Holiday Cancellation Because of Corona

In a short article for the Kronen Zeitung, our lawyer Alexandra Eder looks at the question of whether holidays that have already been booked can be cancelled free of charge due to the corona crisis.

Cancellation – will the money be paid back?

The corona virus has now spread to countless countries around the world and at the moment it is virtually impossible to travel abroad. When the situation will change is uncertain. This also raises the question of what will happen to summer holidays that have already been booked.

Package tours can be cancelled free of charge if there is an official travel warning for the destination or if it is otherwise unreasonable to expect the customer to travel. However, these circumstances must exist shortly before the start of the trip. It is not possible to cancel a holiday booked for the summer free of charge at the moment, the customer has to wait and see how the situation develops. But careful: cancellation costs usually increase with time. Anyone who does not want to go away this year for fear of the virus should therefore consider withdrawing from their travel contract now – not free of charge but at a less expensive cancellation level. Since Covoid19 has been classified as a pandemic, cancellation insurance does not usually cover it.

If travel services were booked individually, the cancellation options and cancellation conditions depend on the specific contract and the applicable law. If flights are cancelled, the customer is entitled to a refund of the ticket price.

Kronen Zeitung 20200414

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