AAL American Airlines Group Inc

By Scott McCartney 

Airlines and other travel companies are offering limited flexibility to travelers worried about coronavirus, and some restrictions still in force leave travelers paying what amount to virus fees.

United Airlines even changed its rules over the weekend to make it harder to get refunds, then altered the rules again Tuesday night to make them more vague, demonstrating how chaotic and confusing the whole situation can be for travelers.

Millions of travelers are scrambling to change plans because of cancellations of meetings, events, cruises or just fear of catching the virus or getting stuck in a travel disruption. But many are finding airline waivers of change fees and cancellation penalties don't cover their trips.

Under fire from customers, Delta, United and American eased up on their rules on Monday, offering to change any ticket for travel in March and April without the expensive penalties.

That came after Tom Schlafly of St. Louis already paid American a $200 fee to change tickets to a late March investment conference in California that was canceled. Now he wonders if American will refund the fee with its policy change of heart, and dreads more time on the phone waiting to speak with someone at American. "Those of us whose existing travel plans were disrupted by the coronavirus are stuck," he says.

American says travelers with tickets in March and April who already changed will indeed have to call to get refunds for the fees that have been collected.

Waivers of cancellation penalties and change fees were initially issued by airlines for travel to only a few hard-hit countries. And in an effort to pump up sagging ticket sales, airlines are now selling nonrefundable tickets without change and cancellation fees.

But at lots of airlines, customers who bought their tickets to anywhere else before the coronavirus outbreak are finding they not only have to pay change fees, but also must rebook quickly.

That's hard to do when no one is sure when the outbreak will subside, or which destinations might present higher risk in a few weeks or months.

Most airlines give you a year from when you made your original reservation to use up a credit. That's not much help if you booked months ago. In extending the new, broader waiver, Delta, United and American added an additional deadline of booking by Dec. 31, if that's earlier than the one-year-from-booking period.

Hard-hit Italian carrier Alitalia, struggling financially before the virus outbreak hit northern Italy, says in its current waiver policy that new travel must begin by June 30 to avoid penalties.

United made a change on March 7 that hits consumers even harder. Airlines are dropping lots of flights from their schedules because travel demand is plunging. United already said it would ground 10% of its domestic flights and 20% of its international flights.

Previously, if United couldn't rebook you within two hours of your original schedule, you were eligible for a refund. Then United said refunds happen only if the schedule is changed by more than 25 hours.

Tuesday night, United changed 25 hours in its policy to "significantly" different departure or arrival times. There's no definition of what significant is -- United says customers must contact the airline to request a refund.

It would seem United wants to hang on to your money and make it harder to get a refund. An airline spokeswoman says so far, 90% of impacted customers are being put on a flight within two hours of their original, so a refund wouldn't be an option anyway.

"We're in the process of updating the policy and the new policy will allow our agents flexibility in reviewing requests on a case-by-case basis," spokeswoman Leslie Scott says.

Airlines are facing massive financial pain from the coronavirus outbreak, so it's easy to understand why they're reluctant to issue blanket refunds to millions of customers. The fees are a significant source of revenue for most U.S. airlines (except Southwest). The others take in more than $2.7 billion in cancellation/change fees each year, according to Bureau of Transportation Statistics data.

Hard-hit cruise lines have been more flexible than airlines, travelers say.

Tom Anderson of Suffolk, Va., was scheduled to go on a Viking River Cruises trip in May through Portugal and Spain. Viking told him he could reschedule without penalty for anytime this year or next. But Delta doesn't list Portugal and Spain as waiver countries, so he has to pay change fees on his airline tickets. (His trip in May doesn't qualify for Delta's new waiver policy issued Monday.)

"The cruise lines have all taken a consumer-friendly approach," Mr. Anderson says. "The airlines have taken a more aggressive approach."

Delta says it has already made six changes to its waiver policies and there could be more. "We will continue to work with our customers, as this is a fluid situation," a spokesman says.

Travelers have also run into expensive problems with third-party ticket sellers, some hotels and Airbnbs, European trains and many other travel vendors unwilling to refund prepaid reservations. With some, huge cancellation fees and penalties can be an expensive surprise.

Jhan Schmitz, a project management consultant who serves as a commissioner of the Palm Springs International Airport in California, was headed to Paris for a conference and wanted to take his wife. He found discounted business-class tickets on United through Wholesale-flights.com. The conference was postponed to mid-June, but he has a conflict with the new date.

Wholesale-flights, of Burlingame, Calif., sells tickets brokered by consolidators -- companies that get inventory from airlines at deep discounts. When Mr. Schmitz went to cancel the flights, the consolidator's terms included a $995 change fee per person and a restriction that he could use the remaining value only through January and only on a Palm Springs-Paris itinerary.

Mr. Schmitz says he didn't see disclosure of the huge change fee or other restrictions beyond United's policy. Wholesale-flights chief executive Igor Fishbeyn says every customer has to sign a "ticket release form" with all the fine print. And the trip insurance Mr. Schmitz bought says it won't cover his coronavirus cancellation.

"The cautionary part of the tale: Beware and understand the risks of booking flights through a third-party website," Mr. Schmitz says.

Mr. Fishbeyn says some of his customers are far worse off than Mr. Schmitz -- they can't make any changes without losing everything they paid. "What's happening to this customer is happening to lots of customers," he says.

Karna Bodman, an author and former Reagan Administration official, had to cancel a trip from Miami to London and Brussels because her husband had surgery and his doctor told him not to go. British Airways would only refund the first-class ticket with a cancellation fee of $1,350 a person, even with Mr. Bodman's doctor's note. The airline told the Bodmans's travel agent it would only refund the full price of the ticket if he were terminally ill.

"No, we haven't died yet," Ms. Bodman says.

A British Airways spokesman says the company won't comment on the situation.

Rick Froh of Fond du Lac, Wis., had a trip to Italy scheduled for March 16. He figured there was no point in going because everything will be closed or limited. Delta banked his airfare with no penalty and his family turned three tickets into extra-legroom seats to Salt Lake City for a ski vacation.

He got a full refund on a Vatican tour and a walking tour of Venice. But his high-speed train tickets in Italy were only eligible for a 60% refund, so a $250 loss. And one of his three Airbnbs was charging a one-night cancellation penalty, which was $450. He's appealing.

"Painful, but we are fortunate the overall travel budget can absorb it," Mr. Froh says.

Write to Scott McCartney at middleseat@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 11, 2020 09:43 ET (13:43 GMT)

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