Our travel is in May, which is not covered by the temporary fee waivers.
Refund of the full ticket price, or just the change fees??
Just to advise on Beaune situation
There have been no cases in Beaune so far. A Chinese tourist did indeed die of a heart attack, and so his group were kept in quarantine just for the length of time necessary for confirmation that the victim did not have the virus.
Grands Jours de Bourgogne was sensibly cancelled as being a high density event attracting visitors from all round the world. Some of the fringe events are continuing on a small scale.
There are some virus cases in the wider region, and of course we need to keep monitoring
At the moment:
no masks
no raiding of supermarket supplies
some people trying to restrain from handshakes etc
A good friend of mine was booked to spend this week in burgundy for the event. It got canceled but he decided to go anyway and make the best of his trip. He should be back this weekend and I will try to get information from him.
Frank, he is also a good friend of Bruce’s and works where Bruce did when he was working down here in San Diego. I’m sure we could connect the two of you and he can share notes with you
Yeah, that is all I could find myself…
From the European side of things, I would say; don’t go. Things are escalating quickly and European governments are taking this very seriously (though in many cases too late).
People coming into Norway from infected areas are soon to be routinely quarantined I guess (this is now SOP in most businesses, Equinor (the Norwegian oil company) have suspended alle business trips by plane), and most European areas will be decided infected reasonably soon I guess. People may also be quarantined in infected areas before they are allowed to return home, and flights are being cancelled all over the place. Things are only bound to become worse.
I have had tons of meetings moved online, and like anybody who has the opportunity am working from home and doing virtual meetings. The fiber network thankfully is superb, and I may be moving to my reasonably isolated though online (Gigabit fiber) seaside cabin for periods.
Flying to Europe from today till June is utterly stupid.
I’ve been in Italia since 13 Feb.; a lot has happened here since I arrived.
I was to meet my wife in Strasbourg, where we’d spend a night or two before taking a week in Alsace. As of yesterday, I’d still clung to the idea that this was going to happen beginning 8 April, it won’t.
The reality is that things everywhere are about to get worse, and by worse I largely refer to disruption. It’s also important to me to respect locals that are in that precarious position of needing tourist dollars, but not wanting to be customer facing, so to speak. It’s lose/lose right now, and for the next months, at least. I feel really bad for the business/people affected. Really bad.
Right now, as a tourist, I’m allowed to pass from Italy into France, and return (as my flight to USA is booked out of Italia, and I therefore have a legitimate need to travel; can’t say with great confidence that this will continue to be the case.
My advice to anyone considering coming here in the next few months is to postpone. And this is coming from someone that elected to wait it out here.
There’s nowhere else I’d rather be right now. Just wish my wife was with me.
Rather bluntly put, but that was more or less what I was trying to convey. And I would add “irresponsible”.
Latest News from Norway: Cruise passengers are not allowed to embark in any circumstances. If you are put in “home quarantine” after being in contact with a person that may be infected (eg arriving from a area with Corona) it is now illegal to break the quarantine. Hospitals are withdrawing all vacations. Foreigners arriving from contaminated areas will be returned or put into quarantine.
This is how serious this is. You don’t want to be in Europe this side of summer. Better stay home and be prepared, I just cannot see the US avoiding similar measures.
Trip to Orleans just cancelled per U.S. government decision…
Carl, as the saying goes (this was Chick Hearn’s, the long time LA Laker broadcaster)…“the mustard is off the hot dog”. A lot of stuff is being cancelled and/or changed even today, with the deletion of fans from sporting events, cancelled events altogether, and I suspect it will get worse.
I’m now waiting for United to address the month of May, which is when our tickets to Champagne were to commence. Hell, even just 5 mins ago I saw that CNN was saying that US travel to Europe may be halted. I’d like to think we can still go, and some part of me is holding out hope, but that seems like folly now.
I expect United will waive the exchange fee, I assume they just do not want to get to far in front of themselves (although many are planning that far in advance).
I am going to slam a 2017 Huet le Mont to drown my sorrows…
Carl, I get it. I have a 2014 Marguet Les Bermonts ready to open here shortly, too.
United, well all the airlines, are getting hammered right now on Wall Street. I’m willing to support them and not pull my money back, provided they give me a full credit for future use. If they try and hit me with a change fee during this time, I am going to be an upset customer (one who has been with them for 2 decades now).
FMTROIS, You are sweating the small stuff while people are sweating with the virus. Would it really matter if they charged you a small change fee? As you have stated the airlines and many other industries are doing it very tough at the moment.
Jeremy, big picture you are right in your remark. $200 is small compared to the challenges others are experiencing right now. I don’t like some of the policies of the industry but now is not the time for me to gnash on that. We all gotta get through the next several weeks together, regardless of who/where we are.
Frank, I’m sorry if I’m sounding judgmental, that is not my intention. I feel for a lot of businesses out there, and I reckon the airlines, in general, have actually acquitted themselves superbly during a terrible time for their businesses.
The NY Times reported Tuesday that:
Domestic bookings began to weaken significantly only in the last two weeks, but since then the major airlines have suspended their earnings forecasts, announced deep cuts to service, > eliminated most change fees, > frozen hiring and put big spending plans on hold.
The story says that US carriers are in pretty good shape. After the falloff in travel after 9/11 and the financial crisis (and bankruptcies at one point or another by United, Delta and American), they have made plans for sharp falloffs in business and their balance sheets are in pretty good shape.
“Had something as significant as this coronavirus occurred any time before 2013, we would have already seen multiple restructuring firms hired along with a frantic, concerted effort from our industry for government assistance,” said Doug Parker, American’s chief executive, a sentiment echoed by United’s president. “Instead, while in Washington, D.C., last week, not one C.E.O. asked for government financial relief.”
“The group had started the year in pretty good to very good balance-sheet shape,” Stephen Trent, an airline analyst with Citigroup, said, though he added that American began 2020 with a lot of debt.
Of course, this was before the ban on flights from the Schengen countries.
(The mystery remains why the UK is not included in the flight ban, since it has hundreds of Covid-19 cases.)
Televised address from Macron at 8pm local tonight.
Watching former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi on Christiane Amanpour last night, I was wishing he was the global virus czar. He’s super smart and articulate and incisive, and has a deep grasp of the virus issues.