Thanks to all of you who have written me with your questions and problems regarding the coronavirus pandemic and your travels. If you have a question and don’t see it answered in one of my rounds, e-mail me at peter@petergreenberg.com.
EMAIL: Dakota Pesold
Hi I heard you on the radio , I’m trying to get ahold of Expedia I live in Wisconsin I’m on lock down until may 24th
I have a reservation in may u need a credit or refund can you help me I am on hold for hours then disconnected the hotel said I need to go thru Expedia.
Thanks,
Dakota Pesold
Peter Says: Please. remember that if YOU cancel before the airline cancels your rights to a full refund are not preserved. You have some time here. Don’t jump the gun.
EMAIL: Dan Brown
Good morning Peter,
Thank you for answering my previous question. There is more information or a new twist to the story. The company , NPH USA, with whom the trip was set up with cancelled our trip back on 3-12-20 on the advice from the Illinois State Board of Education stating: (the board) “they strongly urge all Illinois schools to re-evaluate any planned or anticipated travel. I did not cancel the trip, NPH USA cancelled on me.
NPH USA states it is technically contracted with the parents for this trip and not the school. They are willing to refund the lodging portion, but the United airline ticket purchased on behave of our daughter by the company is only getting a voucher from United. I reached out to NPH USA several ways ( email twice, Text, and a personal contact with the representative ) and not received any airline ticket confirmation number to even begin to state my case with United. We don’t travel that often and to use the so called travel voucher by next February would be nearly impossible. But wait a minute, I did not cancel the trip- NPH USA cancelled it!! My contract is technically with NPH. I still have not received any information from the company.
I looked at the information the company gave us for the trip and in the break down for the cost of the trip it included TRAVELER’S INSURANCE. I do not know if that covers pandemics or the company cancelling the trip on me, otherwise why purchase traveler’s insurance? I did pay for the trip by credit card and finally disputed the charges. Please advise me if disputing these credit card charges are enough, since I didn’t receive the services I paid for and the company has not reached out any further concerning this matter. Thank you for taking the time to read these stories people have.
Be Well,
Dan Brown
Peter Says: Dan, the overriding question here is did NPH purchase the airline ticket as well. If they did, then NPH owes you the full refund, and it should become THEIR argument with United over the voucher.
EMAIL: Michael Veselica
Hello Peter,
Thank you for your blogs. We’ve been listening to them since we booked a Dalmation Coast Cruise for June 2020. I’ve attached emails from Wilderness Travel who we booked the trip with. In this case they just sell the cruise for Variety Cruises, a Greek company. I paid the $2582 deposit to Wilderness Travel. Variety cancelled the cruise last week and gave us credit toward a future cruise, which would have been fine except that now Variety has decided not to offer the Dalmation Coast cruise and instead is offering us a future booking on an 8 day cruise from Athens to Croatia. We are not interested in the new cruise since we had also booked b&bs in Croatia and Slovenia which we planned to travel to by car. Since Variety cancelled the cruise and no longer offers the cruise I feel that I deserve a full refund. We have also booked the airfare through Air Canada. I’m hoping that they will cancel and refund the money although, they are offering a 2 year voucher with no fees or additional charges.
This was a great trip that we did a lot of planning for it. We have bookings at Airbnbs in both countries, Airbnb’s current policy is to grant full refunds including service fees for bookings made after March 14 that are booked up to May 31st 2020. They also generously offer to pay the Host a portion of the lost income.
I think I will wait for Air Canada to cancel the flight and Airbnb to extend their policy into July. But, since we don’t want to take the trip that Variety offers, and we have done 8 trips prior with WT (last year a private journey of 8 customers to Namibia) and I currently have the same 8 customers booked for Botswana in May 2021, I may have some leverage with WT.
What do you think?
Michael Veselica
Peter Says: Please send me all the details as well as who you spoke with at Variety.
EMAIL: Ellen M. Scarr
Hi Peter,
Thank you for all you do for the traveling public.
I have two (what I hope are) quick questions:
- We have business class tickets SFO-MAD (thru FRA) on May 6. On the SFO website, it says Lufthansa flights have been “suspended” until May 17 (including SFO to FRA). Is that language being used so the airline is able to avoid giving you a full (cash) refund on your ticket?
- Thanks to your posts, I know we need to wait for Lufthansa to cancel our flight. We are 20 days out and I have not received any emails from Lufthansa (although the SFO website says the flights are suspended, the Lufthansa website does not. I could theoretically book my same flight on the same day according to the website). Lufthansa asks you not to call until you are 72 hours from flying. Do you have any idea how long Lufthansa waits before notifying you of a cancelled flight?
