Coronavirus - Travel impacts II

[Dtail]

AA refund for 1200 just processed. Will receive it within a week. Fairly smooth process with them.

 

[Ready]

I bought a one-way air ticket from a small South American airline and they finally admitted it was cancelled. The web site offered the crummy deal where they'd let you rebook for free before December 31 (excuse me if I don't celebrate). I didn't by a coupon that will expire at the end of the year, I bought travel from A to B on a specific date. The former is worth nothing to me.

Anyway, got on the phone with Elan / Fidelity Visa because the web site dispute thing started, but then it gave me a message that I had to call to complete the dispute.

The interesting thing, and something I've never had happen before, was that after I admitted to booking the flight with this card, the rep said "well then why are you disputing it". I had already told her that the airline was unable to deliver the service. Then she asked me if they offered a voucher, and I said, I didn't buy a voucher, I bought a transportation service on a specific day. That shut her up, but I'm getting bad vibes on this credit card actually going to bat for me. Back in the old days, the credit card holder that didn't get what they paid for was assured to win the dispute.

It will be interesting to see how these disputes play out and if there's a correlation of dispute "wins" and various credit card issuers. I don't have a good feeling about Elan.

There should be a set of terms and conditions that you agreed to when you purchased the ticket. The web sites have them but you have to dig around to find them. In that document it will state what rights the airlines reserve in the event a flight can not be completed.

Congress is pushing hard to get the airlines to issue refunds rather than travel vouchers. But if the airline is not an American company they likely have no influence since the airline won’t benefit from a government bailout.

 

[Winemaker]

We have a trip scheduled in June to fly to Denver, drive all over Colorado, and return out of Albuquerque,NM. NM has a 14 day lock down for all visitors, so we were waiting to to the last minute before we made any changes. Then Southwest changed itinerary, changing our connecting flight out of Denver instead of Dallas. I called and asked if I could just fly the second leg out of Denver instead of flying out of New Mexico, in case the lock down was still in effect, giving me some flexibility. I was able to talk to a live person within minutes, and she suggested I keep the reservation as they were. Since I was already booked for the outgoing trip out of Denver to home, I would just have to rebook myself closer to the date, and get a cheaper fare for the seats I've already purchased. Win, Win for me.

 

[TrvlBug]

Just received an e-mail from Princess that our September Alaska cruise has been cancelled. We were planning to cancel but were waiting until early June when final payment became due. For those who had already paid in full they were offering a full refund or applying payment to a future cruise + 25% cruise credit for future cruise to be taken by May 2022.

DH will book us for 2021 tomorrow . We're hoping to get the cabin type we want that was sold out when we booked this one.

 

[Ready]

Just received an e-mail from Princess that our September Alaska cruise has been cancelled. We were planning to cancel but were waiting until early June when final payment became due. For those who had already paid in full they were offering a full refund or applying payment to a future cruise + 25% cruise credit for future cruise to be taken by May 2022.

DH will book us for 2021 tomorrow . We're hoping to get the cabin type we want that was sold out when we booked this one.

Why would they cancel a September cruise now? Their website shows they are booking cruises as early as July.

 

[TrvlBug]

Why would they cancel a September cruise now? Their website shows they are booking cruises as early as July.

We rebooked for Sept 2021 and got the last of the suite we wanted .

I asked her why the cancellation and she said it was due to the logistics for Alaskan cruises. Hiring people, port issues, and the like. I don't understand how that's different from other cruises but didn't press it. I had assumed it was because cruises attracting older folk had too many cancellations. I wouldn't feel comfortable booking a cruise too much before Sept 2021. We had planned to cancel the Sept 2020 cruise closer to pay-up time.

 

[harllee]

Most of the Blue Ridge Parkway is now closed due to the coronavirus. Many of the counties surrounding the BRP have banned short term rentals and require homeowners coming from other areas to mandatory quarantine for 14 days (can't even go to the grocery store). The NC mountain folks don't want the summer visitors from Florida to bring the virus to the area!

