Originally Posted by
Yahtzee
Posting to provide some data on a booking made through American Express - and not directly through Emirates. Scheduled to travel JNB-DXB-BOS on 9 May. Called into Amex this morning to cancel in light of the updated guidance. The agent could not do it online so called Emirates. He was told that a refund was not possible because the flights were still scheduled. He volunteered to call again and push; of course, I said yes. On the second call, he confirmed that a refund (less nonrefundable taxes ???) would be granted. We proceeded to cancel. Total time on the phone was 29 minutes. Within 10 minutes of the end of the call, booking disappeared from Emirates site. He said refund would be seen from Amex in 1-2 billing cycles - which seems long but I guess not surprising. Very good agent. Hopefully, everything goes through as promised.
I think that the moral of this story is to make a booking directly with the airline and the entire fare will be refunded....under the current circumstances.
When I completed my refund application online, under the reason for cancellation I typed : "INVOL due to the current situation in The Middle East."
To be honest I was half expecting £200 to be retained by EK, because there was a cancellation fee of £200 in the fare's T's & C's.
Imagine my surprise when the whole lot was refunded.