Traveling in August - to cancel or no?

By what means are you arriving in Italy? Some airlines will not be flying to most of Europe this summer. Did you sign up for the government STEP program to keep up-to-date on border closings?

"when we bought the trip insurance it was already a known global pandemic" - You must have your reasons for doing so. Wait to see if the airline cancels is my advice, and do not book any accommodations.

Flights are through United Airlines.

“Never take advice from strangers on the internet.” -Plato

That goes for me as well.

If it was me I would wait it out. You’re four solid months from going. Four months ago there were incredibly few people who foresaw what would be happening now. Much can change and fast.

Wait until the airline cancels your flight so you can get a full refund. There's no downside of that approach since you can always cancel last minute and rebook or get a voucher for a future flight. Absent of some miracle breakthrough (I'm not counting one), I don't think traveling as early as the summer is a great idea even if it's physically possible.

Most likely, your flight will be cancelled, so at that point, you should get your money back. It’s unlikely that any of Europe is going to be open for transatlantic travel this summer.

I have canceled my July/August trip to Europe (England/Germany/Austria). My flight actually got canceled by AA so it was an opportunity for me to get a refund. I have family in the UK (sisters/brother) and it is not looking good for any travel this summer. Some villages may not even welcome outside visitors. The health care is stretched, food supply is more difficult, I just don't see it changing that quickly. News from the UK is advising residents of the UK not to book European summer trips. There are so many variables. I just decided for my family we are not going to risk it this year. If your flight is not canceled, then wait and perhaps you can get a refund rather than a voucher. List the dates of your hotel cancellations. (Don't book non-refundable hotels), and keep tour deposits, etc to a minimum. Unwinding a vacation and getting refunds is no fun.

Margaret

Dr Bonnie Henry, our Provincial Medical Health Officer said today that International travel is highly unlikely this summer. Now, we're a different country than you, so things may be different for the US, but I would not expect to travel until next year. Just saying......

Thanks everyone! If we move our trip, do you think visiting in the Fall would be worth it or would it be best to wait and go next summer?

As to fall, we have a trip planned (Aug 31 thru Oct 19) and are biding our time to see if A) our flight will be cancelled and B) if the Schengen will admit travelers without the need to isolate for 14 days. My next pay-in-advance date is mid-August so we will wait until then to decide.

I think future trips will be planned on paper but no tickets purchased until 6 or 8 weeks prior. Too many unknowns.

We like to travel in the fall - weather is still great, generally less people, and not as expensive. If you wait until next fall, there might be a vaccine ready by then.

The text of the policy governs. It is possible to sell a "Cancel for Any Reason" policy that has exclusions. Those exclusions might include a known pandemic. I have no idea what mak16's policy says.

My trip insurance doesn’t have an option to elect into “cancel for any reason”. They explicitly say that cancelation out of fear of COVID-19 wouldn’t be covered. I would only be covered if I can no longer go because I get sick with COVID-19 or it would provide coverage if I get sick while I am there. But I can’t simply cancel and get money back because I no longer want to go due to this.

If you had a "cancel for any reason clause", the premium probably would been doubled. For obvious reasons policies with that clause are very expensive. If I were you I would postpone till next summer. Lets be realistic --- the virus is not going to go anywhere or disappear in the next couple of months. All of the current efforts of closures, restrictions, etc., are designed to REDUCE the rate of infection. Non of those efforts will eliminate the infections. Flattening the curve simply means the same number of sick people over a longer period of time to reduce the stress on the medical system. Nothing about getting rid of the virus. So --- where do you want to be sick? Home or Europe? I would prefer home so we will not travel until there is a vaccine or very effective treatment. But since you are on the younger side you may be willing to assume the risk.

We’ve got dates about a week after your departure. Fortunately, or unfortunately, airfare and river cruise were already paid in full. Neither has cancelled yet, so we’re just biding time. We have not made any independent reservations for the days on either side of river cruise and won’t as yet. If we had not already paid in full, I’m pretty sure we’d cancel because we fall into that senior category. I wish there was a perfect answer to offer.

Let's try to be a little bit more constructive. Nobody knows what will happen in the next future, I hope for you that August will be a great opportunity for you to visit Italy and Croatia without so many people. Here are the facts, on average statistic 1.2 billion people traveled the world in 2019, and 500 million "only" in 1998.
So my point is that all of us will have a very small window to visit very popular places without that much crowd.
I honestly hope that for you August will work well, but if you can keep hotels, tours, other transport on standby and be ready to go, trust me it will be amazing.

Cheers

Danilo

We have the same dates in August and haven't cancelled anything yet. We do hope that everything will be alright as we do not want to postpone our trip to Dolomites and Garda lake to the next year.

Wait till a week prior then decide.

The most likely scenario is that you have to cancel, but you should be able to get a voucher from United that you can use in the next two years (I just got that for a trip to NYC I was supposed to take last week).

If you have hotels booked, you should be able to cancel at least up to 72 hours prior.

If you have rental cars prepaid (for example with AutoEurope) you can cancel and get a refund up to 48 hours prior.

Right now if I wanted to go to Italy I couldn’t. Italian citizens or dual citizens living abroad like me can only go to Italy if moving back permanently, and only for special circumstances (if one lost his job and could not stay abroad anymore). Even if that was the case there is a prohibition for anybody coming from overseas into Italy to use public transportation for 14 days and there is a mandatory quarantine for the same length of time before one can see any Italian resident. I’m in no rush to travel to face house arrest for two weeks. I don’t see that easing up much for the rest of the year.

...Nobody knows what will happen in the next future...... I really wish people would quit saying that because we do know a lot about what is going to happen in the near future --- This we know -------------

1. The virus is not seasonal. It will remind with us this Fall along with the more common flu.

2. The virus appears to be fairly easy to catch, The virus has a hasty habit of being infectious without the host being aware. So it spreads much easier and quicker than the common flu or cold.

3. Some studies are suggesting that we need to have at least 50, 60% of the population infected before it will diminish. With about 2% infected, we have a long ways to go.

4. The is no effective, quick treatment. If it is bad enough you will go to the hospital. And a solid 1% or perhaps 2% will die.

5. There is no vaccine. Best hope is something by year end --- But think of the logistics of trying to vaccinate 200 million people or more in the US alone. Even after a vaccine is approved it will take time -- four, five, six months ??? -- to get enough needles, cotton swabs, doses, etc., to vaccinate 200 to 300 million people in the US.

   Personally think it is foolish to suggest that by some miracle it virus will disappear and we are able to return to normal traveling within the next four to six months. Not going to happen. I just hoping we can return to normal travel by Fall 2021.

   Not trying to be negative but any trying to be very realistic. This "thing" is not going to go away soon.

Frank, so will US tourists be permitted to visit European countries in August? I need to know.

James
Greece is a yes
Italy will be a no
France, unknown. Nobody ever knows what the French will do about anything .

onefastbob, will there be enough needles?

No one can give you an answer. However, in general, not Coronavirus related, Fall would be a better time to visit than Summer due to heat and crowds.

James E— on this forum that will be a definite yes!