A mother-of-one who booked a dream holiday to the Caribbean only to be diagnosed with a brain tumour and told she cannot fly has been left distraught after being told she is only eligible for a full refund if she dies.Jahmila Kelly, 32, from Bethnal Green, east London, booked a two-week trip to St Lucia with her best friend Sheriese Scott last September and was due to fly from London Gatwick on March 17.
However, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour last month and told by doctors that she would need a life-saving operation on March 4 – just over a week before she was due to go on holiday.
Ms Kelly, a reservations agent with Imperial Hotels, contacted her travel agent and informed them of her diagnosis but has been left devastated that her dream holiday cannot be postponed or refunded.
The mother-of-one had booked the holiday through online travel agent Netflights.com and paid £770 for her flights, provided by British Airways (BA), and £1,500 for a hotel on the Caribbean island.
After being diagnosed with the brain tumour, which she has been told is benign but will cause her to lose her sight in one eye, she immediately contacted Netflights to ask that the holiday be postponed.
She said she didn’t want to fully cancel the trip but wanted to travel later in the year after she had recovered from her operation, which will see doctors remove the tumour from the optic nerve behind her eye.
However, she said she has now been told that her return BA flights cannot be pushed back and will not be fully refunded, as policy apparently stipulates that they only can be refunded if she is dead.
Ms Kelly told MailOnline: ‘As soon as I was diagnosed in January I rang Netflights and they said it was up to BA to issue a refund, so advised me to contact them. I contacted BA but they sent me back to Netflights. It’s been a wild goose chase.