Swine flu travel advice information for consumers
By Darren Cronian on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Panic seems to have set in by a number of travellers who have emailed me. The majority of the emails have asked if they should cancel their holiday to countries with cases of the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection. At the time of writing this 21 countries have officially reported 1124 cases.

Swine flu travel advice information for consumers

Non essential travel to Mexico

The Foreign, Commonwealth Office is advising against all non essential travel to Mexico so speak to your travel agent who will advise you accordingly. You will find that most tour operators will offer you a suitable holiday or a full refund but it’s unlikely that you will be compensated.

The advice below only applies if the government advise against travelling to your holiday destination

Travel agent that is ABTA or ATOL bonded

You should receive an alternative holiday or a full refund. You’ll also have financial protection if you have purchased your holiday using a credit card, so do not panic. Initially contact the company who you booked your holiday through and they should be able to advise you.

Booked your own holiday (DIY)

If you have booked your own flight and accommodation then consult with your travel insurance policy as some may cover cancellation costs, although policies vary. Hopefully you have taken out travel insurance, if not, well, your silly, and let’s hope that you have booked with a credit card.

Cancel despite no government advice

One consumer wanted to cancel their holiday to Spain despite only having a small number of cases. I think it is unlikely that you will receive be able to change the holiday without further cost to you, or receive a refund, but it will depend on the advice given by the government.

Travel despite government advice

Travellers may invalidate a travel insurance policy should they disobey the government travel warnings. The Foreign, Commonwealth Office will spend a lot of time talking with international bodies and the World Health Organisation before they make a decision to advise against travel.

Swine Flu help resources

Highly recommend is a visit to the country advice guides on the Foreign, Commonwealth Office website as they have added information on how the virus could impact your travel plans. Here are some other useful resources to help travel consumers.

» World Health Organisation advice
» Swine flu blog responses
» Update: swine flu travel advice
 » What swine flu means to travellers
» ABTA Q&A on Swine flu

I am hoping that I have covered everything on this post, if they’re any corrections regarding holiday refunds please let me know. I have taken some of this information from authority sources on the internet so I trust the information provided.

I am interested to hear from people affected by the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection outbreak.


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16 responses to “Swine flu travel advice information for consumers”

Zath | 5 May, 2009 at 11:58 pm

I personally think right now that it’s good to be cautious about something like this, but short of going to Mexico (which I’d think twice about) I think I’d be happy still travelling.

The number of cases is still relatively very small compared to other diseases in the world – you can track the the cases as they are reported for yourself with the use of Google Maps if you like – you can read more about that in an article we recently covered on Zath – http://www.zath.co.uk/swine-flu-pandemic-real-time-tracking-with-google-maps/

Hope people find that useful! Thanks

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The Global Traveller | 6 May, 2009 at 5:43 am

A good summary Darren. I’d add a couple of points.

Some travel providers (airlines, hotels) have issued waivers to allow change of dates or cancellation. However, these are mostly limited to Mexico and in some cases only specific parts of Mexico. They are also limited to imminent travel – if your trip is in 6 months (say) you need to wait a while longer before making any (free) changes.

Personally I have no problem continuing to travel extensively as the situation at the moment does not appear too serious. Of course I am keeping informed by reviewing WHO advice regularly.

I’m also giving some advice for travellers on swine flu with regular updates on issues of note – see my blog.

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Darren Cronian | 6 May, 2009 at 11:43 am

@ Zath

That is a good example of a Google map that adds value to the service. Thanks for sharing.

@ Global Traveller

What’s your name? :)

I do think the media have blown it up out of proportion, yes, its something we should be aware of, but it has received too much air time as far as I am concerned. I do think travellers need to be kept informed, but the scare mongering needs to stop.

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Sophy Norris | 6 May, 2009 at 1:41 pm

Up-front – this is a PR getting in touch on behalf of client… World First Travel Insurance.
They have produced – in light of all the media coverage – two pieces of info for their clients relating to buying cover and also Swine flu.

First is a check list of what to ask /check when buying travel insurance to make sure you [a] buy what you want/need and [b] are covered or aware of your cover.

