Travel Changes?

[2Gma]

I just finished reading an article about this. I think that guy should be prosecuted and/or sued. The article said there was no law against ignoring advice, but I would argue in this case when you knowingly do something there are both civil and criminal laws that can fit. If my kids went to Dartmouth and were at that party, I would be LIVID. He better hope no one dies from his arrogant stupidity and recklessness.

That's why self-imposed quarantines won't work here in the US. People don't care. While their are major issues with how China runs their country at least their containment measures seemed to help prevent further loss of life/overwhelming of healthcare systems outside of Wuhan. People here won't care until its too late and they realize they can't get care for themselves or their loved ones because every hospital bed is full and their is no oxygen support. This thing is going to spread so fast after Spring break travel...

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

That's why self-imposed quarantines won't work here in the US. People don't care. While their are major issues with how China runs their country at least their containment measures seemed to help prevent further loss of life/overwhelming of healthcare systems outside of Wuhan. People here won't care until its too late and they realize they can't get care for themselves or their loved ones because every hospital bed is full and their is no oxygen support. This thing is going to spread so fast after Spring break travel...

I hope you are wrong about the spreading after Spring Break, but I fear that could well be the case To your China point, I read a really interesting article in the Atlantic today about the UK and political/economic decisions interplaying with the medical decisions. It is about the virus, but also relevant to socialized medicine. Tough decisions. https://www.theatlantic.com/interna...politics-crisis-boris-johnson-britain/607456/

 

[lovetotravel]

I wanted to thank you, again, for posting this. I would not have known, otherwise, that Delta was making this exception and I was nervous about losing $800 in our cancellation. I cancelled our Delta flights yesterday and got the no-penalty, full e-credit for future flights to be used by mid-December. Should all go well, we will be able to use that credit toward our flights for the Rhine ABD this summer. Our resort in Mexico also offered us a credit instead of taking our two-night deposit which was very kind of them.

So glad it worked out for you! I am trying to find somewhere to use my credit that must be used by Sep. I am wondering if I book this month if it would fall under their new policy they have for March ticket and if it applies to credit. I will have to investigate because it's almost like free insurance.

DELTA:
No Change Fees For All Tickets Purchased Between March 1-31, 2020

• Affected Customers: All Tickets issued between March 1, 2020 - March 31, 2020
• Impacted Travel Date(s): March 1, 2020 - February 25, 2021
• Ticket Can Be Changed One-Time To An Alternate Itinerary. Must Be Re-issued On/Before: February 28, 2021
• Rebooked Travel Must Begin No Later Than: February 28, 2021

 

[DisneyWishes14]

So glad it worked out for you! I am trying to find somewhere to use my credit that must be used by Sep. I am wondering if I book this month if it would fall under their new policy they have for March ticket and if it applies to credit. I will have to investigate because it's almost like free insurance.

DELTA:
No Change Fees For All Tickets Purchased Between March 1-31, 2020

• Affected Customers: All Tickets issued between March 1, 2020 - March 31, 2020
• Impacted Travel Date(s): March 1, 2020 - February 25, 2021
• Ticket Can Be Changed One-Time To An Alternate Itinerary. Must Be Re-issued On/Before: February 28, 2021
• Rebooked Travel Must Begin No Later Than: February 28, 2021

Oh!! Interesting idea!! Please let us know what you find out! If that is the case, I might be more apt to book our summer flights now!

 

[laceltris3]

Specifically for Tauck:

Bookings paid in full:Any guests who wish to cancel their booking will have ALL cancel fees (including Guest or Cruise Protection Product premiums) issued back to them in the form of a travel credit to be used on any 2020-2021 Tauck journey. Airline change fees will not be covered for guests who voluntarily cancel.

Bookings not paid in full: Final payment for guests booked on these tours is now due 30 days prior to departure. Any guest who cancels after making final payment will have ALL cancel fees (including Guest or Cruise Protection Product premiums) issued back to them in the form of a travel credit to be used on any 2020-2021 Tauck journey. Airline change fees will not be covered for guests who voluntarily cancel.

If Tauck cancels your journey: To date, all journeys that travel primarily to U.S. State Department Level 4 (“Do Not Travel”) destinations (China departures through June; Lombardy and Veneto, Italy, departures through April) have been canceled by Tauck. Guests booked on a trip where cancellation is initiated by Tauck will have all tour/cruise costs returned in the original form of payment. (Any Guest Protection Product/Cruise Protection Product premiums will be kept on account by Tauck for future use.) For guests with Tauck booked air, Tauck will cover all airline change fees. For guests with non-Tauck air, Tauck will cover airline change fees up to $250 per person.


That final payment due 30 days out is a really welcome change.

