Refunds for Hong Kong travel?

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Bryce Hawkins

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Hi,
I am booked to Hong Kong with 9 more family members in early October with Qantas.
My family are refusing to go because of the civil unrest and current dangerous situation.
Is there anyone in the same position as me and wish to cancel for a refund of their tickets?
Our accommodation providers, Cordis Hotel in Mong Kok, agreed to refund our money in full after less than 24 hours from contacting them.
Do you think that Qantas would do the same.?
I cannot find an email address to send to Qantas to ask for a refund, and the telephone contact is over 3 hours wait!
Very frustrating ....
Bryce
 
It seems unlikely unless you have one of the more expensive, more flexible tickets.
Given the current travel warning level, there is no reason for Qantas to default to offering refunds when asked due to the protests.

The AU government advice is "High degree of caution", which it was increased to last week. This is the mid level (2nd of 4) warning given. Unless it is increased to level 4 (Do not travel), or level 3 (reconsider your need to travel) depending on the reason for the change to level 3, the airline has no reason to give any consideration to refunding a trip.

If you have travel insurance for the trip, and the policy was taken before the travel warning was increased to High degree of caution, the insurance may look at a claim.

Other locations currently on the same warning level as Hong Kong include Belgium and France.

If you have twitter or facebook, try poking Qantas there.
 
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Are you wanting to cancel or change to a different destination? Also, do you have travel insurance?
 
Hi,
I am booked to Hong Kong with 9 more family members in early October with Qantas.
My family are refusing to go because of the civil unrest and current dangerous situation.
Is there anyone in the same position as me and wish to cancel for a refund of their tickets?
Our accommodation providers, Cordis Hotel in Mong Kok, agreed to refund our money in full after less than 24 hours from contacting them.
Do you think that Qantas would do the same.?
I cannot find an email address to send to Qantas to ask for a refund, and the telephone contact is over 3 hours wait!
Very frustrating ....
Bryce

So I have had & have some flights to & via HKG.

For the flights via HKG :

I called up QF to check if they're flying and if they're not what are the options. I specifically asked if they'd be able to do a full refund if I chose not to travel and cancel my tickets. I had a Saver ticket (class S)

The response was - Regardless of the situation, QF would try their best to get me to HKG. If in the event they're unable to, they'd try and book me into SQ (Singapore Airlines) as part of their interline agreement, which remains dormant until such time QF activates it. This agreement is activated when QF is completely unable to fly their planes due to the issues and seeks to use the interline agreement to re-route the passengers via a different city.

As QF has an interline agreement with SQ (in this case), me cancelling/rescheduling the ticket means I'd need to foot the bill for the change to happen

For the flights to/from HKG :

QF mentioned that they'd cancel/delay the flights until such time as it is considered dangerous to fly into/out of HKG.

For the cancellations by QF that affect customers, refund could be processed and the amount one gets back depends on the flexibility of the ticket/fare booked into.

For the cancellations initiated by the customer, refund could be processed as a credit into their QFF account with 1 year expiry. Also note that the currency in which credit is offered is not always AUD. It depends on which leg of the journey is cancelled.

In my case, QF cancelled my onward from SYD-AKL due to rains, but offered to put me on the next available flight. But I had a one way booking from AKL-SYD departing in 12 hours. So I asked for a cancellation of my flights. QF happily refunded the cost SYD-AKL is AUD and AKL-SYD in NZD.

Re insurance covering the costs : I book my flights with AMEX and hence have got some cover (via Chubb) for every return booking I make. For the recent trip to MAA via HKG, I called up AMEX and asked if I'm eligible for cover if the flights are cancelled or delayed. Chubb insurance said that they'll only cover for accommodation & food expenses up to A$200 if the flight is delayed over 4 hours :)
 
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Look here


Are you wanting to cancel or change to a different destination? Also, do you have travel insurance?
I want to cancel and receive a refund as my children & grandchildren are absolutely scared after seeing the riots on tv. We are now going to have a holiday in Australia instead of overseas.
I did take out travel insurance prior to the disturbances.
Thanks,
Bryce
 
I want to cancel and receive a refund as my children & grandchildren are absolutely scared after seeing the riots on tv. We are now going to have a holiday in Australia instead of overseas.
I did take out travel insurance prior to the disturbances.
Thanks,
Bryce

Hey @Bryce Hawkins , I notice that this is your 2nd post in AFF. So Welcome to AFF :)

Re : your trip and refund - Do let us know how you go with your cancellation & refund with QF. Would be interested to know if QF is doing a full/partial refund/credit ;)
 
Regarding your travel insurance, I would have a very careful read of the PDS (Product Disclosure Statement) before making any decisions.
I have just had a look at the PDS for the policy my wife and I had for our recent trip to Europe (via Hong Kong). The policy was obtained through BUPA (underwritten by CGU Insurance). Under the General Exclusions to Cover, the policy excludes cover for "war or warlike activities, invasion, acts of foreign enemies, civil war, revolution, insurrection or act of a military power". The key word there is insurrection, which my dictionary defines as "a rising or revolt against established authority". I suspect this would cover the current HKG situation.
So, depending on your particular insurance policy, a resolution through Qantas (refund or credit of the airfares) may be a safer option than hoping your insurance will cover you.
Best of luck!
 
