Travel Changes?

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Not that long ago at all. I hope all that flew to the U.K. for the 3/13 England/France adventure are making it home safely.

I hope so, too!

 

[Cliffside]

It looks like the U.K. and Ireland are added to the travel ban. I still can’t believe they didn’t cancel the 3/13 departure before people flew over. It really gives me little confidence in their judgement.

 

[kverdon]

How is Disney dealing with people who have to cancel because their planned trip will now overlap the extended school year. I have a friend who will probably need to cancel their June trip as their schools are now closed for six weeks. Their school year will now like extend into July.

 

[sayhello]

Not that long ago at all. I hope all that flew to the U.K. for the 3/13 England/France adventure are making it home safely.

I don't know what they did for Guests, but I know the Adventure Guides were immediately brought home.

How is Disney dealing with people who have to cancel because their planned trip will now overlap the extended school year. I have a friend who will probably need to cancel their June trip as their schools are now closed for six weeks. Their school year will now like extend into July.

My guess is they're working on people whose trips were cancelled during the current shut down first. They'll get to rescheduling issues soon.

Sayhello

 

[DisneyWishes14]

How is Disney dealing with people who have to cancel because their planned trip will now overlap the extended school year. I have a friend who will probably need to cancel their June trip as their schools are now closed for six weeks. Their school year will now like extend into July.

This may not, necessarily, be the case. In CT, the governor signed an emergency declaration eliminating the 180 school day rule and no schools can extend past June 30 (I know, that certainly wouldn't help your friend) . This is also something that may be covered under travel insurance. The third-party travel insurance I purchased for our summer ABD states the cancellation coverage would go into effect if "the primary or secondary school that You, Your Family Member or Traveling Companion attends extends its operating session beyond the predefined school year to fall within the period of the travel dates of Your Trip due to unforeseeable events which commence while Your coverage is in effect. Extensions due to extra-curricular or athletic events are not covered;"

Irregardless, I certainly hope ABD starts to be a little more flexible with people. I know this morning, WDW temporarily changed their 30 day package PIF policy to a 7 day policy instead -offering guests far more flexibility in an ever-changing situation. Really hope ABD follows suit. Their handling of the March UK/France trip was an abomination. I have a SoCal/DL PIF coming up in a week, while DL remains closed. I am certainly in no mood to hand over more money to them right now and am hoping they will allow me to park my deposit.

 

[neurosx1983]

Well I want to chime in from sunny Palm beach... resort is pretty busy and everyone seems to be carrying on and enjoying themselves. Traffic coming down here wasn’t bad either for what it’s worth.

trump is apparently now considering a domestic travel ban../not sure how that would work.Everyone pls stay safe and keep hands clean.

 

[lovetotravel]

Well I want to chime in from sunny Palm beach... resort is pretty busy and everyone seems to be carrying on and enjoying themselves. Traffic coming down here wasn’t bad either for what it’s worth.

trump is apparently now considering a domestic travel ban../not sure how that would work.Everyone pls stay safe and keep hands clean.

Glad you got to FL! Enjoy the beautiful weather.

 

[lovetotravel]

How is Disney dealing with people who have to cancel because their planned trip will now overlap the extended school year. I have a friend who will probably need to cancel their June trip as their schools are now closed for six weeks. Their school year will now like extend into July.

Following this. Would be interested to hear about this. This will affect my trips.

 

[disneyholic family]

It's being reported that Spain is to shut down on Monday. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...mpose-nationwide-lockdown-draft-idUSKBN2110LE How long ago was it that ABD was waffling on these trips? I'm still furious over their handling of this. It was obvious to me as soon as I arrived in the UK 2 weeks ago that things were exploding.

it was obvious to anyone looking at what was happening in italy where this was heading.
and yes, spain is headed in the same direction.

It looks like the U.K. and Ireland are added to the travel ban. I still can’t believe they didn’t cancel the 3/13 departure before people flew over. It really gives me little confidence in their judgement.

