Coronavirus: Airline Travel Information for Europe
Which airline canceled flights? Do airlines allow a change of date or destination? Which countries have banned entry? Answers to these and many other questions related to coronavirus you’ll find below!
Lowcost airlines
WIZZ AIR
Hungarian airline announced that all flights to and from Italy are suspended until 3 April. This applies to all airports from WizzAir’s route map: Alghero, Bari, Bologna, Catania, Milan Bergamo, Milan Malpensa, Naples, Pisa, Rome Ciampino, Rome Fiumicino, Turin, Venice, Treviso and Venice.
Due to the introduction of a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all arriving in Israel, Wizz Air also suspends all flights from and to this country from March 12 until March 23. This rule applies to flights to both Tel Aviv and Eilat.
What can you do?
All tickets purchased for these flights will be automatically changed. Passengers should be automatically informed. If you’re not satisfied with that change, you can cancel your reservation.
Customers who have booked directly on wizzair.com or via the airline’s mobile app will receive an email notification, in which they are offered the free re-booking or full refund or 120% refund of the original fare in airline credit.
What about other routes? Only passengers with the purchased WIZZ Flex service can change their reservation free of charge. WizzAir offers a possibility of cancellation for a €60 fee. So if your ticket was more expensive than that, you’ll get a refund of the ticket price minus €60. If your ticket was cheaper than €60, cancellation makes no sense. In that situation simply don’t take the flight – don’t check in online, don’t come to the airport. No, you won’t be charged with any fees or penalties.
RYANAIR
The Irish airline announced that as of from March 13 all flights to and from Italy are suspended, until April 8. Ryanair also cancelled some flights on other routes due to lack of demand.
Was your Ryanair flight cancelled?
People affected by a travel ban or cancellation will receive an email with all the options available for them – they can choose a refund, reschedule or refund in form of a Travel Credit. Passengers of flights not affected by new rules don’thave much choice – cancellations in Ryanair are not possible, but it’s possible to reschedule you departure date. The cost of such change is calculated for each booking individually and can range from €35 to €95, but seeing as most of the tickets sold by Ryanair are cheaper than rescheduling, it might be easier to just skip your flight. You can check individual price for rescheduling your flight on Ryanair’s website, after providing your booking details.
Traditional airlines
There’s a bit more flexibility when it comes to flights operated by full service airlines.
LOT
Until 28 April, flights operated to both airports in Beijing are cancelled, and connections from Budapest to Seoul are suspended. All flights to Italy are suspended as well. LOT also announced suspension of some flights to Tel Aviv recently. Following flights will also be suspended until April 24:
Warsaw – London City
Budapest – London City
Krakow – Bucharest
Warsaw – Zaporozhye
LOT also delayed opening of a new route from Warsaw to Ostrava to September 1 and will limit “the frequency of flights on selected medium and long-haul routes” till April 24, but the carrier does not provide any more details. Furthermore, all connections to USA from 13 March are suspended, due to restrictions imposed on citizens of 26 European countries.
Flexible rebooking is available on all routes for passengers who have purchased or will buy tickets before March 31, for travel between March 6 and April 24, 2020. Passengers can reschedule their travel for any date until December 31, 2020, while maintaining their booking class. Changes can be made via the LOT Contact Center, as well as via Facebook messages.
LUFTHANSA GROUP
Lufthansa and their partner airlines have already canceled thousands of flights – Lufthansa cancelled 7100 flights in March and another 23,000 cancellations are planned in April.
Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Air Dolomiti will allow flexible booking changes for tickets purchased before March 31, but only for passengers who have scheduled departure before April 30. They’ll be able to reschedule their travel to any date before December 31, 2020 – regardless of ticket class. It’s only possible to reschedule the date and not place of departure or destination, and if the selected travel class is no longer available, the difference in ticket price must be paid. All changes must be made before original travel date.
The change policy looks a bit different for Eurowings – you can change the date of departure for all reservations purchased before March 31 for flights up to April 30, to any date until December 31, 2020. Changes to your reservation must be made by May 31, 2020. It is also possible to change the travel destination, but difference it price of new ticket has to be paid.
AIR FRANCE-KLM
New rules for booking changes apply to all valid tickets issued by Air France and KLM for the period from 31 March 2020 for travel from 3 March to 31 May 2020.
“For the flights operated by Air France and KLM, customers can request a change of booking or a travel voucher at a later date (for details, see the websites of both airlines). If you change your booking for a flight in a higher fare, there is a surcharge in the amount of the fare difference (if any). Rebooking and issuing new tickets must take place before May 31, 2020. These rules supplement and do not replace the previously agreed rules for travel to/from China, Korea, Singapore and Italy,” says Air France-KLM.
According to the information on the carrier’s website, this coupon is valid for one year.
EMIRATES
There’s new rules for changing reservations for tickets issued between March 7 and March 31. Customers can change the date of travel freely, without any additional fees for changing the reservation or reissuing a ticket. Press release states that passengers can postpone their reservation to any date within 11 months of original travel date, in the same booking class. New rules cover all destinations in Emirates route network.
BRITISH AIRWAYS
The airline offers free changes for all flight bought between March 3 and March 31. Simply rebook under ‘Manage My Booking’ ob BA’s website for any new date, up to 12 months from your original date of departure.
FINNAIR
Changes of travel date without a change fee to any date before 30 November, 2020 is possible for passengers who made their booking before 30 April 2020 and their original travel date is latest on 30 November 2020. Changes have to be made before the departure of the original flight. Go to “Manage booking” on Finnair’s website and select new available dates for your travel or contact Finnair’s customer service (might take much longer).
Due to USA and India travel restrictions Finnair is cancelling flights to/from USA between 14 March – 12 April and to Delhi, India from 15 March to 14 April.
QATAR AIRWAYS
Passengers with tickets purchased for travel up to June 30, 2020 will be able to change their date of travel without additional charges, or cancel their ticket and exchange it for a travel voucher valid for the same route. Changes to your reservations can be made up to 3 days before planned date of travel.
If your airline is not on the list, visit their website. Every carrier offers news and updates on their schedule and destination changes due to coronavirus outbreak.
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