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I usually fly from Tucson to Germany for the warm weather months, May-October to avoid the extreme heat in AZ. I have an inexpensive apartment near Leipzig that I keep on a year-round lease, so I have my own place to stay (i.e. no hotels).
As of now, there are no cases of corona virus in the city where my apartment is, and just a few in the states of Saxony and Saxon-Anhalt (in eastern Germany). I will wait another 4-6 weeks to decide when to buy an airplane ticket. I want to make sure this mess is under control before I buy a ticket and head off to the airport. Airfare prices look to be stable or even falling in the near future, and there won't be any difficulty in booking a flight, even if I buy just a couple of weeks in advance. Yes, wait and see for me.
I don't think it's necessarily short sighted. I believe that as of right now, the waiver/exception only applies to tickets booked between March 1 and March 31 for most airlines. So it's not a long-term thing. I would wager they'll take it month to month (i.e. if there's still Covid-19 hysteria on April 1, they may offer the same deal). Because there are no guarantees that the exception will last, people who want to take advantage of the opportunity will have to book now rather than wait. Because if they wait until after March 31, they may not have the same flexibility.
Under normal circumstances, airlines generally use dynamic pricing anyway which tends to hit the early birds harder. Of course, walk up fares and very last minute fares (i.e. week of) are often astronomical. But the normal pricing structure of a fare is typically higher way in advance (6 months to a year out) vs. closer in (one to two months out). The airlines know a lot of travelers want to "play it safe" and book way in advance to avoid potential price increases. So they price fares higher for dates that are far in the future. They typically lower them a month or two out to fill the planes. Then they jack them up in the week or two before the flight.
I have no issue with any of that but you can characterize as ‘short-sighted’ a move that only attempts to mitigate a crash in new reservations instead of temporarily adopting a policy that would ensure the satisfaction of already existing customers. I have upcoming trips with Air France and with Air Canada; the former’s new policy is that all existing reservations can be rebooked for a later date or exchanged for a 1-year voucher without a change fee, while the latter adopted a similar rule to the US legacy airlines which only waives fees on new reservations made after the announcement. My opinion of Air France has become a bit more favorable while my opinion of Air Canada didn’t change (That’s what I expected from them), and in the future I will be more likely to choose AF over AC because of that more favorable opinion if the cost of both options is reasonably close. From a profit-maximizing perspective, I don’t know what’s the best road to take, but I would venture that a good part of the decision is based on somewhat unsubstantiated beliefs and not data.
Yup. I received emails from both Delta and United announcing that all ticket fare classes booked after March 1 will incur no change fees for the next 12 months. American is doing the same. Will this last beyond the the current outbreak? we'll see. I doubt it.
That's good on those airlines. Sadly, I bought my tickets about 2.5 weeks too soon, so am not covered by this policy.
Frankly, the high change fee is ridiculous, and Southwest shows that its not necessary.
I’ve cancelled all of my cancellable hotels. I still have time to rebook if things are under control. AirBnB bookings, I get 50% off before a certain date. I’m waiting for the word quarantine so I can get my full refund and Chase Business ink travel insurance.
That's good on those airlines. Sadly, I bought my tickets about 2.5 weeks too soon, so am not covered by this policy.
Frankly, the high change fee is ridiculous, and Southwest shows that its not necessary.
Southwest gets you on repriced tickets. The difference in fares without a change fee if you want to go from a Wanna Get Away ticket to a flight that only has Business Select tickets left can be significantly more than the refacing plus change fee on a Legacy 3 carrier
Didn't Delta announce today that any flights booked can be changed?
Indeed, they just did that — waived fees on all tickets if travel is due in March or April, regardless of when the ticket was purchased. AA and UA haven’t changed their policy since last week’s announcement.
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