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.

 

[Flashback]

I've found that things are being cancelled in waves, so eventually it may well. Assuming it's all on the same booking though that'll allow a full refund on it for you.

 

[p--and--t]

Reference Point:

Cancelled flights with EK four weeks ago exactly because associated tours were cancelled (before EK cancelled the actual flights).

Refunds came through overnight; fares less AUD250 per person.

 

[robtemt]

Some updated experiences:

I had to call Delta, as they still refuse to provide a refund for a flight to Hawaii from LAX, only credit. I needed a "no refund letter" for travel insurance. Was told I have to write a letter to request the letter (A LETTER? Via post, to the US?!?!?).

Also need to write a seperate letter requesting the fare difference Delta charged for changing our ticket to come home early from Costa Rica, even though their policy was no charge for fare differences for flights between certain dates (including ours).

Our Villa owner in Costa Rica refused a refund request for our unused nights, even though HomeAway/Stayz (owned by VRBO) wrote to all owners encouraging refunds for stays in March and April. The owner offered us "credit towards a future stay", even though they are selling the Villa and no guarantee the new owner will honour the credit (or even use as a rental). She has also filed a claim with the included and mandatory insurance for a $3400 induction cooktop that was allegedly damaged (we used their private chef for every meal, never went into the kitchen except to get ice for coughtails). She's also refusing to refund our $800USD damage deposit until the claim is paid (to keep us from telling the insurer that she's filing a fraudulent claim).

All up, have about $15,000 in claims with Chubb/Amex Plat, but am playing the back and forth game where they send a list of demands for documentation every 3-4 days.

 

[Pushka]

Some updated experiences:

I had to call Delta, as they still refuse to provide a refund for a flight to Hawaii from LAX, only credit. I needed a "no refund letter" for travel insurance. Was told I have to write a letter to request the letter (A LETTER? Via post, to the US?!?!?).

Also need to write a seperate letter requesting the fare difference Delta charged for changing our ticket to come home early from Costa Rica, even though their policy was no charge for fare differences for flights between certain dates (including ours).

Our Villa owner in Costa Rica refused a refund request for our unused nights, even though HomeAway/Stayz (owned by VRBO) wrote to all owners encouraging refunds for stays in March and April. The owner offered us "credit towards a future stay", even though they are selling the Villa and no guarantee the new owner will honour the credit (or even use as a rental). She has also filed a claim with the included and mandatory insurance for a $3400 induction cooktop that was allegedly damaged (we used their private chef for every meal, never went into the kitchen except to get ice for coughtails). She's also refusing to refund our $800USD damage deposit until the claim is paid (to keep us from telling the insurer that she's filing a fraudulent claim).

All up, have about $15,000 in claims with Chubb/Amex Plat, but am playing the back and forth game where they send a list of demands for documentation every 3-4 days.

Ive had to wait around 20 days from Insure and Go. They requested further info 10 days ago, which I supplied immediately then crickets again.

That was for our March trip. They have yet to hear about our July one!

The Motto - Never give up! Play their game.

 

[Flashback]

Some updated experiences:

I had to call Delta, as they still refuse to provide a refund for a flight to Hawaii from LAX, only credit. I needed a "no refund letter" for travel insurance. Was told I have to write a letter to request the letter (A LETTER? Via post, to the US?!?!?).

Also need to write a seperate letter requesting the fare difference Delta charged for changing our ticket to come home early from Costa Rica, even though their policy was no charge for fare differences for flights between certain dates (including ours).

Our Villa owner in Costa Rica refused a refund request for our unused nights, even though HomeAway/Stayz (owned by VRBO) wrote to all owners encouraging refunds for stays in March and April. The owner offered us "credit towards a future stay", even though they are selling the Villa and no guarantee the new owner will honour the credit (or even use as a rental). She has also filed a claim with the included and mandatory insurance for a $3400 induction cooktop that was allegedly damaged (we used their private chef for every meal, never went into the kitchen except to get ice for coughtails). She's also refusing to refund our $800USD damage deposit until the claim is paid (to keep us from telling the insurer that she's filing a fraudulent claim).

All up, have about $15,000 in claims with Chubb/Amex Plat, but am playing the back and forth game where they send a list of demands for documentation every 3-4 days.

