By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

SCRAPPING PLANS

Albertans scramble to cancel trips over COVID-19 pandemic

Mar 13, 2020 | 5:03 PM

A Red Deer man and his family are navigating through a travel nightmare this week as the global COVID-19 pandemic carries on.

On Thursday, however, the provincial government asked Albertans to avoid any unnecessary travel due to coronavirus concerns.

Rene Rondeau was supposed to be on a flight to Portugal Friday evening along with his wife and teenage son. It was a trip they’d been planning for at least two years.

Last October, the Rondeaus purchased tickets on WestJet through third-party discount vendor FlightHub, which is based in Montreal.

“The closer it got, the more it got real, but I was determined up until yesterday that we were going,” says Rondeau. “In talking to our friend who is a doctor, he reminded me that while this might not kill us, the risk is greater for someone with asthma, which our son has.”

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Rondeau, a long-time local media personality, spent 13 hours straight on the phone with both FlightHub and WestJet, ultimately determining that they could wind up with a full refund, a travel voucher, or be out all they’d invested in the trip.

That amounts to around $2400 in flights and another $300 deposit on a rental vacation home in Lisbon, as well as spending money already converted into Euros and Pounds.

He wants buyers to beware if they’ve got travel plans already lined up, or if they plan to jet-set in the future.

“You’re looking at a middle-man that’s not actually there to help you at the end of the day,” says Lisa Zukiwsky with Red Deer Travel about using third-party booking. “If you’re going to book a WestJet flight, I recommend you book either directly with WestJet or a travel agent, because then we would be the ones sitting on hold for you instead of you having to do it.”

She says airlines usually offer 72-48 hour cancellation policies, and that travel agents can typically match or even beat any price found online.

“It ‘s very, very rare that we can’t do something like that. If we can’t, we try to find some kind of perk like free seat selection or a lounge pass, but it shouldn’t be any cheaper doing it through those third-party companies.”

Zukiwsky says COVID-19 is also hurting travel agents across the board as cancellation requests come in left, right and centre.

“I’ve had a couple inquiries over the last couple days, but they’re for next year. Normally there would be last minute spring break trips, or for Easter break. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and this is crazy. Even with H1N1 and SARS, it’s never been this bad.”

At the end of the day, Rondeau, whose family is also billets for Red Deer Rebels players, says they’ll still be able to travel eventually.

“Portugal will still be there when we get through this coronavirus situation. The deciding factor was our son’s health. While there was a lot of emotion because all of a sudden we can’t go, which is kind of a selfish way of looking at it because there are people getting sick, the reality is that it hasn’t hit here as bad as it could.”