Second is a stagement about travel to Mexico or Swine Flu affected countries in particular and WHO warnings.

They can both be found on the Word First Blog at http://blog.world-first.co.uk/?p=71 and we hope they might be useful

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Nick | 6 May, 2009 at 1:56 pm

Darren

The media have blown this out of proportion, look at the cases in the UK. A good percentage originate from the USA, but that is hardly mentioned. It is not a big diseases by world standards and our more likely to suffer from tetanus. Which brings me to point 2, make sure your vaccinations are up to date when you travel, even to Blackpool.

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Darren Cronian | 6 May, 2009 at 6:57 pm

@ Sophy

Thanks for the information and link to the travel insurance blog. I have no problem with PR companies posting links on behalf of their clients providing that they benefit my readers and that the link is on topic.

@ Nick

I agree 100% about the media. I am just writing about that and will post later this week. £7million was spent on producing a 12 page leaflet and distributed around households all over the UK.

What a waste of money.

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Nick | 7 May, 2009 at 10:17 am

UPDATE

Thomas Cook has cancelled its Cancun programme up until May 14, while TUI has cancelled flights to Cancun and Cozumel up until May 12. Customers can postpone their trip or change their destination.

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Mary Jo | 7 May, 2009 at 2:58 pm

I just got back from one of those non-essential trips to Mexico, in my case Cancun.

I’ve written more about the experience, but overall the place was a ghost town! From customs and immigrations to the pool at my hotel, other travelers were few and far between. The hotel staff couldn’t have been nicer, and were so appreciative of the guests that were there.

If you are in good health, and have no high risk factors, I wouldn’t let this slow you down. Your chances of getting a bug here at home are much higher.

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Mary Jo | 7 May, 2009 at 3:53 pm

Didn’t want to be presumptuous with a link, Darren. But yes, I did write about it here

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Darren Cronian | 7 May, 2009 at 3:49 pm

@ Nick

Thanks for the update. I’m assuming a full refund is also an option too?

@ Mary Jo

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Have you written anything on your blog about your experiences in Mexico – if so, please feel free to link to one of the posts in the comments so that people can read.

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Darren Cronian | 7 May, 2009 at 8:47 pm

@ Mary Jo

It’s a good read. I do think the media have blown it out of proportion which is why I did not want to write a post that was scare mongering but more informational to those travellers here in Britain that could be affected.

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Nick | 9 May, 2009 at 1:44 pm

Darren,

Full refund are required by ABTA in these cases. Though of course the travel company would like to sell you something different. If your booked with a non-abta company it is down to T&C, not all apparently are providing refunds.

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Murray H | 10 May, 2009 at 10:10 pm

Interesting. From what I hear a lot of this is media hype. Apparently life does go on in Mexico et alia pretty much as normal – one is begining to think if it is not a cunning plan to try and take the pressure of a certain beleagured Mr G. Brown, esq.

We are talking about ‘flu, here, right? Or have I got it wrong and it is, in fact, the Black Death?

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Nick | 12 May, 2009 at 1:13 pm

Murray, Yes we talking the flu, one that is not as dangerous or caused as many deaths as the normal British flu. to quote the media “is at home and expected to make a full recovery”……. not is filling up hospitals so much that they have had to cancel all but emergency admissions…. how often do we hear that in the winter news.

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Carol | 14 May, 2009 at 10:47 pm

How much notice should travel companies be expected to give if they are to cancel the flights? I’m due to fly out 2 weeks tomorrow (Thomsons) and all I keep getting told is normal terms & conditions apply, but it may change at any point!! Surely if I am due my tickets 2 weeks before I go, then they should be at liberty to tell me if I can in fact go.

Personally i’ve had my bubble burst by the full thing and Jo’s comments about it being a ghost town have just confirmed my aprehensions. It’s not the holiday I booked :(

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Rohan | 16 May, 2009 at 11:01 am

Fantastic information Darren. It looks like though it was a media tournado, or at least it could be that we are getting educated as they think it could be a bigger issue come the winter.

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