Since
WHO declares the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. I wonder how many people here are scheduled to travel somewhere for whatever reason during this year?
Share your story if you have one.
Just to share some part of the article:
"If you're scheduled to travel to a country with a confirmed outbreak, you may be able to cancel your trip and get a full refund."
"The only travel insurance that would be helpful in that scenario is when you pay extra for a 'cancel for any reason' plan," Ted Rossman, an industry analyst at CreditCards.com, told Business Insider. "If you're just canceling out of fear of traveling and getting sick, that's not a good enough reason."
"If you're absolutely set against traveling during the coronavirus spread — even if you're going somewhere without the virus — Rossman suggested that instead of walking away and losing the whole value of your trip, paying a change fee to reschedule it for the summer, or to another destination."
---------- Post added 03-12-20 at 05:47 PM ----------
As for me:
I bought tickets to Bangkok since mid-December last year.
I knew it was some kind of local outbreak going on somewhere in China when I research for the ticket, but the authority was still denying it, even arrested people associate to the spread of the rumor, and WHO didn't have much to say either. So I thought ¯\_(ツ) _/¯ relax, it shouldn't be a problem, even if the rumor is true, China is far away... and I went ahead with my plan.
Now I wish I was not such an ignorance. Apparently I forgot about SARS, isn't it?
Things like this always start with deny, deny and deny until it hit the fan and it already too late. I definitely learned my lesson now but will I remember it in the next 10 years? ...¯\_(ツ) _/¯
I don't think I have many options from what I read in the airline and travel agency websites. What the travel agency is offering is like waiting for the airline to cancel flights to-from Tokyo then I can claim for the refund. The airline has already canceled its flights to Tokyo until a month before my trip. So I will have to keep checking if it will be extended, and I will see over the weekend if I have an option to postpone my trip to next summer with some additional fees. I don't really feel like being in a tube full of unknown people from a variety of places for 6-7 hours right now either.