CoronaVirus

random_banter wrote: »

Would you mind if I asked if you could give more detail on the conversation? Since your flights weren't to a "do not travel" or "avoid traveling" area how did the conversation go? I am looking at doing this later this afternoon for our flights to paris from dublin with transavia (flight is tomorrow) and flight back from geneva with aer lingus (next Sunday).

Thank you in advance for any insight

When I got through to BA's Call Centre, I explained that my flight to London was this evening and whether it was possible to refund the flight.

The lady said that the flight was still running because the British and Irish Authorities had not imposed restrictions, so they couldn't refund me in full. It was, unfortunately, my loss.

When I asked about amending/rescheduling the flight, she said that the cost of amendment was €80 per person.... plus the differential fare of the new flight.

As we are a family of five, the amendment fee was €400 minimum. I wasn't going to pay €400+..... so I asked the lady to refund the basic government and airport charges/taxes.

She ran through the computation on their booking system and, remarkably, said that the refund would be €180 out of €330. It was already a low-cost fare, so we are getting back 60% in five working days.

Harry Potter World also offered to honour our tickets at any date in the future - without any administration fees.

These companies have been very nice. I feel sorry for their Call Centres - they are getting hammered.

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

When I got through to BA's Call Centre, I explained that my flight to London was this evening and whether it was possible to refund the flight.

The lady said that the flight was still running because the British and Irish Authorities had not imposed restrictions, so they couldn't refund me in full. It was, unfortunately, my loss.

When I asked about amending/rescheduling the flight, she said that the cost of amendment was €80 per person.... plus the differential fare of the new flight.

As we are a family of five, the amendment fee was €400 minimum. I wasn't going to pay €400+..... so I asked the lady to refund the basic government and airport charges/taxes.

She ran through the computation on their booking system and, remarkably, said that the refund would be €180 out of €330. It was already a low-cost fare, so we are getting back 60% in five working days.

Harry Potter World also offered to honour our tickets at any date in the future - without any administration fees.

These companies have been very nice. I feel sorry for their Call Centres - they are getting hammered.

Thank you, great to know this. I will be trying this later if other avenues fail.

dunnerc wrote: »

Don't go we are in albufeira till next Thursday , and it's looking like we will be locked in for weeks , place is like a ghost toem

I thought there were very few cases in the Algarve?

Aer Lingus are allowing free changes now on existing bookings.

https://twitter.com/AerLingus/status/1238403123175141377

Why couldn't they gave done that sooner ffs

At least I can reschedule my next flight with them

VG31 wrote: »

Aer Lingus are allowing free changes now on existing bookings.

https://twitter.com/AerLingus/status/1238403123175141377

It is a necessary move. It certainly did not look good that they were guaranteeing waiver of change fees for any new bookings, but not on existing ones.

We are due to fly US-IRE the last weekend in May. At the moment we are waiting, in hopes that the increased action in Ireland will allow some normalcy to resume sooner rather than later, but it is reassuring to know that we would be able to make a change if needed. They still will only issue refunds if the flight is cancelled.

VG31 wrote: »

Aer Lingus are allowing free changes now on existing bookings.

https://twitter.com/AerLingus/status/1238403123175141377

Good news. Still a bit of a gamble what date you rebook for, but I suppose it's no worse than the current situation for the US

MICKEYG wrote: »

Did they announce this officially like Aer Lingus

Yes but only flights up until the 31st of March

MICKEYG wrote: »

OK, thanks. I had booked to fly tomorrow. I looked to push it out to Oct but can only get so far and it seems to hang. I'll keep trying.

Are you checked in already? If your checked in you have to call them to uncheck.

NewCorkLad wrote: »

Yes but only flights up until the 31st of March

Our flight out is before that and our flight back is after that. Booked a return trip obviously though. Wonder if they'll waive the rebooking fee for both flights?

Does anyone know how far out you can push the bookings? If we do change the dates, it might not be until the end of the year or ideally this time next year. Still considering just cancelling altogether instead of changing the dates

I'm surprised Ryanair are actually doing something to benefit the customer for once though. Fair play!

woodchuck wrote:

I'm surprised Ryanair are actually doing something to benefit the customer for once though. Fair play!

The sceptic in me thinks that they know they might have to cancel many flights in the coming weeks, better people change dates now than them having to issue refunds.