Changing Air Travel Plans Due to Coronavirus? It's Not That Easy
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is your Money Briefing for Tuesday, March 10th. I'm Charlie Turner for The Wall Street Journal.
How are travelers affected by changing flight plans due to coronavirus?
Air travelers who need to change their plans because of the coronavirus may run up against restrictions imposed by airlines.
They may not be eligible for a waiver of the change fee, and those can add up. And with airlines, you have to rebook quickly in most cases, and people just aren't ready to do that yet.
We'll talk with The Wall Street Journal's Scott McCartney.
The coronavirus outbreak has caused headaches for millions of U.S.
What restrictions and 'gotchas' do airlines impose on change fee waivers?
air travelers. They're scrambling to change their plans because of cancellations of meetings, events, or just out of fear of catching the virus or getting stuck in a travel disruption. The problem is, as the Wall Street Journal reports, airlines and other travel companies are offering limited flexibility to travelers worried about the coronavirus. Here to explain is The Wall Street Journal's middle seat columnist, Scott McCartney.
How do time limits and rebooking windows complicate refunds or credits?
Scott, what problems have air travelers run into when they try to change or cancel flights due to coronavirus?
Well, there are a couple of gotchas here. One is that they may not be eligible for a waiver of the change fee, and those can add up. $200 typically on a domestic ticket, a lot more than that on an international ticket. Other travel companies, cruise ships, for example, aren't charging change fees or cancellation penalties and just letting people rebook or hold a credit until they're comfortable rebooking. And that's the other gotcha, the time limit. With airlines, you have to rebook quickly in most cases, and people just aren't ready to do that yet, obviously. The airline rules often give you 12 months from the day you bought the ticket. Well, if you bought the ticket six or nine months ago, that ends up being a really pretty short time period.
And in some cases, you have to complete your travel in a relatively short period of time. Alitalia, for example, very hard hit.
When will airlines refund nonrefundable tickets after schedule changes?
by what's going on in Italy, but they're only giving people until June 30th to actually start their rebooked travel. I think there are probably very few people think this may be resolved in Italy by June 30th.
Do airlines ever issue ticket refunds if travelers cancel flights in situations like this?
It's a good question.
What recent policy changes have United, Delta and American announced?
Airlines, if you have a non-refundable ticket, the answer generally is no. Now, if the airline cancels the flight, almost under any circumstances, you can get a refund. So if you were going to China or South Korea or Milan and the airline has canceled the flight, then you can get a full refund. With all of these schedule changes that we're about to see, And I think that disruption is going to be significant as airlines take claims out of service and rework their schedules. There are going to be a lot of schedule changes. And most airlines, if the change is relatively short, but still more than an hour, you can get a full refund. At American, for example, if they change your flight schedule because they're reworking their schedule, if it's more than 61 minutes, you can get a refund that way.
Why can buying through third-party consolidators lead to bigger penalties?
Now, United just put through a change this weekend where they said, hey, their standard used to be two hours. They moved that out to 25 hours. So you got to have a very significant change in the schedule before United's actually going to give you a refund. They'll give you a if you want, they'll give you a credit towards future flights. But they're they're not anxious, obviously, to send you back cash. But there's a late where the United may actually roll back that policy change as early as today.
Have the major carriers like United, Delta and American offered any leeway to travelers?
They have, but it's very recent. And I think this is very interesting. I think there was a lot of frustration out there, a lot of anger among travelers. And Monday night, United, American and Delta started responding.
Is it better to wait for more generous waiver policies or rebook now?
Previously, they had issued waivers from their change fees only for the seriously affected countries. So China, South Korea, Italy, basically.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:11
2
How are travelers affected by changing flight plans due to coronavirus?
0:11–0:42
3
What restrictions and 'gotchas' do airlines impose on change fee waivers?
0:42–1:06
4
How do time limits and rebooking windows complicate refunds or credits?
1:06–2:17
5
When will airlines refund nonrefundable tickets after schedule changes?
2:17–2:39
6
What recent policy changes have United, Delta and American announced?
2:39–3:36
7
Why can buying through third-party consolidators lead to bigger penalties?
3:36–4:26
8
Is it better to wait for more generous waiver policies or rebook now?
4:26–8:42
Speakers
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