You could try via DOT (or threaten Delta you'll goto DOT), that should get your refund, although not sure how long it would take.

For the villa, was that a part used stay? If so, they are of course probably within their right to not provide anything at all; so a voucher is better than nothing. That being said, those property owners that don't do the right thing now...... well....... it'll be remembered. I've had success now with 90% of the properties I had booked/paid for that were non-refundable. Those I've had no success with...... well let's just say, they had a relevant review stuck on their page and added to my 'never book again' list

 

[LA10]

Just cancelled my OWA (both for late April and Sept this year). Disappointing. Now just need to re-book for 2021!

 

[p--and--t]

Ive had to wait around 20 days from Insure and Go. They requested further info 10 days ago, which I supplied immediately then crickets again.

That was for our March trip. They have yet to hear about our July one!

The Motto - Never give up! Play their game.

FYI: under the insurance industry code of practice they have to "deal" and respond to a claim in a 10 day window (not finalise). If the agent handling the claim is snowed under and can't deal with their workload or even worse is under instruction to limit or deny or delay claims then it is not unusual to get are bulldust response or request for some information every 9-10 days to kick the claim along and stay within the industry code of practice. If you are getting asked for the same again or it is obviously delaying tactic, it may pay to escalate or threaten them with the financial ombudsman.

Edit: Note - is 10 business days

 

[Pushka]

FYI: under the insurance industry code of practice they have to "deal" and respond to a claim in a 10 day window (not finalise). If the agent handling the claim is snowed under and can't deal with their workload or even worse is under instruction to limit or deny or delay claims then it is not unusual to get are bulldust response or request for some information every 9-10 days to kick the claim along and stay within the industry code of practice. If you are getting asked for the same again or it is obviously delaying tactic, it may pay to escalate or threaten them with the financial ombudsman.

Interesting. They acknowledged the claim immediately but the follow up was much later and it's been another 10 days since. I'm thinking must be business days? I'll do the maths check tomorrow and follow through if needed.

 

[p--and--t]

Interesting. They acknowledged the claim immediately but the follow up was much later and it's been another 10 days since. I'm thinking must be business days? I'll do the maths check tomorrow and follow through if needed.

Yes 10 business days. Have updated my post.

 

[Flashback]

So.... the hotel that won't budge on providing a refund to me, says on their website they're closed till 19/4. So they're closed while the stay I had booked is due to happen. I've gotten nowhere with the property or booking.com on that one, so looks like decent grounds for a CC chargeback i.e. service not being provided. Travel Insurance route is worthless as a lot of the return gets gobbled up in claim fees.

 

[Pushka]

So.... the hotel that won't budge on providing a refund to me, says on their website they're closed till 19/4. So they're closed while the stay I had booked is due to happen. I've gotten nowhere with the property or booking.com on that one, so looks like decent grounds for a CC chargeback i.e. service not being provided. Travel Insurance route is worthless as a lot of the return gets gobbled up in claim fees.

Take screenshots and chargeback.

Post automatically merged: Apr 14, 2020

Yes 10 business days. Have updated my post.

Thought I'd replied to this. You were spot on. It was 10 business days to the useless enquiry. I've sent off an appropriate email now.

 

[robtemt]

You could try via DOT (or threaten Delta you'll goto DOT), that should get your refund, although not sure how long it would take.
Hoping to avoid it if possible. But thanks for the suggestion.

For the villa, was that a part used stay? If so, they are of course probably within their right to not provide anything at all; so a voucher is better than nothing. That being said, those property owners that don't do the right thing now...... well....... it'll be remembered. I've had success now with 90% of the properties I had booked/paid for that were non-refundable. Those I've had no success with...... well let's just say, they had a relevant review stuck on their page and added to my 'never book again' list
It was a partial stay. While within the owners "rights", they didn't issue a voucher or cancel the stay with HomeAway/VRBO (or notify them of the unused nights), since the Villa is for sale, there is no way they can guarantee that we would be able to use that "Credit", so they simply put in an email that they will discount a future stay... HomeAway did apparently encourage owners to do refunds, but like everyone else, the owners didn't have the cash to do so (hence filing a false insurance claim of $3000+ for a $1400 cooktop.

