Good afternoon everyone. Yesterday, after hearing about the Europe travel ban, we decided to cancel our trip to Ireland. It’s disappointing but life is unpredictable right now. Thankfully, most of the trip was booked with miles and points, so cancelling was easy. I was able to cancel my Hyatt award stay and all 5 Radisson Blu award stays since I was outside the cancellation period and the hotel points were immediately redeposited to my accounts. I cancelled my rental car reservation booked through Priceline. I had purchased a few activities through Expedia and was able to cancel those as well. I should receive the credit card refund in a few days.
Lastly, I needed to cancel my round trip SFO-DUB Aer Lingus award ticket booked with British Airways Avios. Online, it shows a $55 cancellation fee per passenger. I called BA and asked if they could waive the cancellation fee but was told that the flight is still operating as scheduled and that if the phone agent cancelled the reservation, there would be an additional $25 fee. I decided to cancel the award ticket online and the BA Avios were immediately redeposited to my BA account. The cash refund should arrive in the next 1-2 weeks.
Quick tip: call the international customer service numbers if you need to speak to an agent. Most of the time the reps speak very good English and the wait times are much shorter. I waited 40+ mins to call the US customer service number for BA (before the call dropped). I dialed the Mexico customer service number for BA (using Skype) and waited ~10 mins to speak to a rep.
As a backup Spring Break plan, I am looking at flights to Hawaii and lots of flights from the Bay Area to the Hawaiian islands are around $99 – $150 each way.
Good luck to everyone out there with your travel plans in the next few weeks.
Hey Grant. Bummer about having to cancel and I was looking forward to hearing about some of your Radisson Blu stays in Ireland but this is the right move. I’m not worried about getting the virus but more so worried about getting stuck somewhere.
I was supposed to go to Belgrade, Serbia for work next month but my company saw the news last night and cancelled the trip. I used some Avianca Miles to redeem a business class ticket on Austrian Airlines from LAX to Serbia via Vienna and was bummed that they said it was a $200 redeposit fee.
They did however allow me to keep my ticket open for 1 year. I didn’t know my dates but I’m sure I’ll be back within a year so I selected that option. I hope I don’t have issues when I really need to fly. I spent 1.5 hours on hold with Avianca getting bounced around. It sounds hectic.
She said they might release an update in the next few days if the Corona Virus has spread to the affected country where I was traveling to.
Stay safe and safe travels.
Hi Mike, I’m sorry your trip got interrupted too. $200 redeposit fee seems high fro Avianca, I thought it would be cheaper, around $50 or so. Hopefully you can find another use for your trip. Safe travels to you too :)
We had a trip planned for Egypt and India, cancelled the same, cost me about 1k total, even with miles and points. AA stinks, in that they charged me $150 per person to cancel EACH WAY! Had Qsuites there and Ethiad Apartment on the way home.
Also, all local India flights were just wasted money, how is one to call India to cancel?
Good call on the cancel and safe travels to all! Lets hope we can take our trips in the Summer and early Fall! I have Aer Lingus Buisness class in July! Hawaii w/ Turkish miles in June.
Yikes, those $150 cancellation fees really add up. I think airlines are making more money on cancellation fees than on revenue flights ;)
How much were your Indian flights? Do you think you will be back to India in the next 12 months? Maybe they will let you reschedule or give you travel credit to use later on.
I’m hoping summer and fall travel can go uninterrupted. I have trips to BOS/NYC in June and hopping around southern Africa in August.
Jealous that you got Aer Lingus biz class seats. With flights so cheap to Hawaii ($99-$130) from the west coast, I don’t even need to use miles :)
Hey Grant – I’m sorry about your Ireland trip. I knew you & Laura would have a great time, and I was looking forward to hearing about it. It seems like the right decision for sure, though. I also gave confidence that you are very resourceful and will find someplace else fun to go, whether that’s now or a little later when we return to a more normal world (hopefully!). ~Craig
Hi Craig, it’s actually kind of fun to book a last minute trip. I usually book trips 8-10 months in advance, so it’s kind of an adrenaline rush to book a trip that departs in the next 2-3 days. When life gives you lemons, make a refreshing tropical lemon drink :)
I am definitely looking forward to a more normal world, however long that takes to return.
Each person has to make their own decisions on this sort of thing but I would have gone. Ireland isn’t banned like most of the EU is and Hawaii seems just as risky from a health standpoint in my opinion.
I understand, but Laura didn’t want to get stuck in Europe or be quarantined in Europe. It was a tough decision, but that is what we decided.
Grant
I was in Hawaii 3 weeks ago a lot less people then a Jan. trip . It’s the US + hospitals and a short trip for u . Have a Nice (Fr.) time and I need to deal with Singapore AL for my May trip to the EU .
Post More !!!
CHEERs
Thank you CaveDweller. Glad to hear you had a great time on your recent trip to Hawaii. I wish you good luck with your Singapore Airlines award ticket to Europe. I wish I could post more, but what type of content would you like to see more of?
Somebody posted that there are rumors of a travel ban for California so I would wait before making Hawaii plans if I were you
Uh oh, that would be bad for me. Gotta wait and see what happens…
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