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AZ change waiver policy due to Coronavirus outbreak

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AZ change waiver policy due to Coronavirus outbreak

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Old Mar 9, 2020, 6:05 am
  #1  
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AZ change waiver policy due to Coronavirus outbreak

Having been meant to fly to Rome on AZ for the rugby on Friday I've been wondering if Alitalia were going to be in some trouble from this - they are certainly high on my list of expected casualties. My friends are rearranging the trip for September - I've no confidence in booking AZ that far out, I'm sad to say.

Thus far seems no waivers for Rome, so there doesn't seem to be any hope of changing the flight.
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Old Mar 9, 2020, 8:11 am
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Originally Posted by etiene
Thus far seems no waivers for Rome, so there doesn't seem to be any hope of changing the flight.
There is a good chance your flight(s) could still be cancelled. If they are, use that to obtain a refund (and without seeking compensation on top).

If you can, by next weekend, change your flights to a new date then do so; on KLM currently you could change the date til end of May, so you may not be able to directly parlay the ticket into an Autumn trip as your friends appear to have done on another airline (And, indeed, AZ may not be around when whatever date you select rolls around). However, keeping the ticket alive for as long as possible should be your goal here.

EDIT: the AZ website says you can change any AZ ticket to any AZ Italian destination without penalty to a new departure date up to June 30
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Old Mar 9, 2020, 8:49 am
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Originally Posted by irishguy28
There is a good chance your flight(s) could still be cancelled. If they are, use that to obtain a refund (and without seeking compensation on top).

If you can, by next weekend, change your flights to a new date then do so; on KLM currently you could change the date til end of May, so you may not be able to directly parlay the ticket into an Autumn trip as your friends appear to have done on another airline (And, indeed, AZ may not be around when whatever date you select rolls around). However, keeping the ticket alive for as long as possible should be your goal here.

EDIT: the AZ website says you can change any AZ ticket to any AZ Italian destination without penalty to a new departure date up to June 30
Indeed - that's a change since I looked earlier. Confusingly they seem to have different notices on different versions of the site - the Dutch one appears to be useless but I found this on the UK one:

Travelers with tickets for any destination in Italy, who have purchased Alitalia tickets on international marketswithin March 5, 2020, with travel dates between February 23 and April 3, 2020, are entitled to:
Now I've no idea what "within" is meant to mean there - if anyone can find better on a different version please let me know. I'll certainly change the flight to some later point.
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Old Mar 9, 2020, 8:54 am
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Originally Posted by etiene
Now I've no idea what "within" is meant to mean there
It means "before".

This is a frequent mistranslation I see on the Alitalia website, and elsewhere.
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Old Mar 9, 2020, 8:56 am
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Originally Posted by etiene
Now I've no idea what "within" is meant to mean there - if anyone can find better on a different version please let me know. I'll certainly change the flight to some later point.
The French version says before March 5 ("avant le 5 mars 2020") so that must be what they mean.
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Old Mar 9, 2020, 9:32 am
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Originally Posted by irishguy28
It means "before".

This is a frequent mistranslation I see on the Alitalia website, and elsewhere.
Originally Posted by NickB
The French version says before March 5 ("avant le 5 mars 2020") so that must be what they mean.
I was hoping that was what they meant - thanks both for the confirmation.
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Old Mar 9, 2020, 1:21 pm
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Anyone try changing to a flight that does not have saver business availability? Has AZ been able to rebook into any available J class without requiring hundreds of thousands of extra miles for the fare difference? I want to change my routing and dates under the coronavirus waiver but there's of course no saver availability with AZ any time soon. Looking to fly Saturday.
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Old Mar 9, 2020, 2:09 pm
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Originally Posted by mylifeis24
Anyone try changing to a flight that does not have saver business availability? Has AZ been able to rebook into any available J class without requiring hundreds of thousands of extra miles for the fare difference? I want to change my routing and dates under the coronavirus waiver but there's of course no saver availability with AZ any time soon. Looking to fly Saturday.
Alitalia has said nothing about not charging "fare difference" - they have only waived the change fee.

If your new date of travel costs more, you'll have to pay the difference. (Or hope for a cancellation so that you can get your original outlay back)
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Old Mar 9, 2020, 3:07 pm
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All of Italy has now been placed on lockdown - expect further Alitalia cancellations.
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Old Mar 10, 2020, 2:29 am
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Originally Posted by irishguy28
All of Italy has now been placed on lockdown - expect further Alitalia cancellations.
Small sample, but Schiphol not currently showing either of the AZ departures as cancelled (EDIT: 3 of 5 KL cancelled I think). No change of the policy discussed above yet either. My concern is that even if they cancel my flight and I refund, AZ won't have the cash on hand to be able to do so on the presumably massive scale they're going to be looking at.
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Old Mar 11, 2020, 8:03 am
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Friends booked in December from the US to Rome on Alitalia for April 21. Alitalia is not currently offering to waive the change fee ($300/pp she said).

What is the best advice? Wait until the flight is cancelled? Or should she just Hang Up and Call Again? The whole country is in lockdown so they couldn't go if they wanted to.

Also, when she rebooks, does she have to rebook while she's on the phone hopefully getting the change fee resolved? Or can you have a credit in your account (where would this credit live? On your credit card? In your FF account?) and choose your new flight later?
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Old Mar 12, 2020, 5:33 am
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Originally Posted by Graciecatt
[snip]
Seems to be a new update here - does not appear to have been posted in English anywhere yet. Rebooking now out to Dec 31st, seem to suggest that rearrangement can be done up to May 31st due to the call centre overload. I'm assuming - and hoping for myself - that this means after scheduled departure is ok.

Of course, caveat emptor on the existence of Alitalia going forward...!
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Old Mar 12, 2020, 8:35 am
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Originally Posted by etiene
Seems to be a new update here - does not appear to have been posted in English anywhere yet. Rebooking now out to Dec 31st, seem to suggest that rearrangement can be done up to May 31st due to the call centre overload. I'm assuming - and hoping for myself - that this means after scheduled departure is ok.

Of course, caveat emptor on the existence of Alitalia going forward...!
English version now available here.
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Old Mar 24, 2020, 1:17 am
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Does anyone have any experience with the vouchers AZ is offering? Can they be used on multiple tickets as payment? What I mean is, if I get a voucher of €200, would I be able to use that on two seperate tickets of €100 each?
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Old Mar 25, 2020, 1:07 am
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If you are wondering what other airlines besides AZ do, there's a whole overview of 102 airlines at https://bit.ly/loyalty-response-covid19
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