You can now refund British Airways flights to China or Hong Kong due to coronavirus

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• Alex says:

  27 Jan27 January 10:49

  I’m due to fly to HKG on 1st March – What do you think are the chances they’ll allow a refund on that…

  • Rob says:

    27 Jan27 January 11:19

    Zero now, potentially yes next week. Although, realistically, either a) this goes away quickly or b) we’re all stuffed and it won’t matter if you’re in Hong Kong or Huddersfield.

    • Aston100 says:

      27 Jan27 January 11:26

      I’m already thinking of training to fight against monkeys riding on horses.

      • Mr(s) Entitled says:

        27 Jan27 January 11:41

        If you are only thinking about it it is already too late. It’s at least 3mths training just for a basic monkey. Throw in a horse? Good luck fella.

        • Alex M says:

          27 Jan27 January 13:59

          To marcw: batteries won’t help against the virus either, but what I listed will help you survive (i.e. die little bit later) when the western civilization is brought to its knees by the virus.

      • marcw says:

        27 Jan27 January 13:01

        Antibiotics ain’t going to help agains viruses.

      • Nick_C says:

        27 Jan27 January 14:29

        Already stocked up on emergency supplies ready for Brexit. The world is ending on Saturday anyway, so who cares about snake flu?

      • ankomonkey says:

        27 Jan27 January 15:00

        Is this for Brexit?

    • Rooster says:

      27 Jan27 January 12:31

      Seems like another Birdflu load of rubbish, perhaps the big pharma needed a stock boost

      • Russ says:

        27 Jan27 January 13:00

        This. 2 months and their order book’s full again.

    • u07ch says:

      27 Jan27 January 13:09

      That is a tad alarmist : it has a 4% death rate. Much lower than even Sars.

      • Rob says:

        27 Jan27 January 13:35

        I’m not saying you’ll die, I’m just saying your chance of catching it won’t be much different.

      • Pangolin says:

        27 Jan27 January 14:25

        4% is high enough; the normal rate for influenza is 0.1%.

        And its asymptomatic nature (people can be infectious without symptoms) and long incubation period (up to 14 days?) means it has the potential to spread much further.

        • marcw says:

          27 Jan27 January 14:43

          But it’s not the same. There’s an actual annual vaccine against influenza, which is given to some people (elderly, teachers, hospital workers,…), so we can’t really compare like for like.

        • Charlieface says:

          27 Jan27 January 15:06

          @marcw The figure of 0.1% would be for people who were actually infected, so the vaccine is immaterial. The incubation period and the lack of a vaccine are very concerning, .

        • marcw says:

          27 Jan27 January 15:37

          @charlie, but with the vaccine you are removing the part of the population most susceptible to the influenza virus. I am in my early 30s, if a get influenza it’s likely i’ll survive. My grand parents, in their 80s – if they get influenza, they’re likely to pass away. But with the vaccine, you fix that, and indeed you never know whether they’ll get “infected”, since they’re immune already.

        • Lady London says:

          27 Jan27 January 18:26

          What a cheerful lot you all are today ! 🙂

        • Lady London says:

          27 Jan27 January 18:33

          PS I thought vaccines don’t work very well, anyway, once someone is 60/65 years old?

        • marcw says:

          27 Jan27 January 18:44

          @Lady London, ther´s no scientific evidence that prove your statement. However, what IS known is as we age, our immune system degenerates (essentially, less white blood cells) – aka immunosenescence. Regardless, vaccines still generate efficient immunity in the elderly. Vaccines is the greatest (and indeed cheapest) measure used to control disesases and improve pubilc health (otherwise, 75% of us would have passed away already).

        • Lady London says:

          27 Jan27 January 22:48

          Could mutate as well, I suppose.

      • Farid hagmil says:

        27 Jan27 January 21:33

        The peak of the new disease is expected to be mid March..this won’t go away till summer I am afraid

    • Callum says:

      27 Jan27 January 21:50

      I know that was just an off-the-cuff remark, but it’s not remotely true. There is in fact an ENORMOUS middle ground between “going away quickly” and major global pandemic -Ebola being a good example.

  • u07ch says:

    27 Jan27 January 13:03

    China has given some hint of what they think will happen – they have currently banned all (sports) events til the start of April at the moment.

