Coronavirus & China Southern Airlines: Flight Cancellation / Refunds
The spread of Coronavirus is dramatically disrupting global air traffic
Many airlines are cancelling their flights to and from China. We are concerned since we have a flight planned in 3 weeks to make the trip from Mexicoto Vietnamwith a stopover in Guangzhouin China.
The Guangzhou – Hanoi flight that we were initially supposed to take has probably been cancelled since we have been moved to another flight that will take off 12 hours later (big stopover of 15 hours in perspective). For those who have a flight planned with China Southern Airlines and who would like to modify / cancel it, the company has communicated the conditions on its Twitter account.
The flights concerned by the measures are :
- Tickets whose number starts with 784 and which were purchased no later than January 31, 2020
- OR WELL, all flights that will pass through Wuhan (whether departure, transit or arrival) between January 1, 2020 and March 29, 2020.
If you have a flight that meets one of these criteria, you can request a change at no charge or a full refund without penalty.
If you currently have a fever, you are affected as well.
The company has support in French (e-mail and phone), all contacts are on this page.
If you bought the tickets through a reseller, an agency, a third party… contact them preferably, because the China Southern Airlines hotline is saturated with calls & refund requests.
On our side, no voluntary cancellation on our part. We hope that our flight will not be cancelled and we will protect ourselves during our stopover in Guangzhou.
Note: if your airline does not offer – yet – cancellation, and you no longer wish to travel to China: Be aware that by voluntarily missing a flight, you can recover at least the airport taxes. In Laos, I missed my plane (so it was a NO SHOW) and I was still reimbursed for the airport taxes (read more here)
EDIT 1 February: Vietnam has decided to cancel all flights to and from China. Land crossings between Vietnam and China are also limited until further notice. Our ticket is this time 100% cancelled š I contacted Expedia (where we had booked the ticket). They were well aware of the situation and asked for a refund from the company. The confirmation email mentions a 6 to 10 days refund period but the phone operator told me that given the situation, there can be a 12 weeks delay! We will keep you informed. Please be pro-active in taking the lead as we have not received any information emails from either Expedia or China Southern.
EDIT 3 February: that’s it, we have been fully reimbursed directly by China Southern. Fast and efficient!
How do I replace my flight?
To find replacement tickets, see Skycanner for example. You can launch searches such as: Paris – Ha Noi and choose nearby airports. Then, uncheck on the left the Chinese companies (which inevitably make a stopover in China and which are likely to be cancelled if it isn’t the case yet)