 

[Ian S]

American Airlines called tonight about our flight planned to Europe on the 28th. Asked if we wanted to rebook or cancel, I opted for cancelling and refund. That was OK and the fare will be refunded to our VISA within 10 days. We were also informed yesterday that our tour of the Parliament Buildings in London has been formally cancelled and a refund will go to our VISA card. I have just looked into our trip insurance to see if the cost of that can be refunded and it looks like it can. I will call them tomorrow. Those are the last details of our trip to be cancelled. If the insurance premium gets refunded we will not have lost any money on this ill-fated trip.

 

[Sunset]

I had the Ibis hotel in Southampton email me asking if I was a "key worker" as they can only accommodate those folks to the end of May.

Otherwise I could reschedule or cancel , so I told them I'd like to cancel with a refund on credit card.

 

[braumeister]

We had a land/sea trip (Canada and Alaska) booked for late August that just got cancelled by Holland America. Looks like they have cancelled just about all their Alaska business for the rest of this year.

 

[sengsational]

Risky Money Back

LATAM, which is a Brazilian airline that flies South America, had a nice refund thing on their website that I found (but didn't use right away because they hadn't cancelled my flight yet). They hid that refund thing, but I found it, using browser history and filled in the form to get a refund to my credit card. It seemed "too easy", and it was.

Yesterday I got 4 emails with 4 vouchers. One voucher was 95% and the other three were $5 or $10 each. On the bottom of the email there was a link to get a refund. But the process requires a bank account number and a routing number.

So I have an account with just a few bucks in it that I put in. I don't make it a habit to hand out my banking info, but not much at risk.

So it seems that they're trying to make it as inconvenient as possible but not completely deny refunds.

 

[TrvlBug]

We had a land/sea trip (Canada and Alaska) booked for late August that just got cancelled by Holland America. Looks like they have cancelled just about all their Alaska business for the rest of this year.

Princess did the same for our Sept trip. Have rebooked for same time next year.

 

[LRDave]

I just looked on FlightAware for flights between ATL and DEN. All flights for 24 hours fit on one page (with most of the page showing the cancelled flights). Could be just for the weekend, but DL looks to have 2 flights/day, SWA looks to have two flights/day and UAL one flight/day. Frontier hasn't been flying that route for a while. I know DL's flights are all no middle seat - not sure of the others. That's crazy to think about between the 1st busiest and 6th busiest airports in the U.S.

 

[sengsational]

My flight was scheduled for tomorrow at 1:25PM and I got a call just now, so slightly under 24 hours before the scheduled departure to Ecuador (which shut-down flights a long time ago).

During this brief call, the agent told me my flight was cancelled and that they were offering to move it for free to any date before December 31, 2020 (I think that's the date, but I wasn't listening, because I wanted the money). But the rep followed with "or we can refund to your credit card", and I said "refund!". She said "ok" and that was it.

That was nearly 3 weeks ago, and I just looked it up on "https://prefunds.aa.com/refunds" and it still says "pending review".

At the time I was thinking "too easy". We are dealing with American Airlines, after all. I'm probably just being impatient, but I can't help thinking they've got another trick up their sleeve.

The dispute on the credit card is still open.

 

[fh2000]

I have some Hilton Honors points that are scheduled to expire this month, but I can't go anywhere.

I called them and was told they are not expiring anyone's points until the end of the year.

So, I will call them again by the end of the year.

 

[Scrapr]

American Airlines called tonight about our flight planned to Europe on the 28th. Asked if we wanted to rebook or cancel, I opted for cancelling and refund. That was OK and the fare will be refunded to our VISA within 10 days. We were also informed yesterday that our tour of the Parliament Buildings in London has been formally cancelled and a refund will go to our VISA card. I have just looked into our trip insurance to see if the cost of that can be refunded and it looks like it can. I will call them tomorrow. Those are the last details of our trip to be cancelled. If the insurance premium gets refunded we will not have lost any money on this ill-fated trip.

I also had the Parliament tour scheduled (yesterday) They cancelled and are in process of refunding the cost. Looks like the total cost was 22 GBP. I added in tea after for 30 GBP. I think everything I purchased has been refunded or vouchered. I donated the ticket to the Churchill War rooms. I was pretty apprehensive about unwinding this 3 week trip. It turned out much easier than I expected

 

[sengsational]

American Airlines called tonight ... the fare will be refunded to our VISA within 10 days.

