News

Cathay announces arrangements for red or black travel alert

22 Dec 2011 by ReggieHo

Cathay Pacific (CX) has just announced special ticketing arrangements for situations in which a Red or Black Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) is issued against a destination by the Security Bureau of Hong Kong but flights bound for the destination are operating as normal.

“In recent months, there have been many emergencies that were often out of airlines’ control. Flights might be operating as normal but when the government issued an alert people might want to change their travel plans,” Chitty Cheung, general manager sales PRD & HK, said in a press conference. “When a red or black travel alert is issued against a destination, it does not mean we don’t fly to there, but we hope to share the risk with customers.”

Cheng said that in the past, these emergencies were handled on a case-by-case basis, which could cause confusion. This new policy is meant to provide transparency that hopefully will minimise misunderstanding between passengers, the airline and, in some cases, travel agencies. 

E-tickets issued by CX in Hong Kong for outbound flights since November are all marked with one of the five fare codes: T1, T3, T5, T7 and T9. These codes help customers get information on their rights in rebooking, rerouting and refunding.

Under the OTA special ticket guidelines, when a red or black alert is issued by the Hong Kong government against a destination, and despite there being no disruptions to CX services, passengers with tickets from the airline for flights bound for the affected destination between the travel alert issue date and a minimum of seven days thereafter have the following options, depending on the type of ticket:

T1 - Full normal published fare or Oneworld fares: As per usual, rebooking or rerouting incurs no charge. The usual HK$250 (US$32) processing fee to get a refund is also waived.

T3 - Special published fare or Oneworld special fares: The charge for rebooking and rerouting is waived, while fees involved for processing a refund are halved to HK$250 (US$32) for a short-haul flight and HK$500 for a long-haul one.

T5 - Special discounted fare: The HK$600/HK$1,200 (US$77/US$154) fee for rebooking or rerouting is waived, and the fees involved for processing a refund are reduced from HK$600/HK$1,200 (US$77/US$154) to HK$400/HK$800 (US$51.50/US$103).

T7 - No refundable fare: The options of rebooking and rerouting, not allowed under normal circumstances, are available for free. But a refund is still not possible.

T9 - Group fare: If the travel agency has decided to cancel the trip, passengers can rebook through the same agency another CX/KA group tour departing within the next six months with the money they have already paid, without charge from the airline. A refund, normally not allowed for this ticket category, can be processed for a fee of HK$400/HK$800 (US$51.50/US$103).

These arrangements apply to tickets (including those by Dragonair, a wholly owned subsidiary of CX) issued before the travel alert is announced and purchased directly from the CX office in Hong Kong or www.cathaypacific.com.hk, or through travel agents in Hong Kong, for travel originating from Hong Kong. Online travel agencies are covered by these arrangements provided that they are registered under Hong Kong’s Travel Agent Registry (www.tar.gov.hk). The affected passenger has one month from the original departure date to decide what option to take.

Travellers are also protected by these guidelines even if they only fly CX for part of their journey. “Let’s say a passenger is flying to Dubai on CX for a connecting flight on another airline to Egypt, and a red or black alert is issued against Egypt, the flight between Hong Kong and Dubai is covered by these guidelines,” Cheung explained. “If the travel alert is issued while the customer is at the destination concerned, we can assist in rebooking for an earlier or later return flight.”

According to Cheung, it took the airline “a few months” to come up with the guidelines after consulting industry partners, Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, as well as the Consumer Council.

In cases where disruptions are caused to CX or KA services, different arrangements apply. For more information, visit www.cathaypacific.com.hk.

Reggie Ho

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