I have zero confidence in ABD after their demonstration of unrelenting boneheadedness and negligence.

Well I want to chime in from sunny Palm beach... resort is pretty busy and everyone seems to be carrying on and enjoying themselves. Traffic coming down here wasn’t bad either for what it’s worth.

trump is apparently now considering a domestic travel ban../not sure how that would work.Everyone pls stay safe and keep hands clean.

Enjoy the sun.
All i can say to what you're observing in palm beach, in my little corner of the world, as of tomorrow morning, all of our malls, restaurants and hotels are closing by order of the government. That's in addition to what already had been closed, but it was clear that it wasn't sufficient.
The party's over, at least for a while.
And given the acceleration in cases, it's the correct decision.

and the rumor is, we've moving towards completely shutting down the entire workforce other than essential industries.
Hopefully, we won't get to that point.
but definitely not business as usual.
.

 

[Sakura1017]

How is Disney dealing with people who have to cancel because their planned trip will now overlap the extended school year. I have a friend who will probably need to cancel their June trip as their schools are now closed for six weeks. Their school year will now like extend into July.

It might be till beginning of July, but my cousin is also a teacher and depending on the state, they have a school year must end date. So theoretically that would be their last date even if they extended by multiple weeks.

 

[debraW76]

Hello everyone. I’ve been reading along trying to keep up with everything. I feel like I know all of you now so I thought I would finally introduce myself. We have PIF for our very first (and probably last) ABD Italy with a departure date of June 2. I’m hoping that everything is blown over by then but there is a chance we will have to cancel even if everything is back to normal. I work in the aviation industry and this is hurting the airlines hard. The airlines are our customers so we think we will begin to feel the pain in a few weeks or months. Since my cancellation reason will be work related I’m hoping it’s covered by our insurance. The not knowing is the hardest part. It’s like knowing a hurricane is coming and there is nothing you can do but wait and see.

 

[lovetotravel]

Hello everyone. I’ve been reading along trying to keep up with everything. I feel like I know all of you now so I thought I would finally introduce myself. We have PIF for our very first (and probably last) ABD Italy with a departure date of June 2. I’m hoping that everything is blown over by then but there is a chance we will have to cancel even if everything is back to normal. I work in the aviation industry and this is hurting the airlines hard. The airlines are our customers so we think we will begin to feel the pain in a few weeks or months. Since my cancellation reason will be work related I’m hoping it’s covered by our insurance. The not knowing is the hardest part. It’s like knowing a hurricane is coming and there is nothing you can do but wait and see.

Hi @debraW76! Does your policy cover work? Along with cancel for any reason, I’ve seen cancel for work reason as a separate rider. Not sure if you have your own or the ABD insurance. I hope the ABD U.K./France trip fiasco does not repeat. I’m hoping someone reports on how ABD assisted the families to come home.

 

[sayhello]

Hello everyone. I’ve been reading along trying to keep up with everything. I feel like I know all of you now so I thought I would finally introduce myself. We have PIF for our very first (and probably last) ABD Italy with a departure date of June 2. I’m hoping that everything is blown over by then but there is a chance we will have to cancel even if everything is back to normal. I work in the aviation industry and this is hurting the airlines hard. The airlines are our customers so we think we will begin to feel the pain in a few weeks or months. Since my cancellation reason will be work related I’m hoping it’s covered by our insurance. The not knowing is the hardest part. It’s like knowing a hurricane is coming and there is nothing you can do but wait and see.

Generally, the only work related insurance coverage would be if you are fired from your job, unless you purchased "Cancel for Work reasons" or "Cancel for any Reason" coverage, which isn't always offered, and is usually expensive. You really need to look at the specific policy you purchased. Did you buy the ABD policy? If you did, I checked the policy, and the only coverage I could find is if: Your or Your Traveling Companion’s involuntary employment termination or layoff. Employment must have been with the same employer for at least 1continuous year;

However, if you did buy the ABD insurance, and the insurance company turns down your claim, you will get a future travel credit from ABD, worth 75% of your non-refundable costs with ABD. I believe it has to be used within a year.

