As we continue to navigate these unprecedented times, KCBS Radio is getting the answers to your questions about the coronavirus pandemic. Every morning at 9:20 a.m. Monday-Friday we're doing an "Ask An Expert" segment with a focus on a different aspect of this situation each day.
Today we're looking at all those disrupted travel plans and your options with Henry Hardevelt, travel industry analyst and founder of the San Francisco-based Atmosphere Research Group.
Let me ask you in general as a broad opener here, how this has impacted the industry? We can see it around us, we don't hear airplanes, we know that the hotels and restaurants and all of that have been affected. Just how big is this?
This has financially gutted the travel industry. As you pointed out, airlines have been affected, hotels, tourism, conventions, rental car companies - we've had not just Hertz but another rental car company, Advantage Rental Car just filed bankruptcy - and more. So this has really been devastating to the travel industry, and disappointing to us when we can't take a trip. We just can't pick up and go, whether it's for business or a personal trip.
We interviewed a New York Times San Francisco correspondent yesterday and we talked about the reality of California in particular as a place where an awful lot of the state's economy revolves around people flying in here - and out as well - but flying into California.
That's a good point. If you think about just here in the Bay Area, especially in San Francisco with the large conventions and conferences that take place at Moscone Center, that has huge impact on the city in terms of the people that it brings in, tax revenue and more.
Ok, let's get into the questions that are our listeners have sent in to askus@kcbsradio.com.
We have reservations for an upcoming cruise in November. At this time we have only paid the non-refundable deposit. When would you recommend that it will be safer if my cruise line resumes some sailing? We have an 86-year-old mother and we are nearly in our 60’s, therefore, we are concerned. What do you recommend?
Well I think first you should talk with your doctor, just to make sure to get a health check from your healthcare professional. November may be okay, but the emphasis is very heavy on the word "may". What I would suggest is that you take a look at how this virus is evolving. And we have heard from healthcare professionals, including organizations like the CDC, that there's a risk of a spike or a return in the fall with the virus. So depending on when you're going and where you're going on this cruise, where you are sailing and the size of the boat, November may not necessarily be the best time to take that trip. What I would suggest is that you hold off on making any further payments. Talk to the cruise line or your travel agency about the opportunity to possibly even have your deposit applied to a future cruise. Especially with someone who's 86 years old, you need to be very, very cautious.
And this brings up the question of the non-refundable deposit. Are you seeing that carriers and cruise lines and hotels, anybody who may have taken a non-refundable deposit, have shown some flexibility on that issue, given what's going on?
Generally yes. So if your trip has been cancelled, the airline, the cruise line must give you a refund. If the hotel is closed they need to give you a refund. If the flight or the cruise is operating and you choose not to travel, in some cases they will give you a refund. Most of the time they will give you a travel credit.
In some cases by the way, the airline or cruise line may offer you a choice between a cash refund or a travel credit and they will apply a sweetener to that travel credit. For one thing, they may put 10, 15, even 20% bonus spending on top of what you've paid. So let's just say you spent $100, you would get $110-120 in travel credit. They are also being more generous in terms of the timeline you use it. Normally it's a year, in some cases they may let you use it for up to two years.
I planned a trip to Paris, Amsterdam, Florence and Rome so I had to book three different flights with three different airlines. The first leg to Paris has been cancelled. Can I get a refund from the other two airlines since the first one was cancelled? The cancellation was on French Bee from SFO to Paris. There's also a KLM Amsterdam to Florence flight and a Norwegian Air Rome to San Francisco leg.
Okay, first I think I'll only help them if they take me on the trip, it sounds fantastic.
I know, I'm ready to go too.
Yeah, so here's the thing: they booked three different airlines and I'm taking it that they booked them individually. If they used a travel agent, the travel agent could help them. Again, check with KLM and check with Norwegian. If your flights have been cancelled by the airline then you are entitled to a refund and you can apply for the refund on the airline's websites. What the airlines are saying is if your flight is operating and you choose not to travel, they will give you a travel credit and you can apply for the travel credit on the airline's website as well. And again, both airlines are offering a bonus on that travel credit. You need to check the airline's websites but I believe it's a 15-20% bonus and they're being pretty generous with letting you spend it over the next year, maybe longer. Again, check the airline's website.
