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: John & Felicia Przekota
Dear Peter,
My wife and I are long time(46 yrs.) listeners of WGN radio. Back in December my wife, Felicia, planned my 70th birthday(May 9, 2020) celebration for me in Poland traveling from May 7 to May 28 with eight of our good friends.
I am a Polish immigrant. I was 2 yrs. old when my parents came to the USA. I never went back to visit. Maybe because we parented six boys and a foster son and could’t afford it. The boys are all college educated and independent. We have 11 grandkids, #12 due in June.
Now being retired my wife and I thought this is a trip we now can do. Then COVID came along. All our friends are in the at risk group, so needless to say our trip is cancelled.
Lot airlines did officially cancel our flight on April 24, 2020. They were only offering two year vouchers. At this point in our lives and with COVID, we don’t know if or when we would consider international travel. We would like to get refunds, not vouchers. Is there anything you can do to help us? Thanks.
Sincerely,
John & Felicia Przekota
- We have 8 friends that were also traveling with us,
two with the same flight info, and 6 leaving back
to the states earlier. Let me know if anything can
done for them?
PPS. On one of our stops the hotel was through
Booking.com, that said there is no refunds for
cancellations. Is there something that you can
do with those?
Peter Says: John, under U.S. DOT rules, you ARE entitled to a full. refund, especially since LOT canceled first. But at this point, you need to dispute the charges on your credit card statements, and then keep me in the loop so we can follow their response.
EMAIL: Dr. Jim Gallman
Dear Peter-
I’ve copied you with the email below that I sent to Senor Sam Danae López Venegas, the Director General of Aeromexico Airlines, which give you all the specifics of my problems getting a refund for a canceled flight. If he doesn’t respond properly, I’m off to the USDOT website for a complaint, then to my credit card company.
I appreciate all you’re doing for us out here with this crisis. Please keep it up!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jim Gallman
Peter Says: Jim, thanks for keeping me in the loop. And let me know when/if you hear back, but don’t. wait to reach out to the U.S. DOT.
EMAIL: Joe Bukowski
Dear Mr. Greenberg, I enjoy your radio program on WGN radio Chicago. I wonder if I may seek your travel advice. I will try to be brief. On February 11, I booked an Alaska Airlines first class nonstop flight #1213 for May 6 at 5:55 PM from Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to San Francisco (SFO). The nonstop return flight (#1208) with Alaska is booked for June 3 at 11:25 AM. Today, April 28, I received an email from Alaska which stated the following: “We are sorry, the details of your itinerary have changed, but rest assured you are confirmed on the closest available option to your original itinerary”. It goes on to show that I am now scheduled for a different flight number (#1011), still first class, at a significantly earlier time (7:15 AM) from O’Hare on the original day May 6 with a STOPOVER in Seattle from which I will take flight number 2866 operated by Horizon Air at noon to San Francisco. I have never heard of Horizon Air and would be leery to get on whatever plane that might be. At this time the return flight on June 3 remains the same. My first question is did Alaska airlines cancel my flight without using the term “cancel” so as not to enable me to request a full refund to the credit card I used? I do not want to make the trip. I specifically picked Alaska as I didn’t want a stopover plus the change in times will make the trip difficult. I also am high risk for complications of Covid19. In your opinion am I entitled to a full refund? How best should I proceed to get a full refund? Sorry I have not been as brief as I had hoped.
Sincerely,
Joe Bukowski
Peter Says: Joe, you ARE entitled to a full refund, because once an airline changes your itinerary, they have — in the process — canceled your original flight. Under DOT rules, you get a refund back to your original form of payment.
EMAIL: Mark Anthon
Hello Peter,
Two questions for you, let’s start with the easy one. If I were your cousin, uncle, brother or best friend, would you encourage me to fly next week from Madison, WI to Denver or wait? My reason for travelling is to look at several real estate properties, nothing terribly urgent. I’ve never flown Frontier airlines before and currently they’ve got some ridiculously low rates. $78 round trip to Denver. My gut tells me that the flights will be relatively sparsely populated and that both TSA & Frontier will likely have precautions in place, but just wanted to bounce it off you, for good measure. I’m single and will be flying alone. Thanks very much.
Best regards,
Mark Anthon
Peter Says: Mark, I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one on TV. But if you practice the appropriate health protocols in both Madison and Denver (which is starting to open up), I’m reasonably sure you can take the flight safely. But I question whether there will be a lot of “open houses” for real estate properties. Most real estate agents are doing virtual open houses, which you can easily do from the comfort of your own home in Madison.
EMAIL: Linda DenAdel
Hello,
My family of three has plans and reservations for a trip to Europe August 6-20. Specifically, flying from Seattle to Munich, with a short layover at Heathrow. We purchased the plane tickets through our Vise travel rewards program, using points. All hotel and Airbnb reservations were made months ago. We have until July 15 to cancel the Airbnb reservations without monetary penalty. The other hotels and guest houses can be canceled shortly prior to our arrival date. I’m assuming we should wait until just before we are to leave to see if the airline cancels our reservation so that we don’t get hit with either the $250 per ticket change fee or lose all our points. Want to get your take on whether you think travel to Europe till even be possible by early August, and if so, what might that look like? We don’t want to go if there will be heavy restrictions on going to restaurants and other places. We plan to drive and stay in southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Venice. Thanks for your time.
Linda DenAdel
Bellingham, WA
Peter Says: Travel to SOME parts of Europe should return by mid July, but that doesn’t mean quarantine rules will be relaxed once you get there. At this point, considering the fluidity of the situation, your best bet is to wait at least until July 10th before making a decision.
