TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Flying in/out of STT

Hi everyone - As expected, our May/June charter is not happening - BVI Yacht charters allowed us to tack it to the back of the November charter we already had in place so we will now be down in the BVI (hopefully!) from 11/4-11/21.

Flights for May/June are still showing as going....we are going in and out of St. Thomas. I don't think we will get a refund unless the flights actually cancel. I'm tempted to play the waiting game - I know that the BVI are in lockdown - what about USVI??

Our flights were flying in and out of St Thomas too. No problem cancelling them, we got a full refund.

Airlines are getting big time $$$ from government. Probably influences their relaxed policy on cancellation.

Are you flying on AA? If the flight is cancelled by the airline, then there is no problem getting a refund with AA. Some of the other airlines have been causing issues if the flight is cancelled, but not AA. I called about my flight to SXM the other day and they called me back within 5 minutes. Suggest you call them and ask what your options are at this point. If they tell you that your only option is a voucher, I would wait longer. They have been giving an extra 20% bonus if you accept a voucher, but to ME, I would much rather have the cash, as there is no telling whether any particular airline will file bankruptcy or not, and the LAST thing you want is a claim in bankruptcy. If they tell you that you are eligible for a refund, the process gets a little more complicated. If you need help with that, I can walk you through it.

And Delta is providing an ecredit for any flights booked by May 31 which is good through May, 2022...You may be able to press for a refund but it's a more complicated process...
Looks like we will be bailing out the major airlines again...

IF the flight is cancelled, the DOT announced about a week back, that US airlines are REQUIRED to give a refund if the customer wants it.

Correct...they just offer the much easier - and immediate - ecredit option, we chose that because we're rebooking soon. I agree that if you are unsure of your new travel dates, which most certainly are, definitely apply for the full refund...

We are scheduled to depart on 5/20 to STT. I talked to Delta 2 days ago and the agent was pushing for me to take a refund rather than reschedule. I was shocked.

Wife spent about 2 minutes on the phone w Delta yesterday to get a full refund for our flights that were supposed to happen tomorrow. Since we can't go we're going to sit in the back yard and make painkillers.

cbinparadise--maybe the agent knows something we didn't, that Delta might be getting ready to file bk??

Actually Delta was allowing no change fee and the ability to cancel weeks before this newest Federal stimulus.

Delta issued me 202,000 points back into my SkyMiles account.

Canceled my June reservation at Mafolie yesterday. They said St Thomas is pretty much on full lock down like the rest of USA.

If I wanted to wait for UA to cancel my flight June 10, I might be able to get a refund, but I took advantage of 100% voucher credit being offered now, good for 48 months.

Right now if I rebook for January 2021 the flight is $200 less than in when I booked in Oct 2019.

No way I personally would accept a voucher of 100% (only) at this point in time. AA is giving a 20% bonus if you accept a voucher. And UA is REQUIRED to give you a refund if they cancel the flight.

Carol, I thought of that as we were talking but I don't think so and I hope not. I used to be a Delta flight attendant so she and I talked a long time about what's going on. She is working from home "indefinitely" and said that most all of the senior pilots & flight attendants have voluntarily taken leave. Who knows.
She offered to reschedule us for later in the year with no charge to change the dates or just get a refund. I told her I'd make a decision within the next 10 days. My step son is "scheduled" to get married on STT May 24th and he is pretty determined. I'm trying not to be too negative to him about it but I doubt this will happen.
I'm sure they have been instructed to give limited information but I'm hoping the best. Delta is our go to airline to get from Perdido Key (Pensacola) to the VI or anywhere for that matter.

The latest news from the USVI is that on April 20 they are opening the beaches to the public, it seem they’re wise to the fact that the VI have had hardly any cases even though they were for a long time saturated with cruise ship passengers and land based tourists.

Good case for keeping cruise ships away..taxi drivers go back to fishing and farming and we dont have to fly fish in every day from Florida.

We’re fine with a voucher (or ecredit or...), just depends on when you plan to use it...

>> Actually Delta was allowing no change fee and the ability to cancel weeks before this newest Federal stimulus. <<
Yes Delta was very proactive and has added more flexibility since...

Well - here’s hoping Jet Blue will be easy to work with!

Jet Blue HAD been screwing people over before the DOT announcement and stating everyone had to accept vouchers. I assume maybe they will deal fairly with you now.

Moved flights to November — they were not offering refunds but it may be because the flights aren’t canceled for my original dates yet.

OK, sure hope the islands will be open by then.

We had same issue with Jet Blue...their flights are still on for now so only got credit

If you're flying fairly soon, at this point if it were me and my only choice was a credit, I'd wait longer to see if the flight gets cancelled. Why not? If they are letting people cancel ahead of time, and get a credit, why rush it?

Not Winterstale's issue, but perhaps others like us fly into and out of a small regional airport and flights are very limited, ergo seats as well...Very easy to miss a flight.
And with all the consolidations taking place and flights filling up in minutes as a result, you're out of luck before you even know it. That happened to us here in Mexico but because we were booked our seats were held. We did cancel and reschedule for another reason...
So just the logistics for us and the current situation with flights disappearing...At least if you are booked on a flight that is part of a consolidation you don't lose your seats...
We've never seen this situation in all the years we've been traveling, no one has I'm sure...

Was that in Credit or cash?

I just cancelled our flights for the end of May. we were given 2 year eCredit. There was no issue

?

So my charter company told me to hold on for a July 4 sail, that the order from the Govt about 3 months for tourists to return is not official yet... I am not going to make a flight choice at this point, would you?

Carole, this is exactly what I did with my tickets to St Lucia for May travel. We canceled our sail in late March but I waited until American cancelled my flights to call and ask for a refund and they were great about it. One of my travel companions called right away (before flights were cancelled) and got a credit.

The only drawback has been the length of time it has taken to get it processed--first thru American's portal and now back to my card. It was worth playing the waiting game to get my cash back. We are planning a trip to Maui in October but I wasn't willing to purchase our tickets yet.