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Change of plans? (coronavirus)
- Thread starter BryanS
- Start date
Tina
100+ Posts
Really sorry you've had to interrupt your holiday Pauline
A difficult decision but probably the wisest
It is with much disappointment that we have decided to cancel our trip to France. We were due to leave on April 2nd for ten weeks driving around France. We will get some back on our accommodation and car lease and hopefully some taxes from our flights. It is a sad day for travellers, and I feel for accommodation providers and people who rely on travellers for their living. I am praying this scourge can be brought under control as quickly as possible.
Cameron
500+ Posts
Starting at midnight on Friday.
Pauline
Forums Admin
Me too!
Cancel everything!
www.theatlantic.com
www.theatlantic.com
Cancel Everything
Social distancing is the only way to stop the coronavirus. We must start immediately.
The Extraordinary Decisions Facing Italian Doctors
There are now simply too many patients for each one of them to receive adequate care.
There's a lot to sort out for those of us who are looking to cancel air travel reservations; one piece on the matter is here from Forbes:
Master List Of Airline Coronavirus Change And Cancellation Policies (Includes All American, European, Asian, Pacific And Middle Eastern Airlines)
For Americans looking at how they'll get home, look at the European Arrival Restrictions about a third of the way down the page, saying that only listed listed U.S. airports can handle arrivals from COVID-affected areas. They don't include Boston, which we usually aim to use.
Master List Of Airline Coronavirus Change And Cancellation Policies (Includes All American, European, Asian, Pacific And Middle Eastern Airlines)
For Americans looking at how they'll get home, look at the European Arrival Restrictions about a third of the way down the page, saying that only listed listed U.S. airports can handle arrivals from COVID-affected areas. They don't include Boston, which we usually aim to use.
Clive Muir
10+ Posts
Hi All.
The area where I live in Spain (Ronda, Grazalema) is coming close to a lockdown.... All public buildings such as libraries, concert hall, playgrounds are closed already in all towns and villages...From Monday 16th schools are closing in Andalucia....
More info on my Ronda website
The area where I live in Spain (Ronda, Grazalema) is coming close to a lockdown.... All public buildings such as libraries, concert hall, playgrounds are closed already in all towns and villages...From Monday 16th schools are closing in Andalucia....
More info on my Ronda website
Coronavirus (Covid-19) - Ronda Spain - Ronda Today
The town hall of Ronda yesterday closed all public buildings, parks etc and from Monday 16th of March 2020 all schools will be closed in Andalucia
www.rondatoday.com
aap519
100+ Posts
Just found this and it's pretty crazy:
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/co...rd-way-their-insurance-doesn-t-cover-n1155771
Travelers are learning the hard way that their insurance doesn't cover a pandemic
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/co...rd-way-their-insurance-doesn-t-cover-n1155771
Travelers are learning the hard way that their insurance doesn't cover a pandemic
Yes, as I mentioned on Post #28, I am one of those who learned the hard way about the exclusion. When I made my reservations last July and looked at the insurance, even if I had noticed the epidemic/pandemic exclusion I probably just ignored it! Our trip isn't until the end of May, so still holding off cancelling since United's policy for reservations made prior to March 1 doesn't help us. Our best hope for reimbursement should we need to cancel if things haven't calmed down is that United cancels our flights. So, we play the waiting game.
Pauline
Forums Admin
We are back in the UK after cutting short our Israel trip. Ben Gurion Airport (Tel Aviv) was empty. The extra security line that you go in before checkin which is usually very long had one person ahead of us. British Airlines checkin was slow because the flight was full. Several shops and restaurants in the airport were closed. Whole wings of the airport were closed.
We arrived at Heathrow at 8pm and it seemed pretty much as usual. Hand sanitizer stations and people handing out brochures about the virus. No one checking passengers.
A word about refunds for our cancellations:
We left 4 nights early from our Haifa apartment and Koby gave us a credit for those nights to be used in the next 2 years. This was generous of him.
Our 5 nights in Mitzpe Ramon were booked with booking.com with free cancellation. I sent the owner a message about cancelling and he sent a friendly reply.
