In deciding whether to book a short haul flight from the UK, two things beyond price/schedule are making me reluctant
1 - number of Covid cases in a region... so Romania and Catalonia are out, but much of Europe seems ok
2 - whether I would be subject to quarantine or other rules either on arrival at the destination or on return to the UK that would make a brief trip very difficult
In particular, if I book a flight for September, i am left thinking I could spend money on tickets, quarantine gets introduced or there is a very high level of Covid cases by departure time, either of which mean I wouldn't want to fly, but the airline still decides to operate the flight and keep my cash. The conclusion is I decide not to buy a ticket at all
I'm wondering if airlines should change the terms to boost confidence in air travel - if quarantine appears then flight gets cancelled and pax gets refund. That way pax would believe that money would buy not only a ticket, but a *usable* ticket. Of course no airline wants to issue refunds if it still has an obligation to operate the flight for a small number of pax
Can this be done and is it compatible with EU261 ?
I know this covers what insurers call 'disinclination to travel' but this is something which is easily observable by a neutral 3rd party. Furthermore, if nobody has confidence that spending money on a ticket is worthwhile - it eventually causes the industry to collapse
Last edited by davidjohnson6; 11th Aug 2020 at 10:30.