Passengers allowed to reschedule flights

Airline reaction: Airlines carrying passengers to SARS affected areas will allow travellers to reschedule their plans, or in some cases cancel altogether.

Air Canada, which begins a thrice-weekly flight to Toronto from Dublin and Shannon on May 4th, will allow passengers who bought tickets on or before April 24th for travel on or before May 14th to change their travel dates without penalty. The World Health Organisation, which on Wednesday issued a travel advisory against unnecessary trips to the Canadian city, is due to visit Toronto on May 14th to reassess that advice. Airlines are generally making commitments to allow rescheduling for travel up until that date when the WHO is expected to issue an updated position.

CIÉ International Tours and American Holidays, which will both operate charter flights to Toronto in the next few weeks, are also guaranteeing greater flexibility and possible refunds to travellers booked on flights to the city. Mr Stan Ryan of CIÉ International Tours said its charter flights to Toronto on Transit Air were due to start on May 2nd, followed by another on May 16th, with a weekly service thereafter.

"If they are booked on one of the first two flights they can either get a full refund or reschedule to a later date.

"But people are either rescheduling or going regardless. No-one seems to be cancelling outright."

A spokesman for American Holidays, which begins operating charter flights to Toronto with Sky Service on May 2nd, said passengers booked to travel up until May 15th could either cancel with full refund, or change to a later date, paying the balance if the later date is a higher fare. Air France, which offers flights to the Far East from Dublin, via Paris, will allow penalty-free changes to tickets booked for travel up until 31st May, as long as they were paid for before April 15th. It is not offering refunds.

The airline has a daily service to Beijing, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Shanghai, as well a five-times-a-week service to Canton and thrice weekly services to Saigon and Hanoi in Vietnam and Jakarta, Indonesia. British Airways, which offers flights from Dublin, via Heathrow, to Hong Kong, Beijing and Toronto, is offering passengers booked to travel until May 15th the options of rebooking on later flights, a full refund or rebooking on a flight to another destination in the BA portfolio. A spokesman said that while the airline was continuing its services to these cities their crews would not stay in them.

Crews working the flights to Toronto are being flown on to stay in Montreal, those flying to Hong Kong are staying in Bangkok and those servicing the flights to Beijing are being flown on to Tokyo. All airlines said they were reviewing their policies daily and that if the SARS situation escalated in any part of the world intending passengers would be advised of options.