Flights now or later?

[ilovetotravel1977]

We might all have to start booking travel closer to the dates we want after all of this! That would suck as I love having trips booked early so I can research, plan, repeat.

 

[cari12]

We might all have to start booking travel closer to the dates we want after all of this! That would suck as I love having trips booked early so I can research, plan, repeat.

Me too. Plus with AirMiles, if you don’t book early, you risk not getting the flights/dates/times you want.

 

[ottawamom]

It's a careful balancing act. Especially now as we've seen some of the fine print come to life. In all the years I've booked with Airmiles this year is the first time I've had to cancel. These are exceptional times. Ones we're not likely to soon forget.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Did anyone have the insurance on their miles? I wonder if Air Miles will amend their coverage after this is over with?

 

[cari12]

Did anyone have the insurance on their miles? I wonder if Air Miles will amend their coverage after this is over with?

I didn’t have the insurance and someone who got a refund on the weekend did not either. I asked if it would have been different for me if I had bought the insurance and they said that many claims were getting denied as there wasn’t an official travel ban to the US.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

@cari12 that is what I was thinking. No ban, no pay back.

 

[hdrolfe]

I am planning to wait for my December cruise, I'm still debating whether to fly from Ottawa non-direct or direct from Montreal. And also hoping to use airmiles for at least one portion of the flight, but was kind of banking on megamiles for the push to get that... so... all on hold! I am also hoping the CAD doesn't do too much more badly but I have reworked my budget to $1.50 CAD for every USD... hopefully that's safe. I really want to be able to go on that trip. Any way! I would wait regardless, to see how this all falls out.

 

[Where's Wall-E]

We are booking before the end of the month with Air Canada, as they are offering a no-penalty change up to 2 hours before your flight, through December 31. If this situation continues through November (when we plan to go), we feel comfortable with our choice. They are also offering some security for cancellations vs. changes too.

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/travel-news-and-updates/2020/covid-19.html

 

[gskywalker]

Yes laid off. Sorry I read the story in French so I might not have used the right word. But I wouldn't be surprised if some/many travel companies go bankrupt in the next few months.

Agreed, the only way all the travel companies come out of this is with lots of loans from the governments.

 

[ottawamom]

We are booking before the end of the month with Air Canada, as they are offering a no-penalty change up to 2 hours before your flight, through December 31. If this situation continues through November (when we plan to go), we feel comfortable with our choice. They are also offering some security for cancellations vs. changes too.

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/travel-news-and-updates/2020/covid-19.html

Good point. I'm planning on changing my April flights to November so I guess it doesn't matter when I make that change because it's not a new booking.

 

[hdrolfe]

Good point. I'm planning on changing my April flights to November so I guess it doesn't matter when I make that change because it's not a new booking.

They have cancelled all their Air Canada Vacations bookings out of Canada... through the end of April. I'm not sure how that impacts flights but worth keeping a watch for I guess! I think you just have flights booked. I imagine it's only a matter of time though.

 

[Aug2020distrip]

We are booking before the end of the month with Air Canada, as they are offering a no-penalty change up to 2 hours before your flight, through December 31. If this situation continues through November (when we plan to go), we feel comfortable with our choice. They are also offering some security for cancellations vs. changes too.

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/travel-news-and-updates/2020/covid-19.html

this is where I’m at with our west jet flights. 2 things if we book by end of the month: waiving cancellation fees
Companion vouchers are $99 (going up to $199 April 1).
Our plan was to book next week for our end of August trip.
My fear though is, sadly, if WestJet never recovers and goes under, would we get money back? Or is that lost forever?

 

[Frozen2014]

I know...such as dilemma as things are so up in the air

For our trips:

1. August 2020- Flights booked awhile ago on WestJet. Canadian Disney tickets already purchased and Pop booked. Final payment is end of July. We also have a 4 night cruise following with final payment mid June. Up in the air if we'll make the cruise and/or the parks.
2. December 2020 (Xmas break)- Our March break cruise was cancelled so we re-booked same cruise for December. We have a 1 year credit from Porter so do we reschedule now (price is about a wash) or do we wait? If we wait, xmas price could be $$$ but also not 100% sure cruises will be back by Dec (or Porter flights around)...so we could lose the credit. (Porter doesn't fly to where we need for our march break cruise)
3. March break 2021 - Cruise booked. Do we jump on flights when they open in about a month? March break flights typically are a lot on opening day and only go up from there.

 

[Where's Wall-E]

this is where I’m at with our west jet flights. 2 things if we book by end of the month: waiving cancellation fees
Companion vouchers are $99 (going up to $199 April 1).
Our plan was to book next week for our end of August trip.
My fear though is, sadly, if WestJet never recovers and goes under, would we get money back? Or is that lost forever?

I would hope that we don't have to worry about WestJet, but these are unprecedented times. I would think if worst comes to worst, WestJet can unload Swoop as an asset. They wouldn't be worth a huge amount, but it would facilitate some financial recovery at least.

Our booking with AC vs. WJ was simply pricing at this point. AC is about $200 cheaper.

 

[Aug2020distrip]

I would hope that we don't have to worry about WestJet, but these are unprecedented times. I would think if worst comes to worst, WestJet can unload Swoop as an asset. They wouldn't be worth a huge amount, but it would facilitate some financial recovery at least.

Our booking with AC vs. WJ was simply pricing at this point. AC is about $200 cheaper.

Yes, AC is definitely cheaper it seems! It’s about $850 for us but we have about $650 WestJet dollars plus the companion so for us, it’s our best bet. I think we will go ahead and book. But I’m stressed!

 

[Lumpy1106]

Short answer; WAIT!

I booked our flights back in October for our August trip. RT, LAX-MCO was around $350 RT x 5, which is a lot - so we used out True Blue points. All good, but as I was researching, I set a Google alert for the flight. I got a text yesterday from Google: the flight is now $135, RT. Seriously considering calling Jet Blue to see if I can get the points back now and re-book, cash.

 

[Sue M]

I have 2 trips booked Aug and late Nov/Dec. both are room only. I have the Canadian ticket offer for Aug trip, 2 tix. For Nov I was considering exchanging my Canadian ticket for an AP.

Im flying Alaska out of SeaTac, and on their website it says they are fully refunding tickets if you have to cancel due to the Virus.

I am worried about my Aug trip. But it’s far enough away that I’m taking the wait and see attitude. Fingers crossed.

I’d be surprised if Alaska goes under, but presumably if the unthinkable happens since I booked it on my Mastercard they would cover it
Does anyone know?

 

[Sue M]

So our planning is for our October trip.
we are flying down.
Wondering if we should look to booking flights now or after things settle down?
what do you frequent fliers think?
better savings now or later.
TIA

I would book now only if you are flying on a major airline and they have a clause saying they have a no penalty cancelation, or change, and you will be fully refunded.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Bottom line for us, is our bottom line. 1 simple question to ask yourself, if you ask me - and you did ask for opinions, so this is mine.
Can you afford to be out the money if the trip ends up not happening for any number of reasons?
No one can predict what will happen next week, never mind in October or even later. For us there's no way we'll be booking ANYTHING until this settles into what will be the new normal. We would much rather have that money available to us immediately if a need arises. Once we do feel we can safely venture anywhere, we'll have to wait until we can afford whatever it costs at that point.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I know I will stop buying WDW gift cards and just put that money into my vacation fund. When this all calms, I can buy them at that time.