Has anyone been impacted by the Coronavirus? Will travel insurance cover the costs if we wanted to cancel? Especially if the flights are with points.

[alan davies]

When are you travelling?

early july

 

[Dr Ralph]

early july

Then your options are wait and see or be proactive and make the changes now.

If it was me I'd be proactive. In fact I was proactive:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Respiratory illness - Effect on Travel

It was reported Indo doesn't have facilities to test so not capable to rule someone as confirmed. As at a couple days ago their airports didn't (and maybe still don't?) have the capability to take passengers temperatures. Suspect early days to make any conclusions about Indo. They didn’t have...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[leadman]

At this moment sitting on CX134 MEL > HGK J. J mostly full but the rest is 30 - 40% no hand towels just the prepackaged ones and it takes getting use to the staff talking to you in masks. A very quiet flight and MEL was also all but empty today at 6:30am. We are hubbing it to SAI so will interesting to see the loading on that flight.

 

[leadman]

correction CX799 to SGN! Staff have been very low key and there seems to be an intermittent spray in the cabin now and then. But overall, just another flight but in masks

 

[MEL_Traveller]

At this moment sitting on CX134 MEL > HGK J. J mostly full but the rest is 30 - 40% no hand towels just the prepackaged ones and it takes getting use to the staff talking to you in masks. A very quiet flight and MEL was also all but empty today at 6:30am. We are hubbing it to SAI so will interesting to see the loading on that flight.

saturday morning? I was at MEL too, very quiet indeed. I saw the CX134 got away early.

Our flight to DPS was pretty lightly loaded.

It reminds you how travel should be! No queues anywhere, curb-to-gate to in around 15 minutes (security was the only delay), flight boarded on time, left early, everyone had a spare seat or two

The TRS refund lines... empty.

 

[Pushka]

saturday morning? I was at MEL too, very quiet indeed. I saw the CX134 got away early.

Our flight to DPS was pretty lightly loaded.

It reminds you how travel should be! No queues anywhere, curb-to-gate to in around 15 minutes (security was the only delay), flight boarded on time, left early, everyone had a spare seat or two

The TRS refund lines... empty.

Melbourne last Tuesday was extremely quiet too and the flight to Adelaide incredibly lightly loaded.

 

[leadman]

saturday morning? I was at MEL too, very quiet indeed. I saw the CX134 got away early.

Our flight to DPS was pretty lightly loaded.

Yes out Saturday, and this was the The Wing First Class "diner" at about 4pm. The only other person was my colleague. We had the place to ourselves and the waitresses were great, as they outnumbered us 3 to 1!

Post automatically merged: Feb 9, 2020

And upstairs it was incredible with so few people. The flight down to SAI was on a 777 and there almost more people in F than J, 3 to 5!

 

[I love to travel]

Yes out Saturday, and this was the The Wing First Class "diner" at about 4pm. The only other person was my colleague. We had the place to ourselves and the waitresses were great, as they outnumbered us 3 to 1!

View attachment 205679

Post automatically merged: Feb 9, 2020

And upstairs it was incredible with so few people. The flight down to SAI was on a 777 and there almost more people in F than J, 3 to 5!

View attachment 205680

That is really sad actually.

 

[leadman]

I actually agree, there was really not much fun in an empty room. the waitresses were fun as they were joking a fair bit, which is hard to do if there is everyone there. They were positive, but they said its been like that for a week. Interestingly there were no newspapers, pamphlets or other like material around, minimizing the chance of transfer.

 

[drron]

I was in the MEL domestic J lounge for 2 hours from 1230pm on Saturday and it was very quiet.
Both my flights,DPO-MEL and MEL-BNE were lightly loaded,left and arrived early.I was the only OWE on the DPO flight so had the lounge to myself.I was in Row2 with no one in row 1.1 pax in row 3 and the next in row 6.

On the BNE flight I was the only pax in row 6,2 in 7 and row 8 was empty.

