Travel ban cancellations — a world of hurt for everyone

Stranded in foreign airports when their flights home were suddenly cancelled, scores of South Africans were forced to buy expensive tickets on other airlines — only to discover that their travel insurance policies don’t cover such a situation.

Melvi Todd of Cape Town flew to France via Dubai with her husband on Emirates on November 20, and they were due to return home on Sunday, November 28.

Two days earlier, they received the usual “please check in” e-mail from the airline. “This was after European countries started banning SA, so our perception was that Emirates was still flying,” she says.

But the next day, November 27, they were notified that their return flights were cancelled.

“We were given no indication of alternate plans for how we would get home,” she said. “All we were told was that our ticket was ‘still valid’ and to contact our travel agency.”

Both Todd and her husband ran out of airtime and Skype credit trying to contact the Emirates helpline, holding on for up to 40 minutes to no avail.

The desperate couple eventually took matters into their own hands, buying tickets on Air France/KLM at a cost of almost R34,000.

“If Emirates could send us an e-mail saying our flight was cancelled, what stopped them from communicating alternate arrangements?”

On Monday, Emirates sent them rebooked tickets with Air France, with a departure date that was, according to their original booking, when they would already have been back home.

“Where exactly did they think we were? How is it OK to leave passengers for 48 hours with zero confirmation about how we would get home?”

Travelstart has since informed the couple that they will be getting a refund of R7,726 for both tickets, for which they paid more than R16,000.

“How is this OK?” she asked. 

This comes as Bryte, the company they bought travel insurance from, has rejected their claim.

“We do not pay for any expenses for cancelling, changing, cutting short or postponing an insured journey ... when the service of the public transport carrier on which you are booked to travel is withdrawn from service by the order or recommendation of the regulatory authority in any country. 

“You must direct your claim to the public transport carrier you were booked to travel on,” the company said.

Other insurers have also rejected claims from other South Africans who had to make very expensive plans to get home on other airlines when Emirates cancelled their flights.

Hollard, for example, told one traveller: “The policy does not cover if the flights are cancelled by an airline. If an airline cancels a trip, the insured must submit a claim with the airline. If the client purchases a new ticket because the airline cancelled his original ticket, the cost for the new ticket is not covered.”

Responding, John Friel, Travelstart’s SA manager, said that when Emirates cancelled all flights to and from all points in SA last Friday, “There was no policy given to any passenger or travel agent on how to deal with any impacted passenger, more importantly passengers who were already outside SA.

“All flights were simply cancelled with no re-accommodation policy — at that point we had no information or guidance to give to any impacted passenger, which made for an incredibly stressful situation for both passenger and travel agent,” he said.

“Only on Monday was this re-accommodation policy — flying to their final destination on another airline — advised. But for many passengers it was too late for us to assist as their immediate need was to get home and the only way to do so was to purchase a new ticket on another airline.

“We have advised these customers that we will reach out to them today [Friday] and assist with applying for the refund for the unused tickets on Emirates and help with lodging a claim to Emirates for the tickets that they had to purchase on another airline as a result of all us being left in the dark,” he added.

A Johannesburg woman, who asked not to be named, was due to fly home from the Maldives, with a group of 50 other South Africans, via Dubai on Monday, when they got word that their flight was cancelled. 

“We contacted our travel agent and wasted a whole day of our holiday looking for alternative ways to get home,” she said.

They ended up flying home on a Qatar flight at a cost of R34,000 per ticket.

“We had to scramble to come up with the money but we were stranded, not knowing who else would cancel flights to SA, so this was the only option,” she said.

“I have no travel insurance, but it seems that wouldn’t have helped me with this anyway. 

“And we’ve heard that Emirates will only pay a small percentage of the cancelled flight fares,” she said. “That’s not sufficient. Many who were on a family holiday will be left with a serious debt to repay.”

The Association of Southern African Travel Agents (Asata) CEO, Otto de Vries, said for both the travel and tourism industries and those with bookings they can’t use, it’s been a “bloodbath” of a week.

“We’ve been told this situation is temporary, but no-one knows how temporary, so how can you plan for that? It’s just a totally overwhelming situation. I’ve had members in tears on the phone to me. They’d been gearing up for a bumper festive season.

“Since last year, many are working with skeleton staff — they just don’t have the resources to deal with the deluge of queries from affected passengers.”

Travel insurers will not pay claims to travellers whose entire trips were cancelled if they receive compensation vouchers from the travel provider, such as an airline.

And here’s something else those intending to travel overseas should know: typically, travel insurance policies don’t pay for medical expenses for Covid-19 related medical conditions, according to Old Mutual Insure spokesperson Lizo Mnguni.

South Africans are also discovering that they won’t be refunded for last-minute Airbnb cancellations either.

A Johannesburg-based doctor made a R72,000, eight-night Airbnb booking in London to attend his nephew’s wedding. He was due to depart this week, but the UK’s travel ban on South Africans put paid to that.

The Airbnb host refused to refund him. 

A London-based Airbnb spokesperson told TimesLIVE: “We encourage all guests to review host cancellation policies, which are made clear before booking. Hosts determine their own cancellation terms.”

Airbnb bookings that were made after the global pandemic was declared, and which are cancelled as a result of Covid-19 travel disruptions, are not covered under Airbnb’s “extenuating circumstances” policy. 

“The doctor’s reservation was booked with a strict cancellation policy, meaning to receive a full refund guests must cancel within 48 hours of booking. If guests cancel between seven and 14 days before check-in, they’ll be paid 50% for all nights,” the spokesperson said.

And that’s why he’s lost his entire R72,000.

Airbnb has introduced an additional cancellation policy, known as “firm”. Those who book far in advance can cancel up to 30 days before for a full refund.

“In pilot tests of this policy, our data showed that hosts who switched from strict to firm, saw that overall bookings were boosted by an average of 9%,” the spokesperson said.

The cancellation policy you should avoid in these uncertain times is “strict”.

CONTACT WENDY: E-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za; Twitter: @wendyknowler; Facebook: wendyknowlerconsumer

TimesLIVE