We are attending a wedding in HI next month. Groom flying in from DC. Fortunately, I don’t believe anyone attending is traveling internationally or from a hotspot, tho sister of groom will fly out of Seattle.
I just read on the other thread that there is now a case in Louisiana. I believe that my former state of Arkansas is now completely “surrounded.”
@cttc- one of the attendees at yesterday’s meeting shares office space with the head of the licensing board. It will probably come up in conversation. There were statements made in the meeting addressing ethics and legal issues but people did not directly confront this person at the time.
Seems that most cruise ships are flagged in some country other than the US and hire mostly crew from middle income countries as allowed by the labor laws of their flag countries. Note that they schedule stops in more than one country to avoid the requirement of being flagged in a country where they do a purely domestic route.
NCL’s Pride of America is the only US-flagged cruise ship in the world, with a mainly US crew under US labor laws. The ship does a Hawaii route without needing to visit another country (typically Kiribati for non-US-flagged cruise ships doing Hawaii routes).
Talk in the local paper about whether Fiesta will be held. Already an event to promote Fiesta medals, most of which are made in China, has been canceled. (Fiesta is a celebration of Texas independence held in San Antonio in April. It lasts about a week, with big public events all over the city daily. It has been suspended before during the world wars.)
And there we have it. I am going to use this week as a vacation time instead.
“Due to ongoing concerns about the coronavirus (COVID-19), Gartner has decided to postpone the Data & Analytics Summit, scheduled to take place in Grapevine, Texas on March 23 – 26, 2020. We will be communicating the new dates in the coming days.”
There is talk here about whether Coachella and Stagecoach will be cancelled. They are both held in Indio, in Riverside County. It was the authorities in Riverside County that cancelled the BNP Paribas Open.
Q: What are You doing ( if anything)?
A: Nothing different than usual during flu season, or anytime for that matter.
I have a question and wasn’t sure where to put it.
My daughter and her boyfriend had a conference in Chicago at the end of this month, March.
The conference has been canceled.
She says that American Airlines at this time, will not let them get credit for their flights without a change fee? Which is probably more than they paid for the flights.
Does anyone know if AA is letting people make changes to domestic flights without penalty? They would like to get a credit since the conference has been canceled.
Also does anyone know which airlines (maybe none) are letting people change flights without penalties?
Or do you think this will happen in the near future?
I posted this on the other CV thread on 3/1.
Waived change fees on new tickets
We know customers are thinking carefully about purchasing future business trips and vacations. To offer customers more flexibility, we are pleased to announce that we will waive change fees up to 14 days prior to travel for travel purchased between March 1, 2020 (4:30 p.m. CST) and March 16, 2020 (11.59 p.m. CST). See details for waived change fees.
The offer is available for any of American’s published fares. Additional updates on existing travel alerts can be found on Travel alerts − Travel information − American Airlines.
Maybe AA just haven’t extended it yet for flights at the end of the month.
Southwest’s normal policy is that you can change or cancel without a change fee, but you would pay the price difference, or receive a credit that can be used on a future flight purchase.
https://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/50104455/covid-19-flight-waivers-and-refund-policies-by-airline/ has a list of change fee and waiver policies for various airlines.
I used to come to CC all the time, finally weaned myself last summer for the most part (my youngest is in grad school!), but came back yesterday to see if there was a COVID-19 thread. I realize that physical social distancing and self-quarantining might become necessary for some of us, and I think keeping in touch via social media and the internet will be vital for maintaining our emotional health and our sense of community. THANK YOU very much to everyone who has posted here. Take care of yourself and others.
American has the change policy for tickets purchased between March 1 and March 16. Frankly, it’s their way of trying to get folks to book flights now.
For someone who booked a flight before March 1…it’s tough luck at this point…but I would certainly call, use Twitter, and any other means to see if they will extend refunds…or give vouchers for future travel.
@thumper1, My bad. I thought it was for travel between 1-16th.
Sometimes I don’t read carefully enough. 
Yea, travel purchased in January for an end of March conference. It’s a yearly conference where boyfriend is presenting so they knew they would attend.
Frankly, American(and maybe all domestic airlines other than southwest) is being a big jerk about this. Oh yea, purchase a flight in a 15 day window to so to keep up appearances.
I think boyfriend had his airfare booked for him and he booked daughter so they could fly together. Not everyone can book Southwest, unfortunately.
Almost all major airlines allow changes for tickets purchased this month, but not for tickets purchased prior to 3/1 unless the airlines cancel the flight or the destination is covered by an official travel advisory.
However, Delta just announced that they’ll waive change fees on all previously purchased tickets. I’d expect the other airlines will follow Delta’s lead. So just sit tight. Changes are coming.
Thanks @1NJParent! Crossing my fingers!
H had a conference in Amsterdam in April and I was going to tag along. Bought my ticket last week in Feb. Now, the conference is canceled - am hoping the airline will let me change the ticket to a later date at least, without change fees. But, not very optimistic.
H was supposed to be traveling all through March and April - mostly conferences. All canceled. S was supposed to go to Tokyo for a meet - that got canceled too.
According to AA as of 3/9 , AA allowing changes for tickets purchased from 3/1 -3/31 across all fares without change fee.
That AA policy is to get folks to purchase tickets…now.
It does no good for folks who purchased their tickets in December or January for travel now. At this point AA is doing nothing for those customers.