Here's a link to the policy for someone from Alabama:

https://coverage.archinsurancesolut...MoO42pc25ctka075T8jJgDuDtZhv3OoNZ3mDOn2Jhrw66

I think it's highly unlikely that Italy will be back to normal by June 2, but honestly, who knows?

Sayhello

 

[debraW76]

Generally, the only work related insurance coverage would be if you are fired from your job, unless you purchased "Cancel for Work reasons" or "Cancel for any Reason" coverage, which isn't always offered, and is usually expensive. You really need to look at the specific policy you purchased. Did you buy the ABD policy? If you did, I checked the policy, and the only coverage I could find is if: Your or Your Traveling Companion’s involuntary employment termination or layoff. Employment must have been with the same employer for at least 1continuous year;

However, if you did buy the ABD insurance, and the insurance company turns down your claim, you will get a future travel credit from ABD, worth 75% of your non-refundable costs with ABD. I believe it has to be used within a year.

Here's a link to the policy for someone from Alabama:

https://coverage.archinsurancesolut...MoO42pc25ctka075T8jJgDuDtZhv3OoNZ3mDOn2Jhrw66

I think it's highly unlikely that Italy will be back to normal by June 2, but honestly, who knows?

Sayhello

You are right, we would only get a full refund if I was laid off. I do not think that would happen so more than likely we get the 75% credit unless Disney cancels the trip. Which at this point I’m hoping they do.

 

[pdsgator]

We are in Australia for our trip. After refusing to cancel prior to departing and advising us that the trip was going forward, disney cancelled on the first day of the trip. They are providing A refund and allow us to stay in hotel for 2 days to work out flights. Problem is we had booked non refundable hotel and excursions post trip. In addition, we booked flights with cc points so we are not sure we can even get through to get new flights in time. Do you think these are costs we should ask disney to reimburse or provide trip credits. they are refunding cost of trip. We are frustrated because we asked numerous times to cancel because we saw this happening, and they kept refusing until we flew from Florida and landed Sydney. I know the situation was fluid but the fact is this was foreseeable and they couldn’t have handled worse. Just dont know what if any thing is appropriate ask if there is even something to ask for. I am in hour 3 of wait time with cc travel company and extremely frustrated but trying to keep in mind there are lot of people way more impacted than us because of this virus.

 

[lovetotravel]

We are in Australia for our trip. After refusing to cancel prior to departing and advising us that the trip was going forward, disney cancelled on the first day of the trip. They are providing A refund and allow us to stay in hotel for 2 days to work out flights. Problem is we had booked non refundable hotel and excursions post trip. In addition, we booked flights with cc points so we are not sure we can even get through to get new flights in time. Do you think these are costs we should ask disney to reimburse or provide trip credits. they are refunding cost of trip. We are frustrated because we asked numerous times to cancel because we saw this happening, and they kept refusing until we flew from Florida and landed Sydney. I know the situation was fluid but the fact is this was foreseeable and they couldn’t have handled worse. Just dont know what if any thing is appropriate ask if there is even something to ask for. I am in hour 3 of wait time with cc travel company and extremely frustrated but trying to keep in mind there are lot of people way more impacted than us because of this virus.

You should probably go to the airport to get new flights as agents will be more willing to do changes in person than on the phone.
I am hoping your credit card company can help refund your hotel and other tours for being cancelled. I doubt ABD will refund your pre and post trip costs but it doesn’t hurt to ask. I have screen shot the website that says your trip is occurring in case you need it for proof that you were required to start your trip but was cancelled when you arrived. Did you have trip insurance that covers cancellations?
I am very disappointed in ABD that you have been put in this position. "In abundance of caution" was a joke for them! Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[twentyco]

