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Speaker 1: Right. Our intended travel conversation for today actually fell through

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Speaker 1: last minute. But I'm quite glad really because it means

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Speaker 1: we have some space available to reflect on. Really what

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Speaker 1: is the big travel story of the moment, the massive

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Speaker 1: impact of the current conflict in the Middle East on

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Speaker 1: global travel. The United Arab Emirates one of the busiest

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Speaker 1: travel hubs in the world. Since the weekend, thousands of

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Speaker 1: flights have been disrupted as a result of the strikes

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Speaker 1: on Iran and that country's response to those strikes. Just

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Speaker 1: to put it into perspective, according to the flight tracking

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Speaker 1: service Syrium, more than twelve thousand flights to and from

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Speaker 1: destinations across the Middle East have been canceled, and that

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Speaker 1: was as of the end of yesterday. That doesn't take

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Speaker 1: into account ongoing impact today, and that you know, we're

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Speaker 1: talking about flights not just around Israel and Iran, but

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Speaker 1: also the whole UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq,

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Speaker 1: closure of airspace, rerouting of flights, and stranding of passengers

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Speaker 1: in many cases. I've heard that a small number of

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Speaker 1: both Etti Hud and Emirates flights did depart from Dubai

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Speaker 1: and Doha last night. But it's a very small number,

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Speaker 1: and there are still hundreds of thousands of passengers who

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Speaker 1: are in limbo, and of course those include a number

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Speaker 1: of South Africans. Some of them caught up in transit.

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Speaker 1: They were halfway home, intending to have a stop over

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Speaker 1: at Dubai Airport, for example, and aren't able to do that.

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Speaker 1: Some of them are in the conflict zone itself and

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Speaker 1: feeling like they would rather leave that zone and come

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Speaker 1: back to South Africa and finding it very difficult to

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Speaker 1: do that. So we want to spend some time today

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Speaker 1: looking at the real human impact on those stranded travelers

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Speaker 1: and also taking a look at the bigger travel picture

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Speaker 1: of just how extensive the interruption and disruption has been.

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Speaker 1: Now two guests joining us today in a little while

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Speaker 1: will speak to travel professional Paula Martini, who is going

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Speaker 1: to help us understand the sort of the magnitude of

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Speaker 1: the issue, Paula being the owner of co Travel and

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Speaker 1: author of Travel with Purpose. First, though, so I want

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Speaker 1: to catch up with somebody who is a trusted voice

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Speaker 1: that I turned to for travel advice very often on

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Speaker 1: her Facebook platform Community Circle Home Essay, and that is

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Speaker 1: Kim Kerr, who is the founder of that platform, who

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Speaker 1: is as she so often finds herself in cases like this,

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Speaker 1: finding requests for help, please for help, Families desperately seeking

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Speaker 1: information and clarity. So we're going to speak to both

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Speaker 1: of them. And I would like to add that if

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Speaker 1: you are directly impacted, maybe you have a loved one

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Speaker 1: who is stranded somewhere in the world. Maybe you are

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Speaker 1: just weeks away from a holiday that was planning to

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Speaker 1: travel through this airport and I'm wondering what on earth

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Speaker 1: will happen. If you would like to share with us

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Speaker 1: your perspective, you can send her what's up to seven

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Speaker 1: two five six seven one five six seven. You're also

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Speaker 1: welcome to call in on two one four four six

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Speaker 1: five six seven or send an email to Pippa h

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Speaker 1: at cape talk dot co dot sed. Let's start with

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Speaker 1: Kim Kerr and for those who've not discovered the Community

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Speaker 1: Circle Home Essay Facebook page, I urge you to do so.

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Speaker 1: It is a wonderful place to seek advice, whether you

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Speaker 1: have questions around visa application problems, whether you are looking

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Speaker 1: for travel guidance of another kind, or seeking reassurance. It

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Speaker 1: really is a platform that is very well moderated and

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Speaker 1: managed and offers so much helpful, up to date information. So, Kim,

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Speaker 1: as a user of your platform, let me just start

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Speaker 1: by saying, thank you for what you do, and thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for joining us on the show this afternoon.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for having me, and thank you for all

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Speaker 2: the complimentary speak about my page. It's a huge effort

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Speaker 2: that I've been busy creating for the last five years.

