commuting then you're just seen as being up on the deal.

Thats a lot of petrol!

[Jobbo]

It’s reasonable to expect 20% of income is spent on commuting?! What planet do you commute to? I paid about 5% of my basic salary for a train season ticket and that seemed expensive.

[Orange Cola]

It’s reasonable to expect 20% of income is spent on commuting?! What planet do you commute to? I paid about 5% of my basic salary for a train season ticket and that seemed expensive.

No, it's reasonable to expect UP TO 20%. Furloughing up to £2.5k is still a generous amount of money when comparing to an average wage.

It's not actually all that impossible to reach 20% of your income going onto commuting costs when you're on or below the average wage rather than well above the average wage, which I suspect you and most of us on here are. We all pay the same fees no matter how we commute or how much we earn, your train or bus fare isn't calculated based on your income.

I'll give you an example, back in an old summer job where I was on below average wage, doing 40 hours a week I would have to commute 10 miles on the train, me and most of my colleagues were around the 12-15% mark, some people commuted further at 20 miles on the train and were up at 18%. We were in one of the highest paying employers in the area for that job type.

[Jobbo]

Sorry, you really think spending £6k per year on a train ticket is in any way usual for someone earning £30k? Absolute nonsense!

[Rich B]

According to gov stats, about 10% of people commute by train, For ease, let’s just split that in two for high and low earners.

So 5% of people will have the potential to save up to 20% of their travel costs (if they pay extortionate travel costs).

[Orange Cola]

Sorry, you really think spending £6k per year on a train ticket is in any way usual for someone earning £30k? Absolute nonsense!

I didn't say that I thought it was usual, you know that.

[Orange Cola]

According to gov stats, about 10% of people commute by train, For ease, let’s just split that in two for high and low earners.

So 5% of people will have the potential to save up to 20% of their travel costs (if they pay extortionate travel costs).

Yes, for example. See also people who commute 200 miles a day in a car, or get ninety eight buses to work. It's clearly not everyone who is spending 20% of their income on commuting but some will.

I was shocked when I was told that employees are expected to pay up to 20% in commuting costs.

[Rich B]

According to gov stats, about 10% of people commute by train, For ease, let’s just split that in two for high and low earners.

So 5% of people will have the potential to save up to 20% of their travel costs (if they pay extortionate travel costs).

Yes, for example. See also people who commute 200 miles a day in a car, or get ninety eight buses to work. It's clearly not everyone who is spending 20% of their income on commuting but some will.

I was shocked when I was told that employees are expected to pay up to 20% in commuting costs.

so that tiny number that commute 200 miles, do you think they’ve saved 20% of their wage too?

[Rich B]

I can completely see how it could be a struggle to even lose 20%. It wouldn’t surprise me if 20% a month slush fund each month isn’t above the national average quite comfortably.

Really? It's reasonable to expect up to 20% of an employees income is spent on commuting, if the employee is being paid to stay at home then they aren't shelling out for commuting. If you spend less than 20% on commuting then you're just seen as being up on the deal.

so this “Really?” statement applies to about 1-5% of the population yeah?

[Orange Cola]

I don’t think it’s 1-5% population because you’ve only considered commuting by train there

Take out other costs which have stopped too, for example eating out or going to the pub, seeing friends, putting fuel in the car, kids clubs which are no longer running and a 20% drop in pay is off set for the vast majority of people. I don’t believe for a second the majority of people on furlough who are on an average wage or below, spend all of their income on bills only. Not everyone will have access to holidays on their bills but a lot of people will and they will decide if they want to take advantage of that or not.

For anyone earning above the furlough thresholds it’s a larger drop in income than 20% and of course that will be a struggle but this isn’t the majority of the population and therefore I don’t agree with Dave that a 20% drop in income due to the furlough scheme is a financial struggle for more than half the country.

[Rich B]

I don’t think it’s 1-5% population because you’ve only considered commuting by train there

what sort of percentage of drivers shall we say will be spending 20% of their income on petrol commuting (obviously the rest of their car costs will not just disappear, just reduced wear and tear and petrol).

[JonMad]

Back on original topic, now waiting for contact from Silverstone after yesterday’s announcement of British gp to be held with no #bestfans, options are refund or tickets for 2021 gp

Just seen they are thinking of running two races at Austria and Silverstone. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52435988
Are you going for the 2021 tickets option?

Off topic, re commuting costs. Just worked out mine would be 15% of take home pay. Caveat 1: that's after a few voluntary deductions. Caveat 2: I can claim it all back, and if I had to pay it myself I wouldn't be spending as much.

Pretty sure I'm saving a fair bit by not buying lunches and snacks out every day though.

Back on topic, hoping Jet2 extend their no flying through to August. Currently it's only until mid-June. Our holiday balance is due at the end of May and I think I'd rather lose the £240 deposit than hand them over nearly 3 grand. If they extend their no flying dates I might be able to cancel or rebook next year for free.

[jamcg]

Think I’m going to take the 2021 option, I can see there been a mad scramble for tickets, at a higher price than this year as well

[Gavin]

I got an e-mail yesterday, it detailed week to expect refunds based on when you were meant to go on holiday. Another 3 week for me apparently which is not bad, that is only 6 or 7 weeks from cancellation.

Only other time I had to cancel was 9 months delay and there was no massive mass cancellation event going on.

[V8Granite]

I can completely see how it could be a struggle to even lose 20%. It wouldn’t surprise me if 20% a month slush fund each month isn’t above the national average quite comfortably.

Really? It's reasonable to expect up to 20% of an employees income is spent on commuting, if the employee is being paid to stay at home then they aren't shelling out for commuting. If you spend less than 20% on commuting then you're just seen as being up on the deal.

At Perkins I spent about 3% a month on my commute.

The wife spent 25% when working in London 5 days a week travelling from Peterborough, that was a 7K tail ticket alone.

I don’t know anyone who pays that much to commute apart from 1 person who drives all over the country doing computer stuff.

I would think 20% is very much on the high side.

Dave!

[Jimexpl]

Easyjet are finally making it simpler to get a refund, although there could be a 90 day wait...

We had flights in March cancelled, there's been virtually no communication and they removed the option for a refund on the website saying that you had to phone, but you could never get through!

Now, a convoluted Covid web link will let you apply for a refund, as long as you select the correct options.

[mr_jon]

To be fair to Cola I do know quite a few people on modest London salaries (40-50k) who pay 7-10k for annual rail passes.

[Rich B]

To be fair to Cola I do know quite a few people on modest London salaries (40-50k) who pay 7-10k for annual rail passes.

any percentage of a small percentage is still a small percentage.