Have you had to change/cancel travel due to COVID-19 (involuntarily or voluntarily)?

[robtemt]

I thought I would start a thread as a resource for AFFers who have changed or cancelled travel plans directly or indirectly due to 2019 n-CoV.

• Did the airline/cruise company cancelling or change your flight/cruise? Or, did you proactively or reactively cancel or change it on your own (and why?).
• Did they notify you directly, or did you discover it on your own?
• What was your original plan, and what was the revised plan?
• What was your experience like?
• Did you go through any travel insurance claim process, and how was that part of it?

For the record, part of my role at work is to monitor medical related issues, filter out mis/disinformation, and brief other staff using only verified facts from trusted sources, so I am not one to buy into sensationalism or hysteria. BUT, I am also an advocate of forward planning and monitoring situations that could affect travel plans.

Post automatically merged: Feb 10, 2020

To start it off…. We have begun voluntarily changing (or making back up plans for) our upcoming holiday SYD-(+/- SIN)-LAX-SJO-LAX-HNL-LNY-HNL-SYD

We are booked to the USA via SIN on SQ in a few weeks (F Saver Reward Booking). A few things caused us to start making contingency plans on getting to the USA including:

• Reading posts from Buttermilk Chicken regarding her RTW flight being disrupted between HKK and CEB
• Member Pushka raising a good point if Singapore will be next.
• Monitoring the World Health Organisations surveillance on n-CoV (as part of my responsibilities at work). Singapore confirmed infections were 28 on 5 Feb, 40 on 8 Feb, and 43 on 9 Feb. Several of these cases were human-to-human contact, with no recent travel to China.
• Bloomberg’s article this morning HERE, which discussed the spread of the virus from a conference attendee in Singapore, via a resort in France, to people in France, Spain, and the UK.

We contacted SQ, to discuss the options of alternative carriers, to which there were no available flights. The agent was very friendly, and said she understood the desire to rebook and avoid an Asia transit, but she said until official bans are in place, there were no options, but “we will offer options if Singapore becomes affected by travel bans”.

We began searching other options. We contacted VFF, who found one seat on DL SYD-LAX in W, and one seat on VA in J SYD-BNE-LAX. No other business or premium reward seats (except any seat) were available +/- 1 day of our desired travel (with pre-booked hotels, cars, and other flights to South America, and Hawaii). We will keep looking for another J seat on same day, and hopefully two on the same flight to free up closer to the date.

We have left our SQ bookings as is for now, and will cancel either that booking of the DL/VA booking closer to the date as thing develop.

Overall Experience:

• Wait times on the phone are obviously a bit longer, but I’ve not been on hold longer than 15 minutes with either VA or SQ.
• Staff at both SQ and VA call centres have been friendly, empathetic, and helpful in searching, but have no/limited availability and flexibility in voluntary changes so far.

 

[nickykim]

R class is non refundable but changes can be made for a fee. I changed the date of a BKK-MCT-LHR leg on a R fare last trip with WY and it was about $300 for memory. Found them pretty good to deal with TBH and no worse than most other airlines. Don’t know about these circumstances though.

Thanks - the tour is likely to be rescheduled but perhaps not until this time next years. I thought it was non-refundable so will wait for a response then touch base with Amex travel insurance provider.

 

[jxv]

After an 18 months hiatus Mrs jxv and I were finally going on a big trip again: Egypt, Portugal and Greece. We were due to depart on Friday 13th (maybe I should have chosen a more auspicious date), but it was not to be. Yesterday we received an email that the Egypt Nile cruise was cancelled with full refund. Thinking about it for a few minutes we decided to cancel the whole trip. All accommodation was refundable. The long haul flights were EK J awards with OFF points, so only 4x 6k points penalty. A pity, ATH-DXB-MEL were going to be our first ever F flights. CAI-ATH-LIS and LIS-ATH were with Aegean and cost $700 to cancel. I have not yet cancelled a 5 day bus tour in Greece, hoping that the company will cancel and I will get my money back ($2000). Not much chance that insurance will cover it.

It could have been much worse. The cruise date was chosen purely because of the availability of J awards to get to Cairo. Had we booked a week earlier we would now be in quarantine or in hospital in Egypt! See the news item from the ABC below. The ship is the MS A'Sara, which we were booked on.

Cruise on the Nile quarantined
A cruise ship on Egypt's Nile River with over 150 tourists and local crew has been quarantined in the southern city of Luxor, with authorities saying 45 people on board have tested positive for the new coronavirus.