 

[lovetotravel]

Bookings paid in full:Any guests who wish to cancel their booking will have ALL cancel fees (including Guest or Cruise Protection Product premiums) issued back to them in the form of a travel credit to be used on any 2020-2021 Tauck journey. Airline change fees will not be covered for guests who voluntarily cancel.

That final payment due 30 days out is a really welcome change.

WOW I love this idea! I hope ABD follows because I have 2 upcoming summer ABD trips that could become risky as time goes on and the virus continues its current path.

 

[pjacobi]

That's why self-imposed quarantines won't work here in the US. People don't care. While their are major issues with how China runs their country at least their containment measures seemed to help prevent further loss of life/overwhelming of healthcare systems outside of Wuhan. People here won't care until its too late and they realize they can't get care for themselves or their loved ones because every hospital bed is full and their is no oxygen support. This thing is going to spread so fast after Spring break travel...

The two New Hampshire quarantines are now under telephone surveillance with threat of criminal prosecution.

-Paul

 

[sayhello]

Specifically for Tauck:

Bookings paid in full:Any guests who wish to cancel their booking will have ALL cancel fees (including Guest or Cruise Protection Product premiums) issued back to them in the form of a travel credit to be used on any 2020-2021 Tauck journey. Airline change fees will not be covered for guests who voluntarily cancel.

Bookings not paid in full: Final payment for guests booked on these tours is now due 30 days prior to departure. Any guest who cancels after making final payment will have ALL cancel fees (including Guest or Cruise Protection Product premiums) issued back to them in the form of a travel credit to be used on any 2020-2021 Tauck journey. Airline change fees will not be covered for guests who voluntarily cancel.

If Tauck cancels your journey: To date, all journeys that travel primarily to U.S. State Department Level 4 (“Do Not Travel”) destinations (China departures through June; Lombardy and Veneto, Italy, departures through April) have been canceled by Tauck. Guests booked on a trip where cancellation is initiated by Tauck will have all tour/cruise costs returned in the original form of payment. (Any Guest Protection Product/Cruise Protection Product premiums will be kept on account by Tauck for future use.) For guests with Tauck booked air, Tauck will cover all airline change fees. For guests with non-Tauck air, Tauck will cover airline change fees up to $250 per person.


That final payment due 30 days out is a really welcome change.

Nice policy! Wouldn't it be something if ABD published something like this!

Sayhello

 

[TXTransplant]

Final payment for our Nat Geo trip to Alaska (June 3-10) was this week. I have not received any communication from them re any updates or changes to their cancellation policies.

I had already purchased flights and went ahead and PIF. We are scheduled to stop in Seattle for a couple of days before going on to Alaska, and I'm not planning to change that, either.

If things don't get better in SEA by the end of May, we will just stay in the hotel room for two days. I think that's cheaper/easier than trying to rearrange our flight to Anchorage (I have an Airbnb booked there for the three nights preceding the Nat Geo trip).

If Nat Geo cancels, that's a different story. But, I dread dealing with the airlines, as we have flights booked on United, Delta, and Alaskan Airlines for this trip.

 

[disneyholic family]

I hope you are wrong about the spreading after Spring Break, but I fear that could well be the case To your China point, I read a really interesting article in the Atlantic today about the UK and political/economic decisions interplaying with the medical decisions. It is about the virus, but also relevant to socialized medicine. Tough decisions. https://www.theatlantic.com/interna...politics-crisis-boris-johnson-britain/607456/

very interesting article. Thanks for posting!!

.

 

[ngl]

Specifically for Tauck:

Bookings paid in full:Any guests who wish to cancel their booking will have ALL cancel fees (including Guest or Cruise Protection Product premiums) issued back to them in the form of a travel credit to be used on any 2020-2021 Tauck journey. Airline change fees will not be covered for guests who voluntarily cancel.

Bookings not paid in full: Final payment for guests booked on these tours is now due 30 days prior to departure. Any guest who cancels after making final payment will have ALL cancel fees (including Guest or Cruise Protection Product premiums) issued back to them in the form of a travel credit to be used on any 2020-2021 Tauck journey. Airline change fees will not be covered for guests who voluntarily cancel.

If Tauck cancels your journey: To date, all journeys that travel primarily to U.S. State Department Level 4 (“Do Not Travel”) destinations (China departures through June; Lombardy and Veneto, Italy, departures through April) have been canceled by Tauck. Guests booked on a trip where cancellation is initiated by Tauck will have all tour/cruise costs returned in the original form of payment. (Any Guest Protection Product/Cruise Protection Product premiums will be kept on account by Tauck for future use.) For guests with Tauck booked air, Tauck will cover all airline change fees. For guests with non-Tauck air, Tauck will cover airline change fees up to $250 per person.