Our 10 nights in Jerusalem were booked through AirBnB and fully paid ahead. I messaged the owner to cancel and ask about a refund and she said she had to talk to AirBnB about it. I thought I should officially cancel with AirBnB and found that her cancellation policy let you get 50% back if you cancelled a week ahead. Luckily I was in time so we got the refund. The owner did not mention this to me. I’ll remember that when booking again in Jerusalem. I will ask AirBnB for a full refund because of the circumstances.
We returned our car at the airport and Eldan charged us only for the days we had the car. Very nice!
Airport parking at Heathrow states on their booking form that there are no refunds, so we paid for 30 days and used 11.
We had 2 nights in the airport hotel (coming and going) but I was able to change our booking online.
That leaves us with the flights. I had a good price on these flights in premium economy. BA said no change fee for flights in March, but we were flying back April 1. I rebooked online and the only option to fly back Friday was to pay the change fee of £150 and upgrade to First. We could have booked a few days later and gone in premium economy but we wanted to get home. A big storm came into israel last night with high winds and flooding. There was going to be a lot of rain on Friday and Saturday so we really wanted to leave on Friday. First was incredible. (We’ve managed to fly this way a few times.) It was a small cabin of 4 rows. Lots of space between people on a full flight. The 5 hour flight time felt like 30 minutes.
We made a mistake doing this trip but I enjoyed the 9 nights we had. If we don’t catch coronavirus from our time in the airport (time will tell) then it won’t have been a disaster.
It would not have been good to stay longer in Israel. In Haifa our favorite vegan restaurant was closed when it normally would be open. They are limiting the hours on museums. We spoke to a young American staying in Nazareth and he said people came up to him on the street and screamed corona at him. He said locals told him tourists had to stay in their hotels (not true).
Plus March is too cold and wet. Next year we go in April and just deal with Passover/Easter.
We arrived at Heathrow at 8pm and it seemed pretty much as usual. Hand sanitizer stations and people handing out brochures about the virus. No one checking passengers.
A word about refunds for our cancellations:
We left 4 nights early from our Haifa apartment and Koby gave us a credit for those nights to be used in the next 2 years. This was generous of him.
Our 5 nights in Mitzpe Ramon were booked with booking.com with free cancellation. I sent the owner a message about cancelling and he sent a friendly reply.
Our 10 nights in Jerusalem were booked through AirBnB and fully paid ahead. I messaged the owner to cancel and ask about a refund and she said she had to talk to AirBnB about it. I thought I should officially cancel with AirBnB and found that her cancellation policy let you get 50% back if you cancelled a week ahead. Luckily I was in time so we got the refund. The owner did not mention this to me. I’ll remember that when booking again in Jerusalem. I will ask AirBnB for a full refund because of the circumstances.
We returned our car at the airport and Eldan charged us only for the days we had the car. Very nice!
Airport parking at Heathrow states on their booking form that there are no refunds, so we paid for 30 days and used 11.
We had 2 nights in the airport hotel (coming and going) but I was able to change our booking online.
That leaves us with the flights. I had a good price on these flights in premium economy. BA said no change fee for flights in March, but we were flying back April 1. I rebooked online and the only option to fly back Friday was to pay the change fee of £150 and upgrade to First. We could have booked a few days later and gone in premium economy but we wanted to get home. A big storm came into israel last night with high winds and flooding. There was going to be a lot of rain on Friday and Saturday so we really wanted to leave on Friday. First was incredible. (We’ve managed to fly this way a few times.) It was a small cabin of 4 rows. Lots of space between people on a full flight. The 5 hour flight time felt like 30 minutes.
We made a mistake doing this trip but I enjoyed the 9 nights we had. If we don’t catch coronavirus from our time in the airport (time will tell) then it won’t have been a disaster.
It would not have been good to stay longer in Israel. In Haifa our favorite vegan restaurant was closed when it normally would be open. They are limiting the hours on museums. We spoke to a young American staying in Nazareth and he said people came up to him on the street and screamed corona at him. He said locals told him tourists had to stay in their hotels (not true).
Plus March is too cold and wet. Next year we go in April and just deal with Passover/Easter.