A Taiwanese-American tourist who had previously been on the same ship tested positive when she returned to Taiwan, the World Health Organisation (WHO) informed Egyptian authorities, who then tested everyone on the ship.

Health authorities first found that a dozen of the ship's Egyptian crew members had contracted the fast-spreading virus, and said they did not show symptoms, according to a joint statement from Egypt's Health Ministry and the WHO.

Officials said the 45 would be transferred to isolation in a hospital on Egypt's north coast, while the passengers and remaining crew were quarantined on the ship to await test results.

The 12 infected crew were isolated on the third floor of the vessel away from the tourists, including two children, the 30-year-old chef said. The tourists then waited for test results.

The cruise started in Luxor, about 655 kilometres south of Cairo and made three stops before reaching its destination at Aswan. On the return trip there were three more stops, Mr Salah said, potentially expanding the number of people exposed to the virus.

"It's still unclear how many people came in contact with the group in the infected ship," a senior police officer in Luxor said.

Cruise ships on the Nile often dock side by side, with passengers getting on and off by walking through several other vessels.

 

[harvyk]

Yeap, just had my San Diego conference cancelled, pity because I was really looking forwards to it.

At this stage still have my London conference going ahead. They have a section in their FAQ's about it, but at this stage it's still all systems go.

 

[Pushka]

In addition to the Grand Princess issue off San Francisco, Princess also just this hour cancelled another of their cruise ships departing LA. They brought in armed police to make the announcement. They let the passengers off from the last cruise then stopped the new cruisers boarding. People had already checked in and were waiting to be called on board. They had waited all day in the various halls at SF. Apparently there was a cross over crew member who had just got off the Grand and was then crewing the Royal. In reality it means that over 3000 people are now roaming SF with the possibility of exposure.

And Celebrity just cancelled a cruise they had rerouted from Singapore to Dubai (with little recompense) making for some very angry passengers having to have cancelled original Singapore flights and rebooking to DubaI. It seems that India has now banned all cruise ships from berthing. That decision by India is completely understandable.

 

[Flyinfish]

Now that Italy has locked down a large part of N Italy, no entry no exit, what’s the situation if you have flights booked into and out of this area? Will the flights be canceled and refunded?

 

[m_diggity]

Does anyone know of any travel insurers who are still covering corona virus? I've sent an email to my provider (SCTI) asking if they will cover any medical costs if we were to contract the virus whilst travelling, but I know they will not cover any cancellation costs if we are unable to travel.
I've read elsewhere that ING are still covering corona virus cancellation costs on new policies, if the travel warnings get to level 4.
Im thinking of taking out a policy with them as SCTI doesn't cover any cancellation costs relating to the virus.

 

[Fred_bear]

Does anyone know of any travel insurers who are still covering corona virus? I've sent an email to my provider (SCTI) asking if they will cover any medical costs if we were to contract the virus whilst travelling, but I know they will not cover any cancellation costs if we are unable to travel.
I've read elsewhere that ING are still covering corona virus cancellation costs on new policies, if the travel warnings get to level 4.
Im thinking of taking out a policy with them as SCTI doesn't cover any cancellation costs relating to the virus.

I know that Insure and Go will cover cancellation costs only if the smart traveller warning for the relevant country goes to level 4 (Do Not Travel) for policies already purchased. but I don’t believe that they are offering that on new policies?

 

[m_diggity]

I know that Insure and Go will cover cancellation costs only if the smart traveller warning for the relevant country goes to level 4 (Do Not Travel) for policies already purchased. but I don’t believe that they are offering that on new policies?

I suspect most insurers will no longer cover cancellation costs relating to the virus, but I was wanting to know if anyone could confirm if ING are still offering cancellation cover (if it gets to level 4) on new policies. According to a post on Pointhacks forum, a couple of users seem to think they do. Being Sunday, I'm unable to ring them to ask, and tomorrow is a public holiday, so wont be able to confirm until Tuesday.

 

[Fred_bear]

I suspect most insurers will no longer cover cancellation costs relating to the virus, but I was wanting to know if anyone could confirm if ING are still offering cancellation cover (if it gets to level 4) on new policies. According to a post on Pointhacks forum, a couple of users seem to think they do. Being Sunday, I'm unable to ring them to ask, and tomorrow is a public holiday, so wont be able to confirm until Tuesday.

