A passport mishap should be easy to solve: What's the value of booking through a big holiday company?

The man who pays his way

Revolutionary road: the Churches missed out on a trip to Cuba (Getty)

“Travelling with Voyages Jules Verne, with over 35 years of experience, opens the door to a World of Wonders,” promises the tour operator more concisely known as VJV – part of the giant Kuoni organisation. I have travelled with the company several times, most recently to Cuba on a trip that was well organised and good value.

This weekend, Barry and Barbara Church should have been regaling friends and family with tales of their VJV trip to Cuba. The couple were due to return on Friday morning after a two-week holiday exploring the length and breadth of the Caribbean's biggest and most fascinating island, on VJV's £2,000-per-person “Revolutionary Road” holiday. The trip was due to start with a flight to Havana and two nights in the capital, then to follow the rebellious Fifties footsteps from Fidel Castro's failed 1953 assault on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago through the Sierra Maestra mountains where Che Guevara planned the campaign. It ended with some capitalist indulgence on the beautiful island of Cayo Santa Maria before the flight home.

But at the Virgin Atlantic check-in desk at Gatwick, they realised they would not be travelling on flight VS63 to Havana. Mr Church takes up the story: “My wife found that she had unfortunately left her passport at our home in South Devon. This immediately caused us both some visible distress. We spoke to two Virgin Atlantic members of staff and a VJV representative. We were advised by the rep to return home and contact the VJV head office, whom she had just advised of our predicament, and who she assured us would be very helpful. So, putting our trust in the advice provided, we returned home.”

On the scale of challenges a tour operator faces, a forgotten passport is about the easiest to remedy: just advise the passengers to buy another ticket for the following day. It being November, tickets on Air Canada via Toronto or Air France via Paris for immediate departure are widely available at around £700 return. Since the rest of the group would be spending two nights in Havana, Mr and Mrs Church could easily catch up with them, annoyed at missing a day and significantly out of pocket, but at least able to salvage almost all of the trip of a lifetime.

It didn't happen. Instead, says Mr Church: “Once home I contacted VJV customer services who said that they would look into the matter. On receiving their call back my wife was advised that VJV would not assist in any way, having considered us as a 'no show' at the airport. Also, they told us that as we had 'cancelled' the holiday, we would not be entitled to any refund.”

The company tells customers: “We cannot accept any liability if you are refused entry on to any transport due to failure on your part to carry all required documentation.” But VJV concedes: “Whilst under no obligation to do so, it would have been good customer service to offer to try to source alternative flights – or at least to offer Mr and Mrs Church the option – so that they could still join the VJV group in Havana.”

The firm's decision not to offer any help calls into question the value of booking through a big, successful holiday company.

“My wife and I fully accepted that this was a human error on our part,” says Mr Church. “However, forgotten travel documents must be a far-from-unique challenge for our tour operator. It is not so much the loss of money that leaves my wife and I so upset, but rather the misinformation and poor treatment demonstrated by a travel company we paid a premium to use.”

The tour operator says: “VJV is committed to excellence in customer service and apologises for not having offered more assistance to Mr and Mrs Church.” The company declines to say how the couple's £4,000 wasted investment has been divvied up among the beneficiaries of their inability to travel: VJV itself, Virgin Atlantic and the Havana-based suppliers.

According to a letter sent by VJV to the couple, at least the Cubans have offered to help make good this miserable business: “Our agents [in Cuba] have agreed that we can credit £570 per person for a future Cuban tour. But since this is just a fraction of the cost, Mr and Mrs Church say they will not be able to take up the offer.