    • Russ says:

      27 Jan27 January 13:16

      Oh well if China says……

      • John says:

        28 Jan28 January 05:56

        More like, if the Chinese Communist Party have gone so far as to say or do something, it’s already much worse than they will ever admit.

        • Rob says:

          28 Jan28 January 08:28

          Didn’t 15m Chinese die of starvation due to bad Govt planning one year in the 60’s, but it was covered up for decades?

• Alex M says:

  27 Jan27 January 10:58

  That’s really nice of BA, I have to say.

• shane says:

  27 Jan27 January 11:52

  I’m due to fly in to Hangzhou on 23rd Feb with Vietnam airlines, and then back home from Hangzhou to Europe a few days later with Qatar on the return leg of a double open-jaw ticket. What are the chances that QR will allow me to change my return flight from Hangzhou to say Hanoi or Da Nang?

  • Lady London says:

    27 Jan27 January 22:54

    Pedantic point:. how can it be DOJ if you’re returning from Huangzhou as well? OJ, or ROJ maybe?

• Dr Doo says:

  27 Jan27 January 12:33

  Am I sick?
  Do I directly know anyone thats sick?
  Do I know anyone who knows anyone who is sick?
  If the answer is no then I don’t spend anytime thinking about it further.

  • Russ says:

    27 Jan27 January 12:57

    You’re missing the point. Relevant airlines are offering refunds and postponing flights not because of the actual danger but the perceived danger by the fare paying public. This is a stitch in time saves nine fix.

    • Dr Doo says:

      27 Jan27 January 20:38

      Yes your right the public general opinion by OTT news outlets has caused this

  • Alex M says:

    27 Jan27 January 14:15

    The answers may change to Yes for all 3 questions after you visit Wuhan…

    • Dr Doo says:

      27 Jan27 January 20:36

      I sincerely doubt that, nobody is in the streets!

  • Aston100 says:

    27 Jan27 January 16:43

    ‘Not In My Backyard’.
    Do you read the Daily Mail and deny Climate Change too?

    • Dr Doo says:

      27 Jan27 January 20:36

      I don’t read the newspapers it helps not get distracted with temporary fads.

• Bentoni says:

  27 Jan27 January 12:47

  Just out of curiosity, in the event that things escalated in the next few months and I decided to cancel the trip to China, would I be able to claim with Amex’s Plat Insurance?

  Thanks

  • Rob says:

    27 Jan27 January 12:53

    Not if you booked after the virus broke out – I would suspect that your insurer would ignore you on the grounds that you knew what you were getting into. If you booked before it started then you should be fine.

    • Russ says:

      27 Jan27 January 13:07

      Just to add, if you forgo a refund and opt to take a future flight that flight may not be covered either.

    • Benilyn says:

      27 Jan27 January 13:20

      Under what pretense would you cancel? Is there something official that needs to come out from UK Gov / WHO before we can go through that route? I have HSBC Premier Travel Insurance.

      • Rob says:

        27 Jan27 January 13:34

        If the Foreign Office officially says you should not travel then insurance kicks in. However, most airlines are now letting you have refunds.

    • Bentoni says:

      27 Jan27 January 14:50

      Thanks Rob.

      Just checked my email. I booked on 12th .. I don’t think there was any warnings regarding the virus at the time … I guess I will have to keep an eye on the travel warnings for now

• Alan says:

  27 Jan27 January 13:29

  We are booked ot go to Hong Kong on 13/02 with VA. Hoping they will follow suit as we areunlikely to be going due to the current situation.

  • MarcusK says:

    27 Jan27 January 13:37

    Are Qatar Airlines permitting refunds on flights to Hong Kong yet (does anyone know)?

  • Alan says:

    27 Jan27 January 14:21

    When I write VA obviously I mean VS

  • Daft says:

    27 Jan27 January 16:13

    Why? Whats happening in HK? You’re just getting silly now. Have you started walking funny, a la John Cleese?

    • Don says:

      27 Jan27 January 16:38

      Hong Kong closes Disneyland, declares state of emergency as coronavirus spreads

    • Alan says:

      27 Jan27 January 19:03

      No, I am not walking like John Cleese. Our trip to Hong Kong was supposed to be a family holiday, my wife is immunosuppressed and so at higher risk, my daughter was keen to visit Disneyland while we were there and that is closed. We would have liked to have gone to see the night racing at Happy Valley but that is unlikely to be going ahead.