If they’re based in NSW, which they appear to be, you should be able to call them as it’s not a public holiday there tomorrow (Vic, ACT, SA and Tas yes but NSW it’s a standard work day)

 

[m_diggity]

If they’re based in NSW, which they appear to be, you should be able to call them as it’s not a public holiday there tomorrow (Vic, ACT, SA and Tas yes but NSW it’s a standard work day)

Oh good to know!!
Ill ring them tomorrow and report back.

 

[Oubline]

Oh good to know!!
Ill ring them tomorrow and report back.

Good find! I wonder if they will try to get out of it with the general exclusion, in Part 6:

• You are aware of any medical condition or set of circumstances which could lead to a claim

Will they try to say that we should be aware of coronavirus and that this could lead to a claim.

Would be interesting to hear what they say!

 

[daft009]

So is the TI lesson from all this is to book TI straight away after the flights?
Obviously not now due to the virus

 

[Fred_bear]

So is the TI lesson from all this is to book TI straight away after the flights?

Always buy TI as soon as you’ve booked the flights, yes. We bought ours in May last year, as soon as I got the tickets, for our trip beginning 16 March this year.

 

[amaroo]

So is the TI lesson from all this is to book TI straight away after the flights?
Obviously not now due to the virus

Annual multi policy that is continuous is what we do..... still need to select the best policy in an attempt to cover all bases. Which is probably impossible.

 

[m_diggity]

Good find! I wonder if they will try to get out of it with the general exclusion, in Part 6:

• You are aware of any medical condition or set of circumstances which could lead to a claim

Will they try to say that we should be aware of coronavirus and that this could lead to a claim.

Would be interesting to hear what they say!

Knowing how insurance companies work, that looks like the perfect 'out' for them.

I'd like to get something in writing from them before taking the policy out. I'm sure the phone agent will be vague and not directly answer any questions.

When I spoke to SCTI they basically said that 'its up to the claims department' to determine if the claim is valid.

 

[Pushka]

Always buy TI as soon as you’ve booked the flights, yes. We bought ours in May last year, as soon as I got the tickets, for our trip beginning 16 March this year.

The rule of thumb for me is take out travel insurance as soon as you've outlayed enough funds that you'd be upset to lose.

 

[OATEK]

So is the TI lesson from all this is to book TI straight away after the flights?
Obviously not now due to the virus

The rule of thumb for me is take out travel insurance as soon as you've outlayed enough funds that you'd be upset to lose.

The lesson for me is dont rely on CCrd insurance. Our fares bought on Bankwest Platinum Mastercard are not covered for epidemic/pandemic. It never occurred to me at the time that it would be a problem.

Now that Israel has banned people moving through certain countries where we will be in the next 20 days (eg Germany) leading up to the cruise, we will be denied boarding. Israel could extend the ban to UK or Australia at any moment, so even if I could navigate a path today from SYD to ATH that doesn't take me through a banned country, it can change overnight. Also Turkey will ban us because of transit through SIN, and Palestinian Authority has closed parts of the West Bank, so our cruise is stuffed.

We hope for a cruise refund (best case) or transfer to a later date (worst case). Our airfares KRK-MUC-ATH-MUC-LHR are not refundable, so that will be a loss. Will talk to BA tomorrow about dropping the LHR-KRK leg off our booking and just keep it SYD-LHR-SYD. Will concentrate on quality time with the kids in South London, with a few days in the Cotswolds instead of KRK/MUC.

Oh well, just got to ride it out.

 

[Princess Fiona]

The Best Thing I’ve Read about Corona Virus From an Infectious Disease Expert Please I implore you. Stop watching rubbish like 60 minutes and read this.
#nailedit

 

[jase05]

The Best Thing I’ve Read about Corona Virus From an Infectious Disease Expert Please I implore you. Stop watching rubbish like 60 minutes and read this.
#nailedit

Very good read.
Personally I’m not worried about travelling or the virus but I am worried about having flights cancelled or worse being stuck OS.
Sounds like domestic Chinese flights are starting to get back to some sense of normality, hopefully others follow suit

 

[Pushka]

Very good read.
Personally I’m not worried about travelling or the virus but I am worried about having flights cancelled or worse being stuck OS.
Sounds like domestic Chinese flights are starting to get back to some sense of normality, hopefully others follow suit

That is all I worry about. My parents have passed on so I don't need to worry about them. I am worried about the business impacts as we are in small business and close to retirement. Our superannuation has taken a significant hit. I'm glad we don't have the responsibility of having young kids anymore. I understand the context of containment because health systems couldn't cope with a major use of specialised resources should this virus hit compromised people en masse. I just hope we don't create such massive financial impact that it will take years to recover from through this shut down process.