If cruise is cancelled, what do you suggest about the airfare?

[happy cruzer]

there are about 3 interesting threads over on the Princess board about the fire that happened on the Royal Princess.

 

One person complains that they are out the cost of their independently booked air fare. Now that post is really sketchy but it brought to mind general questions.

 

I had a couple of questions.

 

If you found out that your cruise had been cancelled about 24 hours from the air departure what could you do? Do you call the air line and cancel/rebook the flight? What if you don't know where/when you plan to reschedule to? Is there a time period that you can do that in?

 

Many mentioned that travel insurance will cover this. Opinions on that??

I've read a couple of policies and several state very clearly that the insurance only covers cancellations for particular reasons.

 

So it kind of seems to me that your best bet is to handle the independently booked air seperately from the cruise when things start to go wrong just in case the cruise line or the insurance company doesn't cover the independently booked air because of an exclusion that you may not have realized existed.

 

yuk, I'm not sure there is any way of knowing ahead of time what to do? Some of the policies are very long and very tedious to read and when I finish I still don't know what it just said.

[Sea Hag]

Yuk is right! I've tried a couple of times to read through cruise insurance terms and conditions, and after a bit my mind just starts going, "Yadda, yadda, yadda."

[greatam]

there are about 3 interesting threads over on the Princess board about the fire that happened on the Royal Princess.

 

One person complains that they are out the cost of their independently booked air fare. Now that post is really sketchy but it brought to mind general questions.

 

I had a couple of questions.

 

If you found out that your cruise had been cancelled about 24 hours from the air departure what could you do? Do you call the air line and cancel/rebook the flight? What if you don't know where/when you plan to reschedule to? Is there a time period that you can do that in?

 

Many mentioned that travel insurance will cover this. Opinions on that??

I've read a couple of policies and several state very clearly that the insurance only covers cancellations for particular reasons.

 

So it kind of seems to me that your best bet is to handle the independently booked air seperately from the cruise when things start to go wrong just in case the cruise line or the insurance company doesn't cover the independently booked air because of an exclusion that you may not have realized existed.

 

yuk, I'm not sure there is any way of knowing ahead of time what to do? Some of the policies are very long and very tedious to read and when I finish I still don't know what it just said.

 

I have yet to see a policy that DOES NOT cover independently booked air IF the cruise goes belly up. That's exactly one of the reasons you would purchase insurance.

[happy cruzer]

Ok.

 

I'm looking at the policy from HTH. It says it covers cancellations resulting from inclement weather, mechanical breakdown, or organized labor strikes.

 

Some things it excludes: acts of war, civil disorder, pandemic, epidemic,

 

and a nice catch all : failure of any tour operator, Common Carrier or other travel supplier, person or agency to provide the bargained for tavel arrangements other than Financial Insolvency.

 

I have another policy Tavelex Travelite that seems to cover only $150 toward rebooking the flight if the trip is cancelled.

 

So there does seem to be devilish details to me. That's why I'm looking for advice/opinions/past experiences.

[Keith1010]

If you have trip insurance it would likely cover the air assuming you have insured the trip properly. But the devil is in the details. You should thorougly read the policy before you take the insurance.

 

Keith

[happy cruzer]

Got it about the details.

 

How about one of my original questions:

You just found out the cruise is cancelled, you are not sure what the travel insurance would do about covering the indep booked air,

 

What do you do about the independently booked air?

[G'ma]

Got it about the details.

 

How about one of my original questions:

You just found out the cruise is cancelled, you are not sure what the travel insurance would do about covering the indep booked air,

 

What do you do about the independently booked air?

 

1. read the policy

2. call the insurance company and ask

[alidor]

If the insurance doesn't cover it, you can reuse the ticket on the carrier it was purchased on, on another trip. You'll have to pay the penalty (assuming it has one) to reuse it and use it for another trip within the airlines guidelines, i.e., within one year of issue, within one year of travel date, etc.

[pms4104]

there are about 3 interesting threads over on the Princess board about the fire that happened on the Royal Princess.

 

One person complains that they are out the cost of their independently booked air fare. Now that post is really sketchy but it brought to mind general questions.

I would surmise this individual bought cruiseline insurance and booked their own air ... the cruiseline insurance covers only that which was purchased thru the cruiseline. Hence, this passenger would have had to buy an additional insurance policy thru a third party to cover the air, or they will be out the air expenditures.

[happy cruzer]

1. read the policy

2. call the insurance company and ask

 

My guess is that they will say file a claim and we will let you know if you are covered. If they say different, it still would be just a verbal promise.

[happy cruzer]

If the insurance doesn't cover it, you can reuse the ticket on the carrier it was purchased on, on another trip. You'll have to pay the penalty (assuming it has one) to reuse it and use it for another trip within the airlines guidelines, i.e., within one year of issue, within one year of travel date, etc.

 

OK, the cruise is canceled and the flight leaves in 24 hours.

 

Do you call the airline and reschule or do you call the airline and cancel??

 

I've never had to change an non refundable ticket. Are there time limits on letting the airline know that you are not using that ticket for that flight?

 

Thanks everyone for trying to let me know how this works.