That final payment due 30 days out is a really welcome change.

Thanks so much for the information! Do you know if this is only Tauck trips through June 30? Ours Tauck Bridges starts July 5 (in Rome). I have not received an email yet so curious. Thanks so much!

 

[laceltris3]

Thanks so much for the information! Do you know if this is only Tauck trips through June 30? Ours Tauck Bridges starts July 5 (in Rome). I have not received an email yet so curious. Thanks so much!

Email says: To this end, we are implementing the following policy changes for any guests confirmed to travel on any Tauck journey (tour or cruise) through June 30, 2020.

Ours Is June 27 through July 4th. But I think that if the situation warrants, they would extend it.

 

[Candycane83]

Thanks so much for the information! Do you know if this is only Tauck trips through June 30? Ours Tauck Bridges starts July 5 (in Rome). I have not received an email yet so curious. Thanks so much!

I think they will watch the situation and make extensions if needed. I can see why they have a lot of very loyal customers...


Ours is next Sunday to Costa Rica. I’m not sure how close I can actually take advantage of this. I still plan to go at this point but will watch the news! It’s nice to have peace of mind on such a large investment though.

 

[ngl]

Email says: To this end, we are implementing the following policy changes for any guests confirmed to travel on any Tauck journey (tour or cruise) through June 30, 2020.

Ours Is June 27 through July 4th. But I think that if the situation warrants, they would extend it.

Thanks so much for the update. Our PIF is end of April. Will see where things stand then but would be great to have another month. Thanks again!

 

[lovetotravel]

Just got this from the Laos Embassy. I wonder how this affects the ABD SE Asia trips? Does this mean US travelers have to quarantine?
——-
Health Alert – U.S. Embassy Vientiane, Laos (March 6, 2020)

Location: Laos

Event: There is an ongoing outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) first identified in Wuhan, China. The global public health threat posed by COVID-19 is high, with more than 80,000 reported cases worldwide.

The government of Laos has implemented enhanced screening and quarantine measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. At present, these restrictions apply to travelers entering Laos from countries with confirmed cases of COVID-19, but travelers should be prepared for travel restrictions to change with little or no advance notice. According to the enhanced measures:

• Travelers coming from a country with confirmed cases of COVID-19 who do not have fever or other symptoms related to COVID-19 will be asked to self-quarantine and monitor for COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days.
• Travelers coming from a country with confirmed cases of COVID-19 who have fever and/or other symptoms of COVID-19 will be sent to a hospital for monitoring and COVID-19 testing.

 

[sayhello]

Just got this from the Laos Embassy. I wonder how this affects the ABD SE Asia trips? Does this mean US travelers have to quarantine?
——-
Health Alert – U.S. Embassy Vientiane, Laos (March 6, 2020)

Location: Laos

Event: There is an ongoing outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) first identified in Wuhan, China. The global public health threat posed by COVID-19 is high, with more than 80,000 reported cases worldwide.

The government of Laos has implemented enhanced screening and quarantine measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. At present, these restrictions apply to travelers entering Laos from countries with confirmed cases of COVID-19, but travelers should be prepared for travel restrictions to change with little or no advance notice. According to the enhanced measures:

• Travelers coming from a country with confirmed cases of COVID-19 who do not have fever or other symptoms related to COVID-19 will be asked to self-quarantine and monitor for COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days.
• Travelers coming from a country with confirmed cases of COVID-19 who have fever and/or other symptoms of COVID-19 will be sent to a hospital for monitoring and COVID-19 testing.

I don't see how it could not affect the ABD SE Asia trips!

Sayhello

 

[SirDuff]

I’m not the OP and I don’t know if it’s the same country, but my brother is in Israel and they have raised the level and require quarantines returning from France, Germany, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland as of today (his wife is in Switzerland and we were scheduled to go in a few weeks so that has thrown a wrench into things).

I'm at the airport in Switzerland and the El Al flight to Tel Aviv is departing shortly (well, a couple of hours) and check-in appears to be progressing as normal (no one in masks that I can see). Clearly, everyone on the flight has been to Switzerland - from this flight alone that is going to be at least 100 to quarantine. Seems weird that they've not cancelled all direct flights from the countries needing quarantines.

I did notice that there's a flight to Milan on the board that is cancelled.

 

[Spork24]

Hey guys, I’m coming to you guys from my CDC provided 14 days of “self monitoring”.

I am not trying to fear monger as there is plenty of that going on. just wanted to share a piece of my story and my perspective.

I just returned from a trip to South Korea and Cambodia.