 

[JohnM]

Well, I've just had a very good news story in relation to a whY flight booking I had with Ukrainian International Airlines (yep, the one that had a plane shot down by trigger-happy Iranians).

It was a c. $270 fare for a 3h flight from Kiev to Baku in May, booked direct with UIA. The ticket documentation stated that it was refundable (even though it was the cheapest available when I booked back in December).

I got into MMB on their website, but it was unclear how to initiate a cancel for refund, so I thought the easiest thing to do was cancel for a credit, which was a very clear option. It seemed too much of a hassle to start emailing UIA for such a small amount. So I did that.

Well, lo and behold a few days later I get an email from a customer service agent informing me:

Dear John,

Thank you for contacting UIA.

Flight in your ticket was not canceled. Refund to the credit card that had been used for the ticket purchase is possible according to the fare rules. The amount for refund is 4036 UAH.

Have a nice day.

After getting off the floor, I reply basically 'Thank you'.

Refund appeared in my CC account within a few days.

How is that for service!

 

[Pushka]

Well, I've just had a very good news story in relation to a whY flight booking I had with Ukrainian International Airlines (yep, the one that had a plane shot down by trigger-happy Iranians).

It was a c. $270 fare for a 3h flight from Kiev to Baku in May, booked direct with UIA. The ticket documentation stated that it was refundable (even though it was the cheapest available when I booked back in December).

I got into MMB on their website, but it was unclear how to initiate a cancel for refund, so I thought the easiest thing to do was cancel for a credit, which was a very clear option. It seemed too much of a hassle to start emailing UIA for such a small amount. So I did that.

Well, lo and behold a few days later I get an email from a customer service agent informing me:

Dear John,

Thank you for contacting UIA.

Flight in your ticket was not canceled. Refund to the credit card that had been used for the ticket purchase is possible according to the fare rules. The amount for refund is 4036 UAH.

Have a nice day.

After getting off the floor, I reply basically 'Thank you'.

Refund appeared in my CC account within a few days.

How is that for service!

Beats Qantas. I'm still waiting for a refund five weeks later. And Qatar.

 

[JohnM]

Beats Qantas. I'm still waiting for a refund five weeks later. And Qatar.

Precisely why I posted. I'm still waiting for JL and QF refunds.

 

[Flashback]

Beats Qantas. I'm still waiting for a refund five weeks later. And Qatar.

Funny that, my mother pinged me earlier to say the JQ refund still hasn't hit her card.

 

[glasszon]

My upcoming trip to DRW in early June has been cancelled as VA cancelled the flight, just turned the flight into credit today and requested refund from hotel and cancelled the car rental.

 

[Flashback]

So.... the hotel that won't budge on providing a refund to me, says on their website they're closed till 19/4. So they're closed while the stay I had booked is due to happen. I've gotten nowhere with the property or booking.com on that one, so looks like decent grounds for a CC chargeback i.e. service not being provided. Travel Insurance route is worthless as a lot of the return gets gobbled up in claim fees.

Finally found a number for booking.com +44 20 3564 6725; select the last option that is 'for all other queries' otherwise you'll still get stuck with a robot, they make it really hard to talk to someone!

Anyway, he called the hotel and they said they changed the stay to another property 200m down the road. That's funny, I sent them 3 e-mails and they didn't reply once offering that. The agent came back and asked if I was happy with that, I said no, I just want a refund given they're closed. He spoke to them again, they offered change of date. I said nope, they're closed so I can just raise a CC chargeback. He then checked 'internally' and because a) Norway is still in lockdown b) Their hotel website confirms they're closed c) He spoke to them and they confirmed they're closed, booking.com has issued full refund.

Woohoo! Was worth 15 minutes of my time to sort. Took <5 seconds to get through to an agent once I navigated the phone menu, no surprise as they make it really hard to speak to someone so those who work their way through the maze end up with little wait

 

[Flashback]

Spoke to Qatar also, all correspondence with them I said refund, refund, refund but voucher issued. So had to call through, got through to the UK call centre after only 10 minutes on hold; that's better than a non COVID-19 day!

Refund request sent off and 28 working days to process, so that'll come in late May.

 

[k_sheep]

I was due to fly Turkish tomorrow; phoned tonight, answered immediately and refund organised.

Would much rather have flown it though