What you should pay attention to now
Probably the most frequently asked question of all at the moment. In Austria, the federal government has Regulation on the prohibition of entering public places until 14.04.2020 for the time being. Among other things, these restrictive measures provide for exit restrictions for the entire Austrian territory. The Chamber of Labour therefore takes the legal view that you can cancel your travel contract free of charge upon commencement of travel within this period. Moreover, in the following scenarios, according to the Chamber of Labour, free cancellation should be possible in any case:
1. your trip is imminent and the destination is severely affected by the virus, making it unreasonable to travel there. If an official Travel warning According to the AK, a cancellation free of charge should be possible at least from level 4, as trips abroad would then no longer be reasonable.
2. the country of destination has an official Entry ban at the time of your departure and you would have to go into immediate quarantine there. This is currently the case in Israel, Italy, India until April 15, 2020 and the USA from March 14, 2020.
If the destination is not severely affected by Covid-19, it may be difficult to cancel free of charge. If your hotel has a Individual trip for example, are not in a restricted area, you will probably have to bear the cancellation costs yourself. The Chamber of Labor recommends that you try to contact your tour operator for a Goodwill solution for example, in the form of a free rebooking or cancellation. According to the AK, you can argue that it is unreasonable to travel to this region. State that the basis of the contract no longer applies - you may be able to negotiate a voucher for a later trip. If you have already booked a flight, you should contact your airline directly to find out whether it is still operating.
If you are in an area that you are currently not allowed to leave due to an officially ordered quarantine, it is possible, according to the Chamber of Labour, that the state of Austria will pay for your cancellation costs. However, a clear regulation is unfortunately not available here. The AK recommends that you contact the district administration or the magistrate of your place of residence and obtain individual advice.
At the moment, many organisers are trying to issue vouchers instead of refunding money for economic reasons. However, the Chamber of Labour is of the opinion that you can demand the payments back. Should you still want to accept the voucher, you can, according to the AK, protect yourself as follows: Demand a written guarantee of insolvency insurance from your tour operator, with the assurance that the issued voucher is covered. This way, you can be sure that you will be paid the value of your voucher in case of insolvency of the tour operator.
Since the situation can change constantly, it is currently difficult to give a blanket answer for trips in the distant future. However, the Chamber of Labour explains arguments for and against precautionary rebooking and cancellation:
According to AK, it would be against the law to cancel your trip now, as Cancellation costs may be incurred. If the trip is canceled by the organizer after your cancellation, you will not be reimbursed for these cancellation costs. However, if there is a travel warning issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the area of your destination, it must be possible to cancel free of charge (see question 1). Even if the booked content of your package tour would be significantly changed due to closed sights or mandatory quarantine, a free cancellation should be possible according to AK.
However, should the situation improve significantly by the time you start your trip, no free cancellation will be possible. In this case, i.e. if you still do not want to take the trip due to personal fear, you will probably have to bear the cancellation costs yourself, according to AK. And these become more the closer the departure is.
At the end of the day, everyone has to make this decision for themselves.
We hope that this article is helpful to you. If you have any questions, it is best to contact the legal experts at your local Chamber of Labour, your tour operator or the airline directly.
All information is provided without guarantee or claim to completeness.
Picture credits: Unsplash (Capturing the Human Heart; Gabrielle Henderson; Jeshoots.com)