Thank you for any info or advice. Be safe!
Ellen Scarr
Peter Says: Ellen, a “suspended” flight is a cancelled flight. They owe you a full refund.
EMAIL: Carolyn J. Feimster, CRX, CMD
Hello Peter,
I know it has been more than a week and I apologize for my delay in thanking you so very much for your insightful webinar with IITA. I really appreciate your comments.
I represent a collection of shopping destinations in the United States under the brand of SHOP*DINE*PLAY*USA. Your comments were exceedingly helpful for me to pass on to our shopping centers relative to what the new restaurant will look like. Over the years, as you know, many shopping centers have turned more to the culinary experience than the retail with what is happening with retail.
My question is if you have a similar list of considerations for both retail stores and shopping centers of what they will need to do to make the public feel safe. Certainly the cleanliness, safety, somehow implementing the social distancing, etc. will be important. Would love to hear your thoughts for both the brick and mortar stores as well as the centers themselves.
Thanks so very much,
Carolyn
Carolyn J. Feimster, CRX, CMD
President
Peter Says: Carolyn, please check our website for my next upcoming video reports, which will deal with this.
EMAIL: Pam Phillips
Peter, we are both compromised seniors. We cancelled a two week (14th– 28th) vacation in New Mexico due to the Corona virus. No problem with any refunds except adobestarproperties.com and Alaska Air. Adobestar will only give us credit to use this year, or up until April of next year if we give them a doctor’s note saying we should not travel. We paid them $1029.20 for 6 days lodging in Santa Fe beginning the 14th. Additionally, the NM governor states that any travelers coming to NM from outside the state must self-isolate for 2 weeks. We were able to cancel our flight to NM as we used miles, not cash. As of now I have not been able to cancel the flight home on the 28th, only get a voucher, as we paid for this flight Alaska has changed the flight times on one of the planes we were scheduled to take, but it is still on the same day our original flight was booked. Can we demand a refund? Any suggestions for either of these refund problems?
Peter Says: The answer on your flight is…yes, you can get a refund. as for the property itself, if they won’t give you a refund, my suggestion is to dispute their charge on your credit card statement. under federal credit law, you contracted for a service you did not receive.
EMAIL: Chris Costello
Hello Peter.
I was wondering how this covid -19 is affecting train travel here in the US and would train travel improve due to the fact that you can have your own room/bunk? I feel that this would be perfect for distancing.
Respectfully Chris
From Wenatchee WA
Peter Says: Amtrak has severely curtailed service, and some service may not return soon. Amtrak is concentrating for the moment on its northeast corridor first.
EMAIL: Michele Jenkins
Dear Peter,
December 2019 my husband and I were supposed to fly Frontier from our home in AZ to visit family in Ohio for the holidays with our 2 dogs for 3 1/2 weeks. One dog per passenger was allowed. We filled out and uploaded all of the required forms 3 weeks in advance and I called a week before to verify they received all of the required forms and had email documentation that the forms were approved. Then within 24 hours I tried to check us in and it would not allow me to do so because it had only one registered dog in the portal. Long story short, the system had a glitch and was unable to accommodate both dogs in the portal. They do not have a way from the back offices to communicate with the check-in agents they told us but they would not refund the money. They gave us 4 credits (2 for the price of the tickets, 2 for the problems this caused) that expired in 3 months, which we planned to use for a June 2020 vacation.
Fast forward to 3 months later. We tried to book multiple flights and dates for over a week and but the computer would not accept our credits, it kept giving us an error code. We kept trying to call the airlines but because this all happened during the COVID19 cancellations, we could not get through by phone for customer service. We’ve emailed twice requesting a refund and explaining the situation. Now the credits have expired and we just want our money back since it was the airlines’ fault in the first place. We are out over $1000 in airfare.
Should we file a civil suit? We can’t even get a reply back, it has been 4 weeks.
Kind regards,
Michele Jenkins
Peter Says: Filing a small claims court action is your course of last resort. First, I would dispute the charge on your credit card statement. If that doesn’t resolve it, let me know.
EMAIL: Judy Hottovy
Hi Peter,
I had a trip planned with Grand Circle Travel in May. It was a river cruise from Budapest to Bucharest. They are calling it a postponed instead of cancelled and are saying that they will be rescheduled in 2021. They are saying that they are not refunding cash, but are offering vouchers and some incentives instead. I would really like to have my money back instead of rebooking it in the future. I am 71 and retired and really am not interested in any more European travel with all the problems with the coronavirus.
Do I have any recourse in order to receive a refund since it is not officially cancelled? They have not announced any future dates yet.
Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.
