A couple of weeks ago, Austrian Airlines announced that they were cancelling all flights through March 28. That is today and Austrian has extended that grounding of their fleet until April 19. Here is what you should know if you have a flight.
Austrian Airlines Canceled Flights Through April 19
Link: Austrian Airlines COVID-19 Page
Austrian Airlines will cancel all flights up until April 19, 2020. Passengers who have booked a flight during the time will be rebooked on other airlines if possible.
Here is more information from the above page:
In general, Austrian Airlines passengers on cancelled flights will be rebooked
Passengers on flights planned within the next 48 hours and cancelled in response to the current situation will be automatically rebooked. Austrian Airlines asks passengers with such a flight to check the status of their rebooking on austrian.com under “My Bookings” within the next 48 hours. Customers who have provided a telephone number or email address as well as members of the frequent flyer program Miles & More will be automatically informed about changes in the flight schedule by SMS or email. It is not necessary to contact the Austrian Airlines Service Hotline unless you do not wish to take the rebooked flight.
Flights scheduled later than 48 hours in the future will be directly rebooked by the Austrian Airlines Service Center. In this case, customers who have listed their telephone numbers or email addresses at the time of booking will be informed about the status change of their flights. The Austrian Airlines Service Hotline at +43 5 1766 1000 is available to answer all questions relating to flight bookings. However, longer waiting times are to be expected due to the high volume of inquiries.
Passengers can help relieve the pressure on the hotline!
Austrian Airlines kindly asks passengers whose planned flights are not scheduled during the next seven days to refrain from contacting the service hotline in the days ahead. In this way, they will give the service employees the possibility to first deal with passengers who would normally be departing in the next week. These passengers will also be rebooked and correspondingly informed as needed.
Policy for Rebooking/Cancellations
Austrian Airlines offers an expanded opportunity for passengers to rebook their flights on a goodwill basis.
- Tickets with a departure date until December 31, 2020, which were booked up until March 31, 2020 will be kept in abeyance and remain valid for the time being.
- Passengers will then have time up until August 31, 2020 to select a new travel date (new journey must be started by December 31, 2020 latest)
- If need be, you can choose another destination.
- In case of rebooking the ticket value can increase by up to EUR 50. In order to take advantage of this policy, passengers can contact the Austrian Airlines Service Center by telephone or make use of the contact form available on the Austrian Airlines Website.
- Passengers who have booked through travel agencies are kindly asked to contact them for rebooking.
So, this has extended drastically beyond the original waiver to now allow you to fly anytime this year. Furthermore, you have until August 31 to select a new date and even a new destination.
One of the parts that is new is that you can increase the value of your ticket “by up to €50”. This should be noted works for canceled flights as well but if they canceled the flight and were unable to rebook you, they owe you a refund. They may not want to give it, but you can push for it because they are required to refund you if asked.
But, if you think you may fly anywhere else with Austrian before the end of the year, you could get an extra €50 in value on your ticket and a new destination. Just weigh your options to see what is best.
If you have travel for later this year, or at least in May-June, there is no real rush to cancel or change. Wait to see if they cancel the flights as that will give you a lot more leverage.
If you need to call, just plan on being on hold for a while. You may want to try calling other Austrian numbers if the above number has a long hold. If you are English speaking, consider some of these other numbers:
- South Africa – +27112090430
- Australia – +61 282784385
Just remember the time difference in case they are closed during off hours (like the Australian number says it is).