      If the things you want to see and do are not going to be happening what is the point of spending the money and taking a risk with my wife’s health?

      There are plenty of apparently brave, healthy people on this site that are very gung-ho when they aren’t even traveling.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        27 Jan27 January 19:50

        I think things being closed after booking is sort of the unfortunate reality of travel.

        However, with a wife who would be at risk herself it would not be a good time to travel to China/HK/Macau, regardless of the official travel advice. If you booked prior to the virus news and this isn’t excluded because she has a preexisting condition (or you are covered anyway) then your insurance will probably look after you, let’s be honest any claim would be far larger if you went and someone did get ill.

        I think most comments about not worrying are made on the basis that there’s a lot of over reaction (everywhere) from what people perceive to be otherwise healthy people.

        • Alan says:

          27 Jan27 January 20:06

          Our hotel is booked with points so I can get those back. Flights are reward flights so its only £30 each but, as it happens, Virgin are refunding on cancellations now anyway so I should even get that back.
          We booked many months ago and have been looking forward to it but we will just have to go at some other time instead.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          27 Jan27 January 23:11

          That is indeed the massive positive of points bookings 🙂

          Considering you have all those points back I’m sure you will have a great holiday in HK at some point in the future.

      • Anuj says:

        28 Jan28 January 04:32

        How are your taxes only £30 each?

        • John says:

          28 Jan28 January 05:59

          The cancellation fee is £35

        • Alan says:

          28 Jan28 January 07:01

          VS cancellation fee is £30 per person

  • Tom says:

    28 Jan28 January 07:15

    From the VS website…
    “For customers booked to travel to China, including Hong Kong, who would like to discuss their travel plans further, we would invite them to contact our customer care team via”… (not sure if I’m allowed to post the phone number, but it’s easy to find).

• Mark says:

  27 Jan27 January 13:40

  Lufthansa are likewise offering refunds, or rebooking up to the end of September (though it’s not 100% clear whether that includes Hong Kong).

  We’re due to fly Saturday with an onward flight to Vietnam on HK Express (2 stop days each way in HK). Minded to go at the moment, unless the FCO advise is not to travel to HK, but we’re obviously taking some risk that it gets worse whilst we’re out there.

  • Mark says:

    27 Jan27 January 13:49

    Just looked again and it now says it does not apply to Hong Kong or Macao (Macau?).

    So I guess we’ll see…

    • Nick_C says:

      27 Jan27 January 14:44

      Both spellings are correct

    • Alex says:

      27 Jan27 January 14:44

      I believe Hong Kong has declared a state emergency now, closing disney land etc so it’ll be interesting to see if this changes in a day or two

      • Russ says:

        27 Jan27 January 17:14

        Indeed. We’ve 11 days booked on points at the Ritz HK. Was waiting for nearer the time to switch to a cash booking as prices keep steadily dropping. Keeps on this way and Marriott will be paying us to go to China!

      • Lady London says:

        27 Jan27 January 21:20

        Hold on. I am sure I just saw someone say state of emergency=closing Disneyland

• Vit says:

  27 Jan27 January 13:53

  Due to fly Air China just after Easter to PEK for a 5 days then HKG for a few day. I am not panicking (yet)… 🙄

  Booked via Amex blue just before upgrading to Bapp.. Don’t think I will be covered somehow. Appreciated any comments / feedback.

  Cheers,
  Vit

  • Shoestring says:

    27 Jan27 January 14:22

    A cool head only goes so far. With SARS and bird flu, I was unlucky enough to get the timing ‘perfect storm’ wrong both times, with 3 weeks, twice, in Thailand lined up with our very young first 2 kids.

    Whilst I assessed the risks and judged them to be so small as not to warrant ruining 2 holidays in paradise, my wife was not as rational. It was a terrible time of tears & arguments. Enough said.

    • Vit says:

      27 Jan27 January 15:09

      With young kids, I bet that must not be a nice experiences.

      We only try to take advantage of the free-visa transit via China. Hotel in Beijing has free cancellation and cheap Airbnb in hkg. With reward flight booked from HKG to BKK with Eva air, we should be able to bring the flight forward assuming any availability.

      Will see. At least it is safe now in ABZ. Just! 😊

    • mutley says:

      27 Jan27 January 16:53

      Did common sense prevail or did she listen to you?

      • Shoestring says:

        27 Jan27 January 17:11

        🙂

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