Cancelled/postponed trips due to COVID - please share your outcomes

[Centrals]

Surprisingly Air Canada has refunded those tickets, if I understand correctly because they rescheduled the flights before March 18 (so we are covered by the flight reschedule rules). They kindly offered us the choice of cash or a credit for the same amount for two years . We took the cash . I'm pretty sure if the Bank of Canada collapses, Air Canada credits are not going to be that useful.

Cash refund is the best option.
Unfortunately all those budget airlines that I am dealing with are only offering credit. I am not too worried about bank collapsing in this part of the world but NOT too sure about the budget airlines.
I am sure some National airlines would like to see the folding of their rivals.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

God's Pocket has reconsidered and decided to give us 100% credit for a future trip. I take back all the horrible things I was thinking.

 

[outofofficebrb]

God's Pocket has reconsidered and decided to give us 100% credit for a future trip. I take back all the horrible things I was thinking.

I don’t blame you for it one bit. Thanks for the update; I will update the doc tomorrow morning! I’m glad it worked out for you.

 

[drk5036]

When they discovered my cancer three days before I was to go to the Maldives, there was no refund for the two weeks on a liveaboard I had booked. I was told I should have taken out trip insurance. The only difference I see between that and the coronavirus is that we've had months of warnings about it and I had no warning about the cancer.

I think there are two major differences:

1) Most travel insurance would cover a cancer diagnosis (I assume/hope!) whereas "pandemics" are one of their out-clauses, and

2) In your case, the boat was still going on it's way, the trip wasn't cancelled. Currently, there are very very (any?) boats currently out on the water. It's tough to consider "we aren't providing the trip but we also aren't giving your money back" as a reasonable end-point.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Hi, everyone.

A quick update before I update the log with posts from our own members tomorrow morning. (It's late here!) The owner of the Damai reached out to me (not through Scubaboard) and he confirmed with me that they are issuing vouchers for the full amount paid. He says there is no expiration date to redeem them and they are fully transferable. When you are ready to rebook, rates for the new sailing you are booking will apply: Rates | Dive Damai

I hope this helps. If this is not the resolution you were offered, please let me know so I can further update. Please note that if you booked through a reseller (like a dive shop) or an agent, it may be because the reseller or the agent is not extending it through.

 

[BDSC]

Thanks for the update. Perhaps they have heard the outcry and are acting on it. If they are offering a full credit with no expiration date and all you have to pay is the difference in price from the old price to the new, that seems fair to me. Assuming they have eliminated the “rebooking fee.”

 

[drk5036]

Finally just finished up with my situation.

We were booked on Emperor Leo with Emperor Maldives, from May 2 - 9th. All of our flights got cancelled, and I think at this point the Maldives is basically completely shut down. Send them an email, and were rescheduled for the same time on the same boat next year. The price for that trip was actually discounted, resulting in the trip being about 170 euro PP cheaper, and they credited this to our account for use later. I wanted to upgrade to a 13.2 L tank, which was 80 euro, leaving us about 250 euro remaining for "other things". While it would have been nice to get that money refunded, I'm happy with the situation since I'm getting the same product I paid for this year, plus am not going to have to pay for tank upgrades / wifi on the boat / beer for the week.

Their communication was very fast and the outcome was painless. Really happy with how it all turned out.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

. Please note that if you booked through a reseller (like a dive shop) or an agent, it may be because the reseller or the agent is not extending it through.

i think this is a very important note. It's essential that operators aren't blamed for agents etc who do not pass on. Evidence suggests that this may be more prevalent than we realize.

 

[drk5036]

i think this is a very important note. It's essential that operators aren't blamed for agents etc who do not pass on. Evidence suggests that this may be more prevalent than we realize.

Which honestly should make the life of these online liveaboard travel agents come to an end soon. At this point, what’s the benefit of using one? They haven’t shown any ability to be helpful and seem much more likely to hurt you than improve your situation...

 

[BDSC]

Which honestly should make the life of these online liveaboard travel agents come to an end soon. At this point, what’s the benefit of using one? They haven’t shown any ability to be helpful and seem much more likely to hurt you than improve your situation...

The benefits can be many depending on your situation. If you are an individual, the benefits might not be there. I book groups So the benefits are several.

1. My agent is able to hold an entire liveaboard for me from $1500 to $2500. If I were to approach that liveaboard directly and tell them I want the entire boat, they may ask for a large deposit (20-25% of the charter) because they don’t know me. They don’t have a relationship with me but most likely have a relationship with the wholesaler.

2. I get a commission from my agent. At one time, resorts and liveaboards only gave commissions to agents/wholesalers. That is now changing to some degree but I know I’m going to always get mine. I personally don’t benefit from this because I spread that savings over the group but it’s a great perk and saving money is saving money.

3. I can sometimes get deals through my agent that are not available to the public or advertised on the resort or liveaboard websites.

I could actually list more perks but this is just to give folks a general idea how using an agent can be beneficial.