Report back when (if) you get a credit. As I mentioned in an earlier post, mine has gone 3 weeks and nothing from American.

 

[Dtail]

Report back when (if) you get a credit. As I mentioned in an earlier post, mine has gone 3 weeks and nothing from American.

AA refunded our charges with credits to our CC within 3 weeks.

 

[swakyaby]

I had a trip booked for this month flying Delta airlines from California to Atlanta, meeting a friend, then 5 nights in Orlando, and a 4 park pass for 2 at Disney World. Although booked as non refundable, the hotel readily agreed to a full refund. When it was apparent the park was not going to be open anytime soon, Disney also fully refunded the 4-day passes.

However, the airline refund was a bit more tricky. The flight was booked as non refundable. So the only thing Delta offered initially was to rebook the flight up to December 2020. Uh, thank you, but no. Then they offered e-credit for travel up to 2 years. Getting better, but I wanted my refund. DH advised me to wait until Delta cancelled the flight. Later, I received notice that my flight number had changed and I was being changed to a much earlier flight that day. It also said that my other choice was an e-credit. Hmmm. A week later, I was asked by email to confirm that I was accepting the flight change. So I called Delta’s customer service and asked if my original flight had been cancelled. She said yes. I then asked if I was eligible for a refund. She said yes. So I learned that even a non refundable flight can be refunded if the airline cancels your original flight. It just took some patience. And they don’t offer you a refund anywhere on their website; you have to ask for it.

 

[athena53]

I just verified the dates for my 50th HS reunion in Ohio- it's in late June. I'm sitting on a Delta credit that would pay the airfare, with some left over, but then did some checking and found that it's an easy drive if I build in an overnight- I've done slightly longer trips to SC twice a year to visit family.

Great to have that option- as I get closer to the date I can decide if it's safe to venture out at all and then decide which mode makes sense. I can use the Delta credit for a trip I'm planning to Belize in October, 2021 as well.

 

[harllee]

I just verified the dates for my 50th HS reunion in Ohio- it's in late June. I'm sitting on a Delta credit that would pay the airfare, with some left over, but then did some checking and found that it's an easy drive if I build in an overnight- I've done slightly longer trips to SC twice a year to visit family.

Great to have that option- as I get closer to the date I can decide if it's safe to venture out at all and then decide which mode makes sense. I can use the Delta credit for a trip I'm planning to Belize in October, 2021 as well.

I am also having my 50th HS reunion in June. The payment for it is due April 30. I have decided it is too risky for me to go so I am not signing up. I understand very few have signed up. I hope they move it to next summer.

 

[explanade]

I got airfare refunded by United for a flight I would have taken this week.

Would be in Portugal now, sigh.

More prepaid flights and hotels still ...

 

[Sunset]

I just cancelled my AA trip, I can see on my account within an hour, my miles were put back , the representative told me they would be refunding my CC the $380 within 7 days.
The automatic email that came to me said it was a credit, but I'm thinking they just didn't update the form email, I'll see what happens in a while.

The credit for the AA flight showed up on my account, even though the email they sent me said it was a flight credit. I'm thinking it was a generic email that was wrong in my case.

I cancelled my Advantage card today, Reason: as I'm not going to travel in the near future

They are mailing me a check for the balance I have on the account.

 

[Sunset]

I misunderstood the email a hotel sent me , and said I'd be glad to get a refund.

They will only give a credit for 1 year. I'm not sure we will be flying in 1 year.

This is for the UK, it's bad over there with Covid-19

This has taught me, renting hotels in the UK is a lot different from USA, as refunds are not normal over there (as far as happened to me).

 

[SpinDoctorTX]

Our June Ireland trip was just cancelled by GVV with a credit to be used by 12/31/21... Yay- I didn't even have to argue.

Not terrible, but I will still try to get a refund from our trip insurance. DH's oncologist is writing a letter for support (and he doesn't want him travelling anywhere soon, obviously).

It's heartening to see how many people in here have been able to get refunds fairly easily. I sure hope we are as lucky!