Judy Hottovy
Peter Says: Judy, the refund rule only applies to airlines flying in the U.S. and foreign airlines flying to the U.S, not river cruises. However, Grand Circle is a U.S. based company and should do the right thing and offer you a refund. If they continue to refuse to do that, you have two choices remaining. Disputing the charge on your credit card statement, and if that fails, then file a small claims court action against them.
EMAILS: Marc Gellman
Dear Peter,
I am a fan and listen regularly to your reports. You often request we write you about any issues we are having with the airlines. I am an American Advantage lifetime Platinum member, that is as long as the do not do away with lifetime status. My wife and I live in Miami Beach and have four trips reserved on the airline for travel over the next few months. Of the four trips one was to San Francisco, to occur 2 weeks ago, that we canceled, and as expected the airlines response was, “Your trip is non-refundable, but don’t worry. The unused value of your ticket is safe, and you’ll be able to use it toward future travel.”
Today AA notified me about flight change on a trip we have to go to New Jersey for my class reunion in May. Most likely the event will be canceled, but we have been holding out on canceling the flight until the date gets closer or the airline cancels the flights. We had reserved direct flights roundtrip, MIA-EWR. Today’s notification was to inform us that we are now to fly MIA>CLT>EWR and the same reverse for our way home.
My question to you is do we cancel now and request a refund, not a voucher, because we reserved a direct flight and they changed to a flight with a stop that we do not want to take, or do we hold off.
We still have: (1) flights to attend a wedding in Aruba in June that has been canceled (the wedding, not the flight) and (2) flights to Boston for a Cape Cod vacation in July. We have not yet canceled either of these.
Our anniversary is in October and we are hoping to go either to Greece or St. Lucia but are only doing our research at the moment.
Last year we spent 3 weeks in Italy May-June and 2 weeks in the Valleys of the French Alps, both were bicycling trips. Glad we did those last year.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Stay safe and Make America Healthy Again,
Marc
Peter Says: Marc, if the airline changes/cancels your flight, then under U.S. Department of Transportation rules you are entitled to a refund. but remember, you have to have the airline cancel first. If you cancel first (as you already experienced) then you don’t preserve your rights.
EMAIL:
Hi Peter. I wanted to run this past you. Our local dance team signed up to perform in the Walt Disney World Parade in Orlando, Florida in June. We all prepaid for our room, hopper passes, and costumes for the parade, etc. We are trying to cancel for obvious reasons and here is the response we are getting from the company “Dance the World” below. In a nutshell they will refund our money in 5-6 months, and not refund the hopper passes ($500 each), but will let us use them at their discretion in December or next June/July. I am curious as to your thoughts on this. This affects like 10 families. We have all paid up to $5k for this vacation. Airfare was separate. I am curious as to your opinion.
Peter Says: The bottom line here is that Disney closed its facilities, and there is no middle ground here. You are entitled to a full refund on everything you paid. However, if you decide to do the trip in 2021, Disney should absolutely honor the rate you paid for 2020. Please let me know what happens.
EMAIL: Lawrence Slomin
I just received a notice from Allegiant Air that my round trip flight from SWF to MYR May 23, 2020-May 30, 2020 has been cancelled.
They offered me the following three options:
- You may change your flight to any other scheduled Allegiant flight(s) at no additional cost.
- You may cancel your reservation and receive a full credit in the form of an Allegiant voucher for future travel.
- You may contact our customer care center at 702-473-2601 for other options.
I want a full refund in the form of a credit back to the credit card I used to purchase the flights.
However, the telephone number they gave me is incorrect?
Do you have a different number?
Peter Says: Under current U.S. DOT rules, you are entitled to a full refund. If they won’t answer your calls, write them with all the details, copy the U.S. DOT office of consumer affairs, and also copy me.
EMAIL: Len Wald
Hi Peter. We have a rental scheduled on Block Island RI the first 2 weeks of July. They have now reported their first case and the island is sheltered with only essential services and non full time residents are in 14 day quarantine or have been requested to leave the island. House is rented through a Block Island Realty firm. What is their obligation to the renters in the current situation?
Thanks,
LW
Peter Says: July is more than two months away. Do you want to cancel now? It remains a fluid situation, but time is on your side to see if the 14 day quarantine rule will go away and the island reopened. My advice is to wait a few weeks before deciding, and then we can discuss your options.
EMAIL: Lynn Sheffield
Good morning Peter,
We are a group of 7 ladies who are booked for a tour of Paris during the last 2 weeks of September 2020. We are leaving out of Lafayette, LA to Atlanta to Paris and the same returning. Several of the ladies have health issues and wish to cancel the tour. The tour director is graciously willing to reimburse all of our money for the trip. We would like to reschedule for next year but do have an important question…..
do we cancel our flights now or do we wait it out to see if there is a time change in our flight of at least 2 hours so that we can either reschedule our trip for next year or cancel and get an ecredit?
