Zeeb

I'm in a similar situation, travel to Europe booked at the end of May with a pregnant wife. But in our case it's mostly non-cancellable regrettably. We're just keeping our eye on it. We figure that 3 months from now is a lifetime in terms of this type of thing so we won't stress about it yet. In three months this could be a worldwide pandemic, or it could be totally under control, nothing we can do about it so we'll just wait until a week or two before the trip and make a call about whether we're comfortable with it.

YVR Cockroach

Don't forget the bonus of "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".

Unless they were old or sickly, a large proportion of people over a certain age survived the "spanish" influenza of 1918-21 because they apparently had some immunity from an earlier illness.

nmpls

Agreed. If corona virus is a major issue in Japan or S. Korea when I go, I will stay away from my parents (in their 70s) and will self-quarantine if recommended by CDC, but otherwise won't overreact. If they start cancelling flights to ICN or Japan I'll start worrying and contact my travel insurance.

YVR Cockroach

If flights are cancelled and/or significant schedules changes are made to departure/arrival time, that's your free get out of jail ticket. Don't even need to involve insurance.

Dan1113

Indeed. But what are the timings here? For example: if I had a trip to China booked for May, could I get it refunded now so I could book an alternative trip, or do I have to wait right until the last minute, at which point getting somewhere else last minute is much more difficult? (I don't have a China trip - this is just a hypothetical.) The FCO has no 'date' attached to it. I saw that Virgin insurance specifically says you have to wait until 48hrs before. My insurance, staysure, says something about "you must check in" but I don't quite understand it -- surely you wouldn't have to wait until 24hrs before, and obviously chances are at that point, if there is such an alert, the flights are probably already long gone anyway...

I have nearly 90 days worth of trips away booked between now and next New Year. I am one of those "book very far in advance" type of guy to try to get good deals. Add them all together, and we are talking a lot of money for two teachers, thus the stress!

Dan1113

That's the other annoying thing. I decided as a surprise/treat, to take my mother with me on our Thailand trip in April. Booked ages ago obviously. She is 66 and has never been to Asia before, so I wanted to treat her to something special as a once in a lifetime thing.

So her age does make me a bit nervous, even if the virus itself in general doesn't. She is in good health, but still.

Dan1113

For flights, yes - but non-refundable hotels and tours probably don't care that your flights to the place are cancelled, nor flights within the country!

YVR Cockroach

Well, obviously the insurance companies are for-profit and are loathe to pay out anything. They're not going to cover if you cancel so far in advance (unless you pay a really-high-relative-to-cost-of-insured-value policy premium or have specified perils.). That's the way it is.

That is the risk you take with non-refundable tickets and reservations. Some of us are loathe to book prepaid hotels if avoidable (or savings aren't enough for self-insurance).

Non-refundable hotels, you might wait until a travel embargo loser your date.of travel. Domestic flights wait for a schedule change. Last (and only) time I used a schedule change to get a full refund was on a domestic U.S. ticket. Connection was a negative 45 mins. I requested (and got) the refund before they could properly adjust the new itinerary.

As for tours, again, Be patient and hang tight. If the situation does not improve by travel date it might end up being cancelled so you get your money back.

Dan1113

Indeed -- though 24hrs, if I understood mine correctly, seems a bit too ridiculous! I wouldn't want to cancel my Thailand trip unless it got added to the FCO list anyway, of course, but as soon as it does, I certainly would want to get everything refunded that I can so I could arrange for an alternative trip in time.


And yes - I know there is an inherit risk with booking non-refundable hotels and flights, but I guess I am usually thinking more of whether I need the flexibility or not, and the answer has always been no as I am happy to plan and stick to the plan. Guess I never really considered the need for flexibility being forced onto me by something like this.

I guess at the end of the day, I should be ok even if everything gets refunded so close to the date in that I am sure I will find some last minute destination to go to and have a good time if needed. Stressful, but still ok. But hopefully all will be ok...with Thailand anyway, the number of cases hasn't increased in a week, so I just need it to stay that way for another six weeks (and then the two weeks I am there - ha).

I am probably letting myself get way too worked up over this; I have been surprised at how stressed it has all made me feel, tbh.

Duck1981

I am more concerned of getting a flu on the London Underground than getting Covid-19 in 2 weeks in Malaysia.

nmpls

This. But also, I have a super cheap J fare. I mean, yeah, they'll refund it, but I'll probably have to pay 2x to get the same ticket when it clears up.

GetSetJetSet

I am quite worried. I cancelled a trip to SE Asia in May and a trip to China in June. I am in wait and see mode regarding Japan in July. At this point with the Italian outbreak, I am worried about skiing in Switzerland in March.

That being said, I was in Europe, Asia, Oceania and South America in Jan/Feb and it was fine. I am hoping there will be no problems with planned European and South American travel for June/July/Aug/Sept. At the moment I have nothing on the books for Oct/Nov outside of the US, and Dec. is S.America/Europe again. Going to avoid Asia and Africa for the rest of 2020 in all likelihood. Have to see though, all fluid based on the spread.

Dan1113

I feel bad for my poor mother though. I woke up today to get message about two new cases in Thailand.

lhrsfo

Two new cases is no big deal. The problem comes when you wake up and find reports of 200 new cases - then everything changes, as it did over the weekend in Italy.

bobbytables

It's the difference between ~0.00003% of the population (of Thailand) and ~0.0003% of the population (of Italy). I'm not sure that "everything changes", except perhaps in the amount of fear-driven discrimination and unnecessary panic buying.