Here's the challenge though: KLM, the flight originates in Amsterdam so it's subject to EU law and with Norwegian also, but you are a United States citizen. So with a United States point of sale it may be a little bit more complicated. But request the refund through the website, you should get your credit within a few weeks. Three to four weeks, I'm hoping.
We have a few more questions that go down the refund route so let me get to those. This one says, what exactly are the rules requiring airlines to provide refunds when flights are cancelled? My friend's been going back and forth with Air France over a cancelled flight between Milan and Paris. They seem to be arguing that they don't have to pay a refund because the flight came from outside France, but aren't the rules the same for all European countries?
Actually the Department of Transportation in the U.S. has said that any airline tickets sold in the U.S. must be refunded if the flight is cancelled. It doesn't matter where that flight is operating from. So in this case, if it's a flight within Europe purchased in the U.S. and the airline has cancelled it - in this case Air France - Air France is obliged to provide a refund. You can dispute this with your credit card company and they may help advocate on your behalf. They may even issue you a credit and take it up with the airline directly. If you paid cash or booked through a travel agent it may be a little bit more difficult. The travel agent certainly can help you. If you paid cash for this - not that many people do for an international flight - you're going to have to argue with the airline.
Is there some magic language I can use in convincing an airline to give me my money back after they cancelled our flight? They keep pushing travel vouchers but I have no idea when or if I'd ever be able to use them.
Right, so the airline is going to try to push a travel voucher because they are trying to hang on to literally every penny of cash that they can. If they cancelled your flight, you are entitled to a refund. Again, if your flight is not operating, you're not getting the service you paid for, you're not getting the product you paid for and you're entitled to a refund. You're going to have to fight the airline, you may have to file a claim with the Department of Transportation. Again, dispute the charge with your credit card company and contact Consumer Advocates who may be able to help you as well.
For those of us who are reluctant to fly, particularly on a long flight due to concerns about breathing recirculated passenger air despite the fact that everyone has to wear a face mask, why don't the airlines automatically deploy the overhead oxygen masks and provide clean oxygen for everyone? If everyone swapped out their face masks for the overhead mask as soon as they got on board, one big concern about air travel could be eliminated.
Interesting question. So first, all modern airplanes use hospital grade HEPA air filters, so the air that is on a plane is recycled but fresh air is brought in every two to four minutes. It's hospital grade air and it's probably cleaner than the air in the airport terminal itself. You should be confident about the air quality on the airline.
Second, those oxygen masks are a safety feature. They are designed to provide a limited amount of oxygen to help you breathe if there's an emergency decompression above 10,000 feet. So that means just a couple of minutes of oxygen per person are in those tanks and it's designed basically to keep you breathing until the pilot can descend the aircraft to a safe level. So that's why you can't use those oxygen masks.
My spouse travels internationally for work (coffee buyer for a local roaster). Any thoughts on when international business travel might resume to Latin America and/or Africa?
Well Latin America is probably going to be closed for quite a while. We just started to see Brazil and some other countries close international arrivals and in fact the U.S. said that people who have been in Brazil who are non-U.S. citizens cannot enter the U.S. now. There are a lot of travel restrictions out there and it's not just the travel restrictions that exist on allowing U.S. residents into those countries. If you're the person's employer, they'll have travel policies as well. So the company that this person works for may keep a hold on travel until they are confident that it is safe for her to travel to either Latin America or to Africa. My expectation at this point, which is subject to change: we should start to see these restrictions lift between June and July. But it's always subject to change.
A Southwest flight that I used points to pay for I've been forced to delay several times. The most recent time I noticed the amount of points need for my flight increased. Is this a sign of demand increasing for flights or was this a change Southwest made to how it calculates points needed?
Good question. That's likely an indication of increased demand for travel. You can take a look, the more expensive a paid ticket is, generally the more expensive the frequent flyer ticket will be as well because the airlines "float", if you will, the number of points needed to redeem. What you can do is try to call Southwest and say, "look, I paid X points for this flight originally, can't you help me out here?" Maybe they will, maybe they won't.
Are major airlines still honoring or accepting miles to book flights, or has that been suspended?
Oh no no no, airlines are not only accepting miles to book flights - in some cases by the way if you have a frequent flyer bonus or account and you pay for your ticket, some airlines including Southwest and JetBlue are offering double miles on paid flights. So take a look, you certainly can redeem. However, one thing I would just caution is the mileage redemption rates may not be that great right now. Keep shopping, checking the airline website and see when the redemption rate is good for you.