Thank you for any advice that you could give us.
Sincerely,
Lynn Sheffield
Peter Says: Lynn, if you cancel your flights you lose your full refund rights. And at this point, it’s way too early to know if the airline will cancel a flight in September. My suggestion is to wait and make your decision towards the end of July or the first two weeks of August.
EMAIL: Ruchita Nadkarni
I had booked tickets to travel tomorrow through travelopod. Around the 29th of March I finally asked them to release our seats and since the option then was a travel.voucher for full amount or cancel with loosing $300 per ticket, we opted to get a voucher for travel in next 12 months.
I saw your article where DoT has mandated a full refund. I called travelopod and now they are saying since a voucher is being issued they cannot give us a full refund. Is that true?
Who can I contact to complain about this and state my case?
Thanks
Ruchita Nadkarni
Peter Says: The fact that YOU canceled first, and the airline didn’t cancel first diminishes your rights under the DOT rule. My guess is that you are stuck with the voucher.
EMAIL: Debbie Northrup
I received a email from NCL with them saying to rebook with extras so I did not realizing because they didn’t inform you in email you could get your full refund for 4/11 sailing. So since I rebooked can I still cancel and get full refund now?
Peter Says: Debbie you present an interesting situation in trying to prove the cruise line never disclosed to you that getting a full refund was an option. Do you have any paper trail where they either did, or didn’t offer you that option?
EMAIL: Alan Wax
Peter,
I listen to you all of the time, and I do appreciate all of the expert guidance you provide to the travelers.
I had a flight in early May from O’Hare to Montreal and then on to Halifax.
I received an e-mail saying that the internal flights within Canada could not take place as planned due to a government travel advisory. They offered a voucher for travel for two years. When I called Air Canada and spoke of the situation, they mentioned that had I called prior to 16 March, I could have gotten a refund but since it was after that, I was unable to do so.
Am I able to receive a travel refund for this? If so, how do I go about doing so?
Thank you for your assistance, advice, and help.
Alan Wax
PS: If it helps, I am a veteran contributor to several Conde Nast publications.
Peter Says: Air Canada successfully lobbied the Canadian department of transportation to allow them to avoid issuing refunds, and that case is now being argued in court. So, until there’s a resolution, you will probably have to wait.
EMAIL: Irina Yuzhakova
Hello Peter,
Thank you for a very informative presentation from March 31.
I would like to share with you the issue I have been dealing with the last couple of days and ask for your expert advise.
My client was booked to fly Amman to SFO via Istanbul on Turkish airways on April 12. At the time of purchase the ticket was refundable any time before the departure for $80 fee.
The flight was cancelled by the airline.
Turkish airlines issued a waiver that offers voucher to be redeemed for a flight to take part in the same IATA (Middle East to the US) before February 28, 2021. This does not work for my client, she is planning the same trip next year but at the end of March beginning April to coincide with the school break (she is a teacher)
Turkish airlines allows for passengers to apply for a refund on their website
However, refunds on the website are only allowed if people bought tickets directly through Turkish airlines. There is a question on the site if the ticket was booked through a travel agency, then telling to go to that travel agency.
Travel agency air department is not allowed to process refunds, only the waiver. And the waiver allows re booking only through February 28.
Thank you for your support.
P.S. I love to read and was interesting to see your books, give me ideas for future reads
Best regards
Irina
Peter Says: Irina, any International airline that flies to the U.S. is subject to the U.S. DOT rules, which provides for a full refund on flights cancelled by the airline. (There’s even a European Union rule on this as well). So press Turkish Airlines again.
EMAIL: Marcia Tipton
Peter,
I just received the email below from United. My travel to SEA is not until June 7, 2020. Would you still suggest waiting until the time is closer just in case United cancels our flight or would you consider taking the credit & cancel by 4/30 to receive the credit for the 24 month period?
United Email:
We know it’s difficult to plan ahead right now, so we’re offering you even more flexibility to change or cancel your future travel. Now you can change any flight scheduled between June 1 and December 31, 2020, to a date up to 12 months from your original ticket issue date, or cancel your ticket and retain the credit for future use up to 24 months after your original ticket issue date, both without a change fee. This fee waiver is available for a limited time, through April 30, 2020.
Thank you,
Marcia Tipton
Peter Says: Marcia, time is on your side. Wait. My guess is united will extend the fee waiver as well.
