I’ve had pretty good luck getting flights changed in this situation.
An unexpected and pleasant surprise: BA just spontaneously issued cash refunds for the travel vouchers we were issued in 2020.
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How were you notified? We have airline credit with BA, according to expedia (I’m guessing that is different than vouchers?). Would rather have a refund at this point.
They sent an email. It was a reward flight….don’t know if that made a difference.
We’re sorry you couldn’t travel on your Reward Flight Booking reference *****.
You accepted a Future Travel Voucher however we know there are some issues regarding the use of vouchers associated with Reward Flight bookings, so to offer you maximum flexibility we’ll be cancelling it and refunding you in full.
You don’t need to do anything. We’ll automatically credit the Avios back to your account and refund the money to your original form of payment. We expect this to take approximately 4 weeks and it means you’ll be able to use your Avios as you wish, to book a new trip on ba.com or however you choose when you are ready to return to the skies.
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Anyone want to guess whether Grand Cayman will be “fully open” or close to it next January/February? We want to book a week, but once we pay it is no refund, period. (We also have a timeshare week that’s much more flexible). Still feels a little risky to me, but if we wait until things are all the way open, there will likely be minimal availability.
I think you might have an issue because you booked a flight through Expedia. Very often the airlines will tell you there is nothing they can do…and trust me…Expedia won’t give two hoots.
I had a similar thing happen with Travelocity. But when they changed my outgoing first flight, it wasn’t arriving until AFTER my connecting flight was long gone. I ended up whining a lot with the airlines and also had a supervisor on the phone…and had my original itinerary which showed seats available. They did the switch…but yikes, what an ordeal phone call that was.
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Wow, thanks for the thread, it was very helpful.
Yep. The airline was willing to put us on a different flight, as well as my daughter, but they could (would?) not put us on the flight she is currently on, as they said it is sold out. Given that the available fare I was seeing was $2500, I’m assuming what they meant was it was sold out for my class of purchase (coach). I decided not to mess with it. Incidentally, my SIL (who is joining us on this trip), originally booked the cheapest flights they could find, which required an inconvenient travel time and a connection. She told me their flights have been changed twice already, and currently they are scheduled to fly direct and arrive at a great time (noon). She’s not counting on this being the last version of her itinerary, though.
Ah…air travel in 2022…
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Question for Hawaii travelers -
We just went to the Hawaii govt site, requested vaccine exemption, and uploaded picture of vaccine/booster card.
It gave us a pop-up that says card will be verified at airport, and sent us a QR code.
What else do we need to do, especially if we are traveling on SW airlines? I seem to recall mention of doing something once we are at the airport.
TIA
You can get cleared at the departure airport if you get there early enough or in Hawaii with the QR code.
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Just cancelled our cruise to Cabo, I think we will get a full refund. We still keep our trip to London and Spain this summer. I tend to book using points now, much cheaper than cancellable flights.
It depends on the airline - but I think most flying to Hawaii have a system in place. In the case of SWA - they had a special kiosk set up after TSA security. They scared the QR code, they verified your ID and the vaccine info and then gave us a wrist band. Once in Hawaii those with wrist bands walked straight thru to baggage claim. Those without were screened in Hawaii.
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Make sure your phone’s battery is always charged! To get pre-flight clearance, you will have to log in into the Safe Travels website and open your current trip. You will see the QR code and two check marks. The first one will be green. The second one will be red but could turn green 12 hours before departure (this would mean your card has been already verified by someone). If it does not, you will need to show your actual vaccination card in addition to the boarding pass and ID to get a wristband that would allow you to bypass screening upon arrival. At some airports, there are special airline kiosks set up for this verification. At Seatac, Alaska has its gate agents do this verification.
This is how this looks on iPhone:
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Do you mean the opposite? Because mine shows Exempt as green for a trip later this year and Screened is red.
I’ve pegged what I like about islands since many places have Big Water. It’s the relaxed atmosphere most people have, taking time to talk story or just being welcoming.
I suspect that those who don’t have it either try to get off the island or stick to being hermits.
Of course there are always “those” tourists, but the rest of us talk about them, so at least they’re stories too.
If we opt for a condo, it will definitely be on an island we enjoy - maybe not this particular island. Time will tell. But definitely an island. I’m glad we get to stay a month. I’m glad we’re away from political talk everywhere - that’s so refreshing right now. I’m glad folks on this island are Covid aware and conscious of others without being Covid afraid (locals and tourists). All of that is a definite “fit” for us!
Medical lad just tested negative, so soon he (and hopefully his GF) will be joining us for almost two weeks! It’s his first break (at all) since June and they’ve both been really looking forward to it.
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Yes, that is correct. Sorry. 
The “exempt” will be green as soon as either the test results or vaxx card is uploaded and accepted by the system. The “screened” will be green after either manual screening or, if you have already traveled to Hawaii with a vaxx exemption, it will turn green 12 or so hours before the flight. You will need both green check marks and a wristband to bypass arrival screening. Some hotels will want to see both green check marks to let you check into your room. Restaurants will ask for your id and vaxx card. Each island may have its own requirements though.
It looks like Maui scrapped booster requirements for dining.
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We went out to dinner last night (Maui). Big signs saying ‘must show proof of vaccination’. No one asked, no one mentioned it.
We sat outside. In order to get there we had to check in with the outside receptionist. Don a mask, walk about 20 feet thru an ‘indoor’ area with three open sides and the fourth side was a bar. All patrons at the bar elbow to elbow without masks.
It was funny - but hey - we just go with the flow.
@Creekland We are also finding people here to be super friendly. Most are eager to engage in a conversation. I think so many of us are just starved for human interaction.
A few people who don’t wear masks. Sometimes it’s just because they forgot. No one is too freaked out and I’ve yet to encounter anyone rude.
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We have not been to Maui in 3 years since our favorite place was sold to a new owner, but we have been to Hawaii (Oahu and the Big Island) six (!) times in the past 2 years. Have to say that vaxx cards were checked religiously at every place we ate. No biggie. Masks were required in all indoor common areas at the hotels/condo places and in stores, but on the pool decks or beach walk, hardly anyone wore a mask. We did not. No one made a stink (except for one lady who hissed at us as we were walking maskless on the deserted beachfront path on Oahu - but that was in November 2020). 
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Yesterday, we had to show VAX card and I’d at restaurant on Oahu to dine outdoors as well as to go to theater that was 25% of capacity. Everyone wore masks through entire time at theater.
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Maui counts as an island. Kauai and The Big Island are two of our favorites and are contenders in our potential condo hunt. We’re exploring the Caribbean first since it’s closer. A dive guide who worked in Maui told us we’re going to like diving here better. We’ll see. We were supposed to go diving this morning, but storms postponed it.
A lady from Dominica told us to be sure we check out that island, so it might have to move higher on our list. It dropped down due to taking a bit more effort to get there. We’ve heard from many that it’s gorgeous.