What do you think it going to happen to frequent flyer miles? If people aren't flying, will these just expire with no way to get some value out of them?
Many airlines have removed the expiration dates from their miles and in some cases what they've said is, if there are expiration dates they have advanced them by six months, maybe more depending on the airline because of the crisis and an acknowledgement that we haven't been able to fly for more than two months. So your frequent flyer miles are still valid, you will still have the time to use them. And double check the airline's policy - it is possible your frequent flyers may be with an airline that doesn't have an expiration date on them.
We hear masks are required and some airlines are requiring temperature checks. Is there any uniform standard for all flights or is each airline making up its own policy?
Right now the airlines are making up their own policies because there's been no uniform standards implemented by the industry or by governments. So we need to accept the fact that standards may vary from airline to airline. One airline may require masks, another may encourage masks. There may be temperature checks at some airports and even some airlines. Some airlines have even instituted their own health checks, so Emirates in Dubai was doing blood checks at Dubai Airport. Etihad Airlines at its Abu Dhabi hub has been testing a biometric contactless kiosk that can determine your health through reading heart rate and some other biometrics. So this is all evolving. I expect that within the next few months or so we will start to see more uniform standards emerge.
And as a corollary, is it possible a testing requirement to fly could be implemented?
It's possible. Look, when we're flying it is a very unique environment. You are going into the airport, you are sitting in an airplane for a few hours, maybe many hours. And we would need to be confident about not only the hygiene and sanitation of the airport terminal and the aircraft, but the people around us. So I expect that there will be some kind of health status check implemented, more than just a temperature check. Whether that is a so-called health passport or something else is to be determined. But I think it's going to be critical, until we have a vaccine and until enough of us are able to get that vaccine, a health check will be critical to making us all feel confident about traveling on airlines.
I have reservations in early September for a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer, the train. With airlines, trains and hotels involved would you recommend cancelling at this time?
That's a personal question. Again there are factors you have to consider: age, health condition, are you immunosuppressed or compromised. So September should be okay. Airlines are building back up their flight schedules so it should be easier for you to travel to the city where your train journey departs, and from your arrival city back home. The airlines and the rail companies like Rocky Mountaineer have stepped up their cleaning of their public areas, they're certainly doing everything they can to try to keep you healthy. It's possible Rocky Mountaineer may also limit the number of passengers on the journey to support physical distancing. So I would check with Rocky Mountaineer and see, but ultimately the decision is up to the person who asked the question.
We'd like to take a summer vacation where we can still really minimize our contact with others such as to hotels in small towns or a family sized houseboat rental. But we won't really know if who was in the room to use it or clean it did it safely and was not infected. When will hotels/houseboat rentals open up in California? What should we look for in their actions to indicate safety? Anything we can do when we get there to improve the safety?
The major hotel brands including those belonging to Hilton Worldwide, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Marriott International, Wyndham and others have all announced their cleaning standards. All of them are stepping up their cleaning of their hotels, both public areas like the lobbies and restaurants and the guest room areas. So if you're considering a hotel stay, take a look at its website. If you're looking at an independent hotel, take a look there they are probably also communicating the steps they are taking to upgrade their cleaning and their hygiene. In some cases, by the way, the hotels are even saying, "unless you want us to clean your room while you're here, we won't." And if you do want housekeeping, you can't be in the room when the housekeeper is there because they're really trying to push physical distancing as well as cleaning and hygiene.
Organizations like Airbnb, HomeAway (which owns brands like VRBO and TurnKey, which is another home sharing company) have all announced standards for home cleaning. However, with home sharing if it's not a professionally managed home it's up to the owner, the host to do the cleaning. In many cases, the person who's renting the house may use it as well so my hope is they're taking very good steps on cleaning the property. Some hotels and some home sharing hosts are requiring a 24 hour minimum period between occupancy of a room or a home to add a buffer of extra safety. So if you check out, for example, on Tuesday they won't let anyone use that room or that home until Thursday or later. So take a look again at the information published on these company's websites. The hotels may have a slight advantage here over individuals because they can use professional grade cleaning supplies. Professionally managed homes may have an advantage over an individually owned home.
