Unfortunately, one is completely at the mercy of the individual hotel no matter what the chain claims to be the protocol.
I’ve been waiting to chat with an agent on CheapoAir for over 3 1/2 hours now, to get a refund for our Boston-Barcelona flight. There were 23 people ahead of me in line when I started and now it says three. But it’s been stuck on three for a long time. Sigh. I guess I will never buy tickets from a discount website again. Not that the airlines would be much better.
Have several cancelled flights to Europe (for us and other family members). What a pain - of course not the same credit card used to pay, hard to get through to expedia. Hate this.
About hotel stay, one plus is hotels are not very full these days. If they would like to rooms empty for 2-3 days, I think they could easily do that.
I’m not sure that I’m making the trip, but over July Fourth I have a room in a Four Seasons. My friend booked there because they are working with Johns Hopkins on their safety protocol.
@“Youdon’tsay” jealous! I would go, just to get away. And if anyone is going to get sanitizing right, it would be the Four Seasons.
Ugh, I feel your pain, although if it helps, know that booking directly with the airlines is also a problem with coronavirus flight cancellation refunds.
I booked directly with Iberia for flights in May to Barcelona and from Porto. The flights were cancelled in March, and I finally got my refund last week. I called, emailed, sent DMs on Facebook and Twitter, and finally filed a Complaint with the US Dept of Transportation. Not sure what finally did it.
Eurowings never did offer refunds even when they cancelled - just credit vouchers. I’m pretty sure they were supposed to refund, but that doesn’t mean they did. I waited up until the last minute to see if they would, but no. I finally accepted a voucher that we may very well never use - esp med school lad since he’ll be a resident somewhere and hardly traveling Europe.
Thank you! We will still call the hotel directly before we even consider booking (we were considering using points) but we have to take them at their word…
Re-Booked our catamaran for next May this morning. The boat we wanted was already booked for the week we wanted to go. We will go a week earlier and even with that date they only had one of the size and layout we wanted still available.
One reason we went ahead and rebooked is that the charter company only offered a credit and we had already fully paid. The airline was being difficult and saying credit only no refunds. As I paid for 7 tickets it’s a lot of money we had put out. We had booked direct with airline Air Tahiti Nui. They were holding fast that they weren’t required to give refunds. My next step would have been to file a complaint with the Department of Transportation and with my credit card company.
It’s hard to get excited about a trip a year away especially when it’s already been canceled once.
I always thought my travels would be limited by physical limitations as I aged. I figured I still had a lot of good travel years left. I never considered a world where no air travel anywhere was advised.
That’s easy for you to say because your livelihood doesn’t depend on tourism. I feel for those folks who make their money from tourism. It must be very difficult for them. They have to balance the need to make a living and protecting against COVID. Which is something that all of us (to a greater or less extent) have to do as well.
Jumping into this thread for travel thoughts as I think about visiting some colleges with S21.
Which of the following would get your vote for possible travel in July? The destination is Pittsburgh. Realize there may not be an official tour going – would be fine justing walking around the campus and area.
Option A – Same day fly in and fly out with non-stop flight being < 2 hours each way. Would take Lyft to get to the campus. (So, no hotel.)
Option B – 8-hour each way driving trip that involves one night’s stay in hotel. We could pack lunches and snacks, but would need to stop for bathroom breaks, gas. Would probably get take out dinner and eat at the hotel.
Option C – Neither. Stick with the virtual tours for now.
Dipping my toes into thinking about this b/c S is a rising senior and, like everyone else, we had to cancel his Spring Break tours this year. This Fall he’ll be very busy, and I’m concerned his schedule won’t accommodate trips until Jan 2021 when we may be in 2nd wave of COVID, though of course who knows…
Tks for any input!
When we toured Pitt we stayed at a hotel very near campus. I think there’s only one if I recall correctly (and things haven’t changed since 2011). Staying there helps give one a vibe for the place, so even if you opt to fly, I’d recommend it. My mind is too old to remember if we walked from the hotel to campus or not.
Otherwise, between driving and flying the question is mainly how much do you like road trips? We like them, but many don’t. I don’t know that there’s much of a risk factor difference. Perhaps there is on the flights, I’m not sure TBH. I doubt there’s much risk in the hotel. Those places seem to be concentrating on keeping things clean at this point and are probably rotating rooms if they can leaving different ones open for a night - just in case.
Pitt is a place you’d want to visit in person if possible. Many kids like it or hate it due to the urban-ness. My lad loved it on paper, but ended up preferring U Rochester due to their having a real campus (bubble) vs Pitt’s being right in town itself. When U Rochester came in a little less expensive for us (about 1K), that sealed his mind. U Rochester isn’t always less expensive! My lad was high stat. Just tossing in the “location/vibe” aspect. There’s a difference real life can show folks that virtual can’t.
There’s no doubt in my mind my guy would have still been happy if Pitt had been his final choice though. It’s a very nice school. One last note, if sports are a “thing” for you, Pitt would beat URoc. Student love of their teams is another thing my lad put in the con column compared to URoc’s students all talking with him about their research while at a singing/dance practice (he spent the night with students). Some Pitt students do research, but not those he had personal contact with. A high majority of URoc’s did/do.
I would do option A and stay overnight - perhaps visit more than 1 college. To be honest, the more I read about Covid, the less I am concerned about ‘cleanliness’. It seems that people pick up Covid by close contact for more 10 minutes. I wouldn’t be concerned about staying in a hotel room (wash hands, use sanitizer when no sink is available). You won’t be spending time indoors with others in a hotel. Take the stairs or ask for a low floor to avoid elevators.
The road trip requires stops, etc. I’d fly.
Option A involves long periods of exposure on the airplane (30 minutes or more). I vote for option B.
Pitt has three hotels right on their campus.
I would opt for a road trip. 8 hours IMO is only a couple of pit stops. I can give you a bonding opportunity. Versus having to sit in a (who knows how clean) car with a (who knows how healthy) Uber driver. Bring some Chlorox spray and paper towels and wipe the toilet and sink in your hotel room if you think their cleanness is less than stellar. Sleep with an open window to maximize air flow. IMO, risk from staying in a hotel is very low.
Thanks for fixing that. My mind is older and we haven’t been there since 2011 when my guy looked at them, so memory of details are a little fuzzy, plus things could be different now (or a couple of the others full when I looked so not hitting my radar).
Airplane air is filtered. It is safer than almost enclosed space. I also turn the air on to max to push away stale air.
What airline would you use? Ad in today’s paper saying SW guarantees empty middle seats through July 31.