Family's dream holiday hits the skids

AN Isle of Man family's dream ski holiday hit the skids after a visa fiasco. John Middlemas's Columbian partner Luz Garcia and daughter Oriana, 14, had never seen snow before and were looking forward to a week's skiing in Zermatt, Switzerland. But their holiday plans were dashed when they checked in at Ronaldsway Airport on December 20 to be told that Luz and Oriana now required a visitor visa to enter Switzerland and so they could not board their Flybe flight. Computer programmer John, 54, said from the family's home in Spaldrick Avenue, Port Erin: 'The law was changed on December 12 without proper notice so that Schengen visas would now be required for entry to Switzerland.

'My partner and daughter are alien British residents and no visa was required when I checked the continental.com airline website page on November 27 when I booked the holiday myself. 'I was not aware of any change in the law. Therefore there was nothing I could have done and we lost our holiday. 'I phoned the Swiss Embassy and they are getting calls every day from other people who also lost their holiday.' The European Union decision to change to Schengen visas was only taken on November 28, giving just 15 days' notice. Mr Middlemas added: 'It is ridiculous! They could have given three months' notice and made the changeover after the ski season. It defies common sense.'

He said he could have lost £3,000, which will not be covered by his travel insurance and he now plans to seek compensation from the Swiss government and the EU – but conceded: 'It is doubtful they will pay. 'My holiday insurance policy does not cover visa related problems even though I made no mistake. Flybe will not refund the flight money. The Swiss train service will not refund the Swiss Transfer Tickets I bought. My approximate loss may be £3,000 depending if the hotel debits my credit card as they said they would due to late cancellation. 'Worse than any monetary loss is the loss of the holiday since my partner and daughter have never seen the snow and we were all looking forward to it. I personally feel like I have suffered a robbery or a trauma.

'The experience at airport check in was extremely stressful since I did not believe the airport staff were correct in their refusal since I saw only a few weeks ago that no visa was required. 'I believe the 15 days' notice of changeover to be an extremely irresponsible action causing many people to suffer. 'When the decision was finalised the Swiss Embassy could have told all UK airlines to contact all customers travelling to Switzerland about this. Then we could have cancelled early or got a visa. I am afraid this looks like negligence on their part to me.' Schengen allows non EU nationals who do not fall under the European visa waiver programme to travel on the Continent with one visa. The UK is not part of the agreement.Ruth Zumbuhl, consul at the Swiss Embassy in London said notification of the proposed changes to the visa regulations was posted on the consular website in mid October and advice to check the website had been given as far back at June. She said visas were issued free of charge from mid-November until December 11 and 1,000 people had chosen to take this up.Schengen visas were issued from December 15 and anybody turned back from the airport from that date could have a visa issued to them by the embassy within a few hours if they were able to do so, Ms Zumbuhl added. She said: 'We had some doubts about the exact date when Schengen would be implemented. It is unfortunate that it was just before Christmas.

'But it was not in our hands. We did our utmost to inform people and help them. At the end of the day, the final responsibility for obtaining up-to-date information on immigration rules rests with the traveller and the travel agent.' She advised Mr Middlemas to make a claim with the travel agents he had booked with but also gave an address that disappointed travellers could write to with their complaints – Federal Office for Immigration, Visa Section, Quellenweg 6, CH3003, Berne-Wabern, Switzerland.

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