I am hoping someone here might have some insight. Okay, so my husband and I are flying into London in 5 weeks. I did not get any flight insurance, and I purchased my continental tickets through orbitz. If the volcanic ash continues, do I need to worry about refunds or getting on a different flight? It looks like Continental is giving people refunds or allowing them to change flights, but not sure if that applies to me since I bought them on orbitz, though I would hope they would honor that as well. In all actuality, I am hoping I will not have to worry about this and that the ash will subside and not ruin our honeymoon. :)
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32353 posts
Jill,
I'll be leaving on Thursday, and I'm starting to get a bit concerned also. I'm hoping that the situation settles down somewhat before then.
According to the news reports today, many flights are still able to get through to Europe, although they've had to be re-routed to fly around the ash cloud (requiring extra fuel).
Keeping my fingers crossed.....
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
34 posts
Don't feel badly that you didn't get travel insurance, we were told that travel insurance doesn't cover "acts of God." I don't have any other info but am also worried about my trip. Good luck and have a happy honeymoon.
Posted by
Lewiston, Idaho, USA
2092 posts
Keeping my fingers crossed too! We're definitely only taking carry-ons so we won't have to worry about bags making the connections.
Posted by
Eugene, Oregon, USA
959 posts
You have absolutely no control over this aside from tailoring a fight plan that comes into Italy from the South/West or a Direct Western Route from the US. We only know what is likely to happen based on the past behavior of this volcanic Complex: And the day to day odds are good. But the overall odds are bad once that rift field starts, for three years out. The Planet is posting notice that it wants to go to another, wider belt hole, to the belt of the Mid-Atlantic rift.
So for you, I'd risk it. But for people that have no plans in motion yet, you will have to re-think what you are doing if you don't want the risk or have a limited time frame to travel in. Volcanoes don't "go away," they just go dormant. And they certainly are not part of human time frames in planning things into the future. Its going to be great savings in the next three years for impulse travel buyers to fly that corridor.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
530 posts
Jill, There's no one on earth who can predict the effects of the volcano 5 weeks out. No meteorologist, no vulcanologist, certainly no fellow traveler. About all you can do is watch the news stories and not fret about it. If you're super concerned, contact orbitz to see what their cancellation/rebook policy is in light of this natural event.
We returned from Iceland a little over a week ago. Flight over was routine, since the plume was blowing off-shore. Then the wind shifted and blew over Iceland itself. Delayed our return by 3 days. Ended up being the best 3 days of the trip.
When you travel, you gotta stay loose. It's an adventure. Keep your head about you and nothing will ruin your honeymoon.
Have a great trip!
Posted by
OP
Kingwood, TX, USA
93 posts
Sorry, guess I wasn't clear in what I posted. I am not flying into Italy from the states. I am flying into London, then hopping around Europe, ending up in Italy.
I know there is nothing I can do about a volcano, obviously. My question is specifically about the fact that I bought my plane tickets off of Orbitz months ago before I ever knew this volcano existed with no insurance. I just wanted to know if anyone knew what can happen if it happens to be spewing when I am set to leave since I did not buy the tickets directly from Continental. Hope that makes more sense?
Posted by
Dallas, TX, USA
1170 posts
If the flight is canceled due to volcanic ash, they have to give you credit towards a future flight or a refund. They can't hold you to a flight if it no longer exists no matter where you bought your ticket. No use in worrying until there is something to worry about.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA
17 posts
I am supposed to fly to Milan on Wednesday; does anyone know if it would be better to fly into Rome instead? I checked and saw there were a few seats open on the Rome flight and was thinking about calling my airline to switch. Any help would be appreciated.
Posted by
Lynnwood, WA, USA
9 posts
I was heading to Florence via Paris on April 17th when all this volcano stuff got started. Our flights were cancelled and we didn't have trip insurance. we booked through Expedia and while they said we qualified for a refund they told us we needed to go to Delta - Delta told us they couldn't see the amount we paid and we needed to go through Expedia. It became a complete nightmare of no one wanting to take responsibility. So - I just went to the credit card company and disputed the charge since we didn't get what we paid for and they credited the $$ back right away - Expedia is not disputing the charge back. In the end when we found out our flight was cancelled we turned around and booked a trip to Cancun leaving the next morning - ended up with a fun vacation albiet not the one we were looking forward to.