When we left, South Korea had relatively few cases. When we landed in South Korea the cases had doubled overnight and continued to rise rapidly. We decided to cut our stay in South Korea short and head to Cambodia a day early.

We were only in the Seoul area and when we were there the Outbreak was pretty much entirely in the south far from where we were.

Even though our risk of exposure is extremely low, the stigma that comes with traveling to a country with an outbreak is real.
we are following the cdc guidelines and going to stay home from 14 days from leaving Korea.

Many of our travel companions have been asked to start their 14 days working from home (or some just off work) from the day they landed in the states despite Cambodia only having 1 case that has already recovered.

Some people have asked me if I really think 14 days is enough. And I’m like That’s what the CDC says.

It is really all anyone wants to talk to me about.

And then the whole “I look forward to seeing you again in three to four weeks jokes” which everybody seems to think is really clever.


Long story short: there is no way I would be making any long term travel plans in the next month or two until we see where this thing goes. (Unless they are fully refundable of course)

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Just as an FYI - Jetblue has extended their no-fee change/cancellation policy into early September for anyone thinking of booking travel right now. I may take advantage of this for my SoCal/DL summer ABD:

"We also want to ensure you can book new travel with confidence. As such, we're extending our temporary policy of no change or cancellation fees. This applies to bookings made 3/6-3/31 for travel through 9/8/20 across all fares (Blue, Blue Basic, Blue Plus, Blue Extra and Mint) and all JetBlue destinations. If you need to cancel your travel plans, we'll credit the full amount as a JetBlue travel credit that's valid for one year. Fare differences may apply for changes. Please visit our blog for more info."

 

[Grifdog22]

I think this virus is going to demonstrate and differentiate quality from crass in companies and people worldwide and we as consumers should vote with our wallet. This is in all types of travel and activities.

ABD has cancelled a few trips so far and appears to have bent over backwards to assist on those trips that are cancelled. Some airlines are doing the same. Today Air France announced either a 1 year voucher or "Air France authorizes re-booking at no extra cost throughout its network for flights booked on and before 31 March 2020." Delta appears to be doing some remarkable accommodations.

Then you have the giant travel insurance companies like Berkshire Hathaway. We have, according to them, "the most comprehensive travel policy you can purchase." We excluded the cancel for any reason option as we would only cancel for a damn good reason. For "the most comprehensive policy you can buy" they report these types of situations will not be covered, even if your tour operator cancels the trip. My two ABD trips are not cancelled, and I hope they won't be. However, the "piece of mind" offered by these large companies is only taking a piece of my rear-end. My ratings are now a big zero and I encourage everyone to share the good and bad of company performance now and in the future.

I've been very surprised as I made polite inquires about the "what if" and most vendors and companies (except so far the Marriott in France) have said that if the virus expands and we are not able to make the trips due to cancellations by tour operators, etc. they will refund the money. (If the trip does cancel and Marriott retains this position, I'll keep you posted, but for now, I've already moved a conference next spring on which I am on the planning board to the Omni and made clear to the local manager as to why.)

I see a difference between the programs that are letting you cancel without penalty out of worry vs those who are letting you get a refund if the cancellation is out of your control. Businesses will already struggle as the virus gets larger and the impact continues to ripple worldwide. Many businesses are willing to work with consumers who have no choice in no longer taking the trips - government quarantine, trip operator cancel, etc., It is refreshing but not required that they cut the customer a break, and these companies are investing in long term goodwill. I am one of those customers that never forgets a good deed and never lets a bad deed go unpunished.

However, those travelers that have changed their mind out of worry in my view should not get taken care of in the same way. They had the choice, as did we, to purchase cancel for any reason coverage. They elected not to do that, and now are mad that they can't cancel for any reason and get the benefit they refused to pay for. The option was always available to make as a consumer. Do not slam the business for your refusal to pay for an option that was always available.

In my opinion, which appears to drastically differ from many of the posters here, we should not expect a business to eat a large loss because you changed your mind. On the other hand, posters like Spork above, my heart goes out to because they have done everything right and are still in quarantine.

We can't hide from this. Stopping at the gas station you may be two feet away from an infected person also pumping on the other side of the pump. There is going to be exposure as long and wherever we have contacts with others. Here in the US we had plenty of advance notice this was coming. Unless there is some hidden element, it appears we did little to prepare. That's on us and our leadership, which we elected. China took some extraordinary measures when they realized what was happening. Our citizens will still go to a Dartmouth private party while apparently infected, because we believe ourselves too good, too independent, and apparently above such things. Thank you Spork for doing the right thing. I fear you are in the minority.

I will continue to look forward to my trips and if they go, enjoy them immensely. If they do not go, I will look to reschedule. Life happens.