I wondered whether it may have been due to OS tour groups cancelling.

 

[p--and--t]

"Impact" can mean good or bad I think.

Not aviation wise, but I go walking with the neighbour through a couple Melbourne parks several times a week for exercise. Usually coming up one of the main paths in Fitzroy gardens are pushing through crowds of Chinese tourists near Captain Cooks cottage and the nearby street lined with 10-15 tour buses. Last week - ziltch Chinese. One small tour group speaking a European language.

 

[JennyMG]

well as the flights were with points, the points will be refunded! Less a small fee that will be much less than the Insurance claim excess.

REally? they would be refunded?
I booked a China Eastern flight home from Rome to Shang, shang to syd in July. Trying to work out whether to wait, or cancel, orreschedule. I've no idea what to do. We have insurance, a good one, but as it was an award flight, I'm stumped as to what to do.

Post automatically merged: Feb 10, 2020

QF and other airlines are waiving cancellation fees (both paid and points bookings) through to the end of Feb (date may vary). The date could roll on depending on how things go.

I have flights/accommodation all prepaid for April. So currently in limbo....

Me too, with my return home from Rome flight on China Eastern in July, was an award flight. Not sure what to do.

 

[p--and--t]

REally? they would be refunded?
I booked a China Eastern flight home from Rome to Shang, shang to syd in July. Trying to work out whether to wait, or cancel, orreschedule. I've no idea what to do. We have insurance, a good one, but as it was an award flight, I'm stumped as to what to do.

It is my understanding if booked as a QF redemption, and if the cancellation is self initiated before departing on first leg then you should be refunded all relevant points and fees except for a cancellation fee of 6,000 points per person.

If the cancellation is airline initiated different rules apply and there is no cancellation fee.

 

[JohnM]

One of the beauties of award flights (at least with QF) is that they are fully refundable without a reason being required. The only penalty is the 6K points.

Try to do that for a discounted whY fare...

 

[whole-lotta-moxie]

So i have contacted Lifemiles as my award flight has a transit through PEK on Air China and they are still charging the standard $150 fee to change my routing. To cancel the flight they are 'evaluating' what the fee will be.

 

[trevella]

Scheduled to fly CDG-HND-SIN-CBR in late April/early May with a week in Tokyo and a night in Singapore.

I really don't want to miss that trip, so out of an abundance of caution I've booked a separate NRT-MEL-CBR using AAdvantage as an alternative for getting back home from Tokyo in case things go badly in Singapore.

Then after thinking about it some more, out of an overabundance of caution I've also booked CDG-DOH-CBR on QR using AAdvantage in case things go badly in Japan.

if things go badly in Europe as well then all bets are off. At the moment I view the potential USD300 in cancellation fees as good insurance for relative peace of mind.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If these are all booked through AA be aware that AA can cancel any or all of the bookings at any time if they consider them to be ‘impossible’ or an abuse of the program. This is to prevent people booking multiple itineraries - where they cannot take all of them - and (unfairly) holding award inventory.

 

[whole-lotta-moxie]

So i have contacted Lifemiles as my award flight has a transit through PEK on Air China and they are still charging the standard $150 fee to change my routing. To cancel the flight they are 'evaluating' what the fee will be.

So the latest is that Lifemiles is still 'evaluating' the fee for a cancellation due to the Corona virus but this is only for flights up to April. I have asked a number of times via email so what will be cancellation fee be if any? They will not state what it is going to be only that it is still being being 'evaluated'

 

[whole-lotta-moxie]

Singapore airlines has cancelled more than 700 flights


Covid-19: Singapore Airlines announces almost 700 flight cancellations | The MileLion

 

[Pushka]

Singapore airlines has cancelled more than 700 flights


Covid-19: Singapore Airlines announces almost 700 flight cancellations | The MileLion

And Israel has put Singapore on the list along with China HK and Macau.