[ab0si]

My guess is that they will say file a claim and we will let you know if you are covered. If they say different, it still would be just a verbal promise.

 

IF it is insurance and not a service or warranty marketed as insurance, a verbal commitment on the part of the insurer or its representatives (most travel policies are sold and administered by Third Party Underwriters and almost all states have laws and regs which treat their communications to claimants and policyholders as if they were the insurer) is meaningful. They are not allowed to say "X is covered" and then back out of it. Of course, a half-way trained staff is NEVER going to commit to anything meaningful without the complete claim information but recording the call is still a good idea on general principles.

[greatam]

I just got off the phone with our corporate insurer, who writes my long term travel medical policy and covers SOME of my employees trip insurance, as well as thousands and thousands of dollars of liability, collision and general liability insurance.

 

His opinion-what happened on the Princess ship that caught fire-there is NO coverage for the total price of independently booked air BECAUSE you can reuse the VALUE of the airline tickets less the change fee (most policies $150.00). He said Princess was liable for any expenses that were not covered by insurance and in the case of the VERY expensive air tickets post on the Princess board, he recommended Small Claims Court. But he felt Princess would probably be fair and reimburse the tickets, due to the fact that Princess has insurance to cover those very type of incidents.

 

As with any canceled air ticket, you MUST use the value within ONE year of BOOKING, NOT travel date. It has been successfully done that you rebook within the one year period and then change THAT booking for an additional change fee. But I sure wouldn't count on it.

[alidor]

You MUST cancel the ticket before departure, even if it's 5 minutes. If you cancel the ticket after departure, it becomes worthless. You can argue that if that happens, but most airlines are pretty strict about this.

[DiveSquire]

Everyone has had really good advice...The main thing is that each airline has different rules for canceled air travel. I have learned to really think through the airline before I book with them. (I am not sure that I can name the airlines but here goes...if it is all xxx'ed out then sorry). i.e. I like United if I know for sure that I will not be canceling the travel for any reason. The policy for refunding a non-refundable ticket (or even changing any details sucks). On the other hand Soughtwest has an amazing cancel policy...you can cancel any flight at any time up to time of travel and you DO NOT have to pay a cancel fee. The catch with them is that you don't get the money back it goes into a southwest account and you only have a year to use it.

 

Bottom line if I can use Southwest to travel on to get to a cruise I will book through them (I have gone to the extent of actually flying into New York's long island airport and driven up to Boston for a cruise before). I just know that if something happens, even though I have travel insurance, I can cancel my air and not be out any money.

[epixx]

As with any canceled air ticket, you MUST use the value within ONE year of BOOKING, NOT travel date. It has been successfully done that you rebook within the one year period and then change THAT booking for an additional change fee. But I sure wouldn't count on it.

 

 

 

I have wondered whether it's possible to cancel a nonrefundable ticket, purchase a REFUNDABLE ticket, and then cancel the refundable ticket. Has anyone had any experience on any of the airlines with this approach?

[alidor]

You cannot exchange a non-refundable ticket for a refundable one. Some airlines, American comes to mind, does allow that, but the portion that was non-refundable will remain non-refundable.

[happy cruzer]

Oh my, the information you all have provided is invaluable. I really appreciate the education. I realize each case is a little different but just having this information gives me a very good framework to manage my travel planning. It is greatly appreciated.

[spongerob]

Some great advice here, thanks.

[alidor]

One more thing ... don't cancel that non-refundable til the very last minute. Some people know in advance that the trip they planned won't happen and want to cancel their flights right away. Don't do it! Plans can change and you might end up still taking that trip you didn't think would happen. If you cancelled that ticket, you would have to start all over again and pay, the probably higher fare, plus the penalities to use the original ticket. The airlines don't care if the flights are cancelled 5 months or 5 minutes before departure as long as it's done BEFORE departure.

[kenish]

I wouldn't wait til 5 minutes prior, 30-60 minutes prior is safer. Two reasons:

 

- If you don't present yourself at the gate 10 minutes before a domestic flight, you are considered a "no show" and your seat can be resold. Some airlines may consider that the point where the ticket is officially forfeited. (More devilish details).

 

- If you call the airline 5 minutes prior to departure on a day with massive weather problems you may be on hold while the ticketed flight departs.

[fbgd]

If the insurance doesn't cover it, you can reuse the ticket on the carrier it was purchased on, on another trip. You'll have to pay the penalty (assuming it has one) to reuse it and use it for another trip within the airlines guidelines, i.e., within one year of issue, within one year of travel date, etc.

 

That's if your particular airline offers that. US based carriers seem to do this but call a European airline and you'll get laughed at.

 

I thought you were supposed to be a travel agent anyways?

[frugaltravel]

That's if your particular airline offers that. US based carriers seem to do this but call a European airline and you'll get laughed at.

 

I thought you were supposed to be a travel agent anyways?

 

:confused:

 

Nothing here is meant to be construed as legal or professional advice. This is a public forum. People should take EVERYTHING posted in such forums with a grain of salt and due diligence on their parts. Not to discredit all the great posters here. But everyone is ultimately responsible for his/her own decisions.

 

One attracts more flies with honey than with vinegar.