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Air travel to England from US...canceling

Hello,
I heard a rumor that Rick had created a separate forum for cancelation information. If that is true I can't find it. Can someone please direct me?

I have round trip tickets booked directly through American Airlines. AA services the April 5 trip over to London, but British Air services the May 5 return trip.

I have waited to cancel our April 5 tickets and end up with either a voucher or hope for a refund. Today I received an email from British Air offering a voucher good for one year from when we would have flown. This is better than what AA is officially offering which a voucher that must be used on or before one year after the ticket was purchased.

Also the AA, has an ask for a refund site which tells you to cancel your ticket first, then go to a different web page to ask for a refund.

Any personal experience with American Airlines AND this virus situation that requires a cancelation?

Thank you,
wayne iNWI

Posted by
6733 posts

I heard a rumor that Rick had created a separate forum for cancelation information. If that is true I can't find it. Can someone please direct me?

Not exactly. What there is, is a Thread under the "General Europe" forum, titled "Refunds" which was created by a forum user (and added to by others). You can find that here: Refunds. You will see many people asking questions, and many forum users offering their opinions in response. It is not the official position of the Rick Steves' Europe company, just Q and A from forum participants.

Note that this is a user forum, so folks asking and answering questions (usually) have no connection to the company. If you have a question about cancelation of a Rick Steves tour, you should give their office a call and speak to someone from the company.

Hope that helps.

Posted by
3514 posts

Two important things with airfare:

  1. If the flight has not been cancelled by the airline, the best you will get is a voucher if you do not have a refundable fare. They want passengers to accept these so they do not have to give refunds. Once you accept the voucher, you are no longer scheduled on that flight so if it does cancel, you do not get to replace the voucher with a refund.

  2. If the flight has been cancelled by the airline, they should provide an actual refund as one of the options. Take it. The airline will attempt to reschedule you, but you have the right to refuse the reschedule. Once the Apr 5 flight is cancelled, the entire reservation (both directions) will cancel for your tickets since you can't get there in the first place so will need no return. This may require time on the phone with AA. You should not have to deal directly with BA at all since you stated you booked the entire flight through AA directly. AA never seems to make anything easy, so not sure if the Apr 5 flight has or has not been cancelled yet. Your statement that AA wants you to cancel your flight yourself before requesting the refund sounds to me like they have not cancelled the flight yet and want you to end up under option #1.

Posted by
11027 posts

I heard a rumor that Rick had created a separate forum for cancelation information. If that is true I can't find it. Can someone please direct me?

Is this what you were looking for? --- https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/coronavirus-faq

scroll down to the bottom of "general coronavirus questions" for airline links

Posted by
8257 posts

Some people wait until the flight date is a little closer to see if the airline cancels the flight. If one of the two legs is cancelled, you should be able to get a refund for both legs. I have heard some stories that some airlines have gone to vouchers only. I was able to get a refund from American.

Posted by
8091 posts

My flight was through an independent travel agency/consolidator, and they purchased my flight from American Airlines. But British Airways was the airline partner AA booked the trip with. Confusing. And it was non-refundable.
I had to go back to the travel agency for rescheduling the flight. But they said the future flights were much more than the just over $400 we'd paid for our flights if we chose to go in the Fall. Because British Airways cancelled our flight, we were eligible for a full refund.
But we didn't hear anything from either airline until 1 day prior to our scheduled departure. No one at the travel agent answered emails, and the only way to talk to anyone was at 4:00 a.m. after a long wait on eternal hold. Even then they were ineffective employees working from third world countries barely speaking English.
The trip is cancelled for the time being, but we'll be booking the same trip at a future but unknown date. Next time, we'll be booking directly with the airline, however.

Posted by
2709 posts

It is not clear to me what you bought.

If these are American Airline tickets - the metal does nto matter, it is who you purchased the ticket from - then CALL American Airlines and ask for their help. If that flight no longer is running, then they will instruct you on how to get a refund. Did this early this week as one of the two flights on my trip was an outright cancel.

If these were indeed bought on American, then go to their website and check "My Trips". In our case, our itinerary was gone and it said to contact them. And getting the refund was straight-forward.

This is latest information.

Posted by
10118 posts

Here’s the deal— even if the flight is canceled by the airline, theoretically you are entitled to a refund, but they may try to give you a voucher at this point. Next, you have to call and insist on a refund. Department of Transportation rules entitle you to a refund. I had future credit deposited into my Sky Miles on Friday. I’ll be on the phone with them again on Monday trying to get a refund.

Posted by
4255 posts

David, yes they're charging a small fortune for future flights. Delta wanted 1400 for a flight ot Panama City, Panama in Dec.