I checked with my insurer (Columbus) while I was still in Europe. My questions were:
1. Would I be covered for the cost of purchasing an alternative flight back to Australia via another port and for the lost cost of prepaid accommodation not used?
2. If I did travel to Hong Kong and then was unable to leave due to protests would I be covered for additional accommodation and alternative flights?

The response I received was:
1. Not unless the Australian travel warning was raised to "do not travel"
2. As the Hong Kong situation is "civil unrest" - no cover other than if I was not able to get to the Hong Kong airport to get onto my flight (i.e. missed the flight), then would be covered for up to $2,000 for replacement flight. So no cover for any additional accommodation.
 
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I want to cancel and receive a refund as my children & grandchildren are absolutely scared after seeing the riots on tv. We are now going to have a holiday in Australia instead of overseas.
I did take out travel insurance prior to the disturbances.
Thanks,
Bryce

I had no luck with travel insurance (denied) when North Korea was firing missiles over Japan and unfortunately I think you are in the same boat. I cancelled a trip to Japan due to my young children and lost a few grand. I did have some luck with Japanese airlines, Airbnb owners and 50% of hotels. Some may say it's an over reaction but I can relate to your duty of care with younger children. If I was solo I would have gone on the trip. Have you considered booking some flights to another destination out of HKG so that you were just staying in transit at Hkg airport? You may be able to find cheap rtn tickets to Singapore which has theme parks as does the nearby Johor Baru. How about HKG to Siem Reap (wonderfully affordable) for the Angkor Wat temples and more...
 
I agree with TheInsider ... the official travel warning for HK is the same as for many other places that you would regard as relatively safe.
I was in Hong Kong for four nights in the past week, and I had no problems. In fact on the day of the big protest assembly/march, I found a cosy bar in Lockhart Road and watched the "protestors" walk by -- all very peaceful.
The sensible thing to do is to GO, and enjoy what HK offers .... stay away from any trouble spots (of which there is ample local information) and you will be fine.
Just don't be a protagonist - for or against the issues - or stupidly get up close to take photos of any of the "action" -- and no one will trouble you.
I can't see a justfiable case for refunds when flights are largely operating as normal and the official travel warnings are so moderate.
The media over-hypes the situation, IMHO.
 
Really isn't bad at all in HKG. Stop listening to the bias media reports that China want. Friends were there last week, didn't see many protesters, and the ones that were out were all very peaceful.
As the Hong Kong situation is "civil unrest" - no cover other than if I was not able to get to the Hong Kong airport to get onto my flight (i.e. missed the flight), then would be covered for up to $2,000 for replacement flight. So no cover for any additional accommodation.

I was in Hong Kong all last week. no problem at all. I was delayed getting in when they closed the airport but that was just an inconvenience that was soon overcome by CX. The mis-information campaign being waged by China is demonstrated by the 200,000 face book and twitter accounts that were closed down last week because they were identified as being Chinese government operated accounts. If your react to the propaganda you are doing exactly what China is attempting to achieve. Go and enjoy and follow the smart traveller advice of stay away from any gatherings. The problem is not the protesters, who have agreed they will not disrupt the airport, as they now appreciate that the travellers are generally supporters.

The issues are generally covered by "civil unrest" provisions in travel insurance policies and therefore there is no coverage but if QF and others are still operating and given the hotels desperately need the business, you will not need to claim anyway.
 
Don't believe everything you hear in the news.
News media are paid to find juicy clashes.
They're NOT paid to film the hundreds of square miles that offer peaceful, normal, life as usual, areas of Hong Kong, which arefrequented by tourists and are populated by business, tourism and suburban living.
Typically it looks 'worse' than it is. Until it isn't. and that's the difference.
Listen to Dfat. If they say you can go, but be sensible, then that's how it is.
It's generally weekends, in definite areas, and would be very obvious to an onlooker. Avoid those areas. Ask your hotel concierge places to avoid, and stay away from noisy placard toting crowds.
It's not like it's a religious riot...if you know what I mean...not likely to be targeted at anything civilian just for 'revenge'.
 
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