We are in Australia for our trip. After refusing to cancel prior to departing and advising us that the trip was going forward, disney cancelled on the first day of the trip. They are providing A refund and allow us to stay in hotel for 2 days to work out flights. Problem is we had booked non refundable hotel and excursions post trip. In addition, we booked flights with cc points so we are not sure we can even get through to get new flights in time. Do you think these are costs we should ask disney to reimburse or provide trip credits. they are refunding cost of trip. We are frustrated because we asked numerous times to cancel because we saw this happening, and they kept refusing until we flew from Florida and landed Sydney. I know the situation was fluid but the fact is this was foreseeable and they couldn’t have handled worse. Just dont know what if any thing is appropriate ask if there is even something to ask for. I am in hour 3 of wait time with cc travel company and extremely frustrated but trying to keep in mind there are lot of people way more impacted than us because of this virus.

If it were me, I would ask them to reimburse for everything --- any airfare costs to get you home, and any post-trip losses you incur. It seems to me as though the airfare changes are definitely on them, because they cancelled the trip. (Also, why are they not helping you reschedule flights? Even if not booked through them I would think this is a basic service they should assist with). The post-trip activities are more of a gray area, admittedly, because they are not associated with the trip or with ABD. I think I would first try to see if the organization you booked those with will give you a refund under the circumstances (many are as a matter of good customer service), and if not I would ask ABD to reimburse because you may have had more options had they cancelled this trip sooner, as they cleary should have.

I'm so sorry that you are going through this.

 

[lovetotravel]

We are in Australia for our trip. After refusing to cancel prior to departing and advising us that the trip was going forward, disney cancelled on the first day of the trip. They are providing A refund and allow us to stay in hotel for 2 days to work out flights. Problem is we had booked non refundable hotel and excursions post trip. In addition, we booked flights with cc points so we are not sure we can even get through to get new flights in time. Do you think these are costs we should ask disney to reimburse or provide trip credits. they are refunding cost of trip. We are frustrated because we asked numerous times to cancel because we saw this happening, and they kept refusing until we flew from Florida and landed Sydney. I know the situation was fluid but the fact is this was foreseeable and they couldn’t have handled worse. Just dont know what if any thing is appropriate ask if there is even something to ask for. I am in hour 3 of wait time with cc travel company and extremely frustrated but trying to keep in mind there are lot of people way more impacted than us because of this virus.

Also I would like to know if ABD left all families stranded in Australia while they got their guides flights to go back out? Or are the guides staying until all families leave? As the other post mention, I can't believe they did not try to assist the families to get flights out.

Again go to the airport to get a flight. I have family still stranded in another Asian country and they waited in the airport to get a flight. One was able to fly to another part of the country that at least was not in lockdown, but still no flight to the US because they have cancelled all international flights. Even if they say a flight is available over the phone, it will be gone by the time they got there. GO TO THE AIRPORT!

 

[lovetotravel]

I hope by now that ABD realizes how they did not act "with abundance of caution" for these families stranded in UK/France and Australia trips. Traveling to countries that has lower cases has proved to be the worst policy because they are exactly the locations to avoid as things change rapidly and families will be stranded.

Not only do I hope that they fully refund all expenses including pre and post trips for these families, but I hope that they consider a fully flexible policy for ALL upcoming trips this year to the summer until things improve dramatically.

 

[Cliffside]

I hope by now that ABD realizes how they did not act "with abundance of caution" for these families stranded in UK/France and Australia trips. Traveling to countries that has lower cases has proved to be the worst policy because they are exactly the locations to avoid as things change rapidly and families will be stranded.

Not only do I hope that they fully refund all expenses including pre and post trips for these families, but I hope that they consider a fully flexible policy for ALL upcoming trips this year to the summer until things improve dramatically.

What a terrible situation that could of been easily avoided if they just let people cancel when asked. The fact that they are not aiding their clients trying to get home is just horrendous. The fact that on their website they posted the Australia trip was on and then they canceled it is confusing.

Sending good thoughts to all who got stranded and to everyone else trying to adjust to the new norm that we all now live in.