EMAIL: Trudy Jurs
Hello Peter,
We are wanting to travel to Victor, ID to visit family. Prices have not come down.? When would be a good time to get tickets and any suggestions on getting the best deal?
Thank you,
Trudy
Peter Says: Prices to Victor Idaho will probably only go up, as smaller population destinations will see airline schedules and frequencies reduced as airlines begin to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis. And when travel does resume, the good news is that gas prices will stay relatively low, and driving becomes a viable option.
EMAIL: Kathy Prendergastk
Hello!
My husband and I have tickets to fly to Munich on April 30. We received a message that the flight has been cancelled or still not confirmed. I’m confused about the words “still not confirmed”. Does this mean it has been cancelled? I have been following your advice and waiting until United cancels so I can get a refund. But the language has me a little confused.
Always appreciate your honesty and enthusiasm on your radio show!
Thanks!
Kathy
Peter Says: It means it was canceled.
EMAIL: Shirley Hudson
Hi. My client is booked on the following flights:
DFW-FCO June 23, 2020
BA/Iberia/AA
IST-LHR-DFW June 30, 2020
BA
BA has cancelled the first leg only of this itinerary. I have not been able to reach BA by phone.
Question: Is my client due a refund for both legs of this trip?
Thanks for your help.
Shirley Hudson
Peter Says: If the reservations for these flights were on the same PNR, then the answer is yes. Canceling one leg essentially cancels the flight. And you’re entitled to refund.
EMAIL: Leslie Delaney
Peter: My husband and I have the following trip planned on Aer Lingus
5/22/2020 Boston to Edinburgh with a layover in Dublin returning on
6/1/2020 Shannon-Boston. I booked this as an open jaw flight
We have a flight on 5/29/2020 from Edinburgh to Shannon.
Aer Lingus has not cancelled the flight. They are offering an additonal 20% if you take a voucher, which we do not want.
The US State Dept has issued a Level 4 Do not travel alert to the UK. Ireland has a 14 day stay in place requirement upon entry.
Do we have any options, other than hope the flight gets cancelled in order to get our money back?
You have provided excellent information and assistance to all travelers who listen to you and read your emails during this pandemic. Thank you so much. Leslie
Peter Says: My advice remains the same. Wait for the airline to cancel first, to preserve your rights to a full refund. And if May 21st shows up and Aer Lingus still hasn’t canceled then you can talk about a voucher. Keep in mind that the 14 day quarantine may still be in place then even if the flight does operate.
EMAIL: G. Frederick
Peter, loyal listener (even Sun. morning @5am)! Here in Pensacola. Have booked a cross Canada (The Canadian) train trip in mid August, Toronto to Vancouver continuing on Amtrak from Seattle to Omaha. Deluxe sleepers all the way too! We’re excited about it , or at least we were before all this Convid19. Any thoughts? Like you keep saying, should we let the carrier cancel first ……………refundwise?? I realize airlines are top subject matter these days, but never hear you say much about the rails. Hope you can help. GRF
Peter Says: My advice at this point is to wait…by August things might be operating, and if not, you preserve your rights to a refund if the travel provider cancels first, although for trips within Canada, Canadian rules apply and so far the courts there have upheld the rights of the travel provider to issue vouchers.
EMAIL: Clark Zeddies
I purchased an Ikon season pass for the 19-20 ski season (Alterra Company) for myself, plus 4 3-day ski passes for members of my family for spring skiing which, of course, was canceled due to Covid pandemic. No days on any of these passes were used. I emailed them to ask about carrying this over to next year. Their response was that the best the could do was offer a $50 discount on next years pass. This was the email I sent them…
“So I am to understand that, after spending $1400 on passes that were unable to be used due to Covid pandemic, you are offering me a $50 discount on next years passes? Because “our policies…remain intact”? No thank you!
Every airline, cruise line, hotel and rental business in the travel industry that I am aware of has changed their policies for the sake of public relations and just good citizenship. I am a condo owner who rents, and have refunded or given credit for canceled reservations, even though our contracts said I did not have to. But not Alterra?
I would be happy to speak with a supervisor if that would be helpful. If your policies still have to “remain intact”, then consider the social media, and national travel blog backlash that may occur when the skiing public finds out that this is your steadfast policy.”
They contacted me back saying they would forward this to the “appropriate department”. That was several weeks ago. Thoughts on what to do next?
Clark Zeddies
Peter Says; Clark, you are absolutely right. They canceled, you didn’t. You are entitled to a full refund. And if they won’t play nicely, dispute the charge on your credit card with a full explanation in your correspondence outlining all the details and dates.
EMAIL: Emily Deno
Hey Peter,
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond. I purchased a flight from MSP (Minneapolis St. Paul, Minnesota) to SEA (Seattle, Washington) for memorial day weekend. Due to the pandemic I was advised it would be smart to cancel to which I did so. I then realized I did not receive my money back and decided to call SunCounty. They told me the only fees waived during this pandemic would be the cancellation fee and I have a credit with their company. I then asked to just get my seat back is I couldnt get my money back & she told me it would cost me an extra $300 because prices for that flight had gone up. I decided against it because it was ludicrous to spend that type of money. I currently have until January 2021 to use my credit….Is there anything I can do to get my money back? I do not plan to travel with 2020 being a wash.
Thank you for your time,
Emily
Peter Says: Emily, because you canceled first (and didn’t wait for the airline to cancel first) you lost your right to a full refund. As a result, they can still play by the rules and offer you a voucher.
