In light of the recent health situation and government announcement, all AirAsia flights from Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok and Phuket to Wuhan, China are temporarily cancelled until 28th January 2020, the airline said.
In a travel advisory, the airline further said that “AirAsia guests who are in Wuhan are advised to abide by announcements made by the government and health authorities, and to contact their respective diplomatic missions or embassies in China for assistance.”
AirAsia also gave three options to travellers who wish to make changes to their travelling plans to/from Wuhan:
1) Reroute: Reroute to any other mainland China station for flights to Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok and Phuket without additional cost, subject to seat availability. This offer is applicable for all flights until 29 February 2020
2) Credit account: Retain the value of your fare in your AirAsia BIG Loyalty account for future travel with AirAsia. The online credit account is to be redeemed for booking within 90 calendar days from the issuance date for your travel with us. The actual travel dates can be after the expiry date as long as our flight schedule is out. This offer is also applicable for all flights until 29 February 2020.
3) Full refund: Obtain a full refund to your original payment method for the amount equivalent to your booking if flights are cancelled. This offer is applicable for all flights until 15 February 2020 and return flights from 16 – 29 February 2020.
Guests whose flights fall into the above date range can obtain a full refund in the amount equivalent to that booking in the form of original payment.
How to make refund requests?
-Refund requests can be made with AVA at support.airasia.com.
-From the main menu categories available, click on “Refund” then “New Refund Request” and finally “AirAsia flights to/from Wuhan.”
-From there, simply follow the instructions as directed by AVA.
-For bookings made through travel agents including online travel agents, refund requests are to be made via the respective travel agents.
What are Coronaviruses (CoV)?
Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans. But, they keep on emerging periodically in different areas, like including SARS in 2002 and MERS in Saudi Arabia 2012, when they infected humans.
What we know about the new China virus
The pathogen appears to be a never-before-seen strain of coronavirus — a large family of viruses that can cause diseases ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed 349 people in mainland China and another 299 in Hong Kong between 2002 and 2003
Source: Livemint
