See who’s offering more flexible booking options
Kuoni has launched Kuoni Flex, a new initiative which allows people to switch their holiday to alternative travel dates without charge right up until up seven days before departure. It is available until March 16 on holidays departing from now until the 15 February 2021 to Mauritius, the Maldives, Thailand, Bali, Sri Lanka, the Caribbean and Mexico amongst others, plus selected group tours to India. It hopes the move will bring peace of mind about the impact of coronavirus. Kuoni has also beefed up its customer service team to deal with consumers’ concerns and enquiries.
Emirates has introduced a new waiver policy for all booked tickets issued from March 7 until March 31 2020. Should customers decide to change their travel plans due to the evolving COVID-19 situation, customers can change their booking to any date for travel within an 11-month date range in the same booking class without change penalties. Difference in fare, if applicable applies. The policy covers all existing destinations across the Emirates network. The airline says it is also taking its aircraft cleaning process ‘to the next level’. If the airline is alerted to any suspect or confirmed cases of infectious diseases, teams will be immediately deployed for a deeper cleaning with stronger, approved chemicals.
Royal Caribbean Cruises is now allowing customers to cancel up to 48 hours before departure for sailings on all of its brands – Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara and Silversea – and switch to another date. The policy applies to both new and existing cruise bookings and means guests will get a full credit usable on any future sailing in 2020 or 2021.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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