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Speaker 1: It is a huge effort and it's got a huge following. Kim,

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Speaker 1: Before we ask any questions, let me ask how Bigot's grown.

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Speaker 1: What's your kind of membership sitting at at the moment.

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Speaker 2: I think we've been nearly at thirty three thousand, probably

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Speaker 2: because of this on Saturday, I think we're about three

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty people less. And I turn away from

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Speaker 2: my phone for an hour and there's another ten people joining,

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Speaker 2: and I think that's just shows in a number the

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Speaker 2: desperation as it grows.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So let's talk about that level of desperation

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Speaker 1: and the kinds of appeals for help that you are receiving.

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Speaker 1: What is the situation right now for South Africans who

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Speaker 1: are either stranded in the Middle East itself or were

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Speaker 1: intending to be rooted through that and find they can't

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Speaker 1: get there any more. Kim, just anecdotally, what sort of

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Speaker 1: stories and problems are bringing people bringing to you asking

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Speaker 1: for help with.

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Speaker 2: So this is very similar to what we saw in

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Speaker 2: the Ukraine War, we saw in the escalation last year

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Speaker 2: in Israel. It does happen from time to time that

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Speaker 2: we have to jump in, so the stories vary. You

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Speaker 2: get those who come and say, look, I'd like to

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Speaker 2: be on the WhatsApp platform that are always host specific

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Speaker 2: to a war, but I'm okay for now. I just

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Speaker 2: want the information to come through in case I don't

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Speaker 2: feel okay. And there are a number of those some

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Speaker 2: of which are referring to this as feeling like COVID

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Speaker 2: times where they weren't sure if they should leave the

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Speaker 2: country that they have a job in because if they

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Speaker 2: come back, they may not have that job security. So

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Speaker 2: there are a lot of those people. But then the

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Speaker 2: larger majority of those people are people who say I'm here,

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Speaker 2: I'm living on my own, working and I don't feel

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Speaker 2: secure in my flat with bombs going overhead. I'm seeing

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Speaker 2: it throughout the night. I wake up a few times

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Speaker 2: in the night and I just kind of look through

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Speaker 2: the groups that people have asked me to join, and

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Speaker 2: you see people posting pictures of what's going on outside

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Speaker 2: their window, posting their feelings and their thoughts. And sometimes

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Speaker 2: I can help because I do have a psychologist that

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Speaker 2: I work with who then reaches out to them, you know,

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Speaker 2: on a voluntary basis, just to help them through. But

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Speaker 2: some of these people are really getting desperate. These are

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Speaker 2: still early days, and I think a week from now,

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Speaker 2: if this is still going on at the same level

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Speaker 2: of escalation as it is, we're going to see more

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Speaker 2: people saying, Okay, this is getting too close for comfort.

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Speaker 2: I need to get out into safety. But there are

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Speaker 2: people who are already desperate. So, for example, a mom

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Speaker 2: who phones and says, I arrived on a transit visa

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Speaker 2: from Dubai just to see my husband who's working here.

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Speaker 2: For a couple of days. I got stuck here. My

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Speaker 2: children are at home with someone looking after them, neither

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Speaker 2: of their parents are there. And now she's getting to

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Speaker 2: a stage where she's saying to me, Kime, I don't

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Speaker 2: know if I'm going to see my children again. And

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Speaker 2: I'm having to calm her down and say, oh, that's

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Speaker 2: worst case scenario. She personally has also run out of

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Speaker 2: her psychiatric needs, and this is not the time to

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Speaker 2: be without your medication, because you pack a week's worth

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Speaker 2: in case. We'll now be getting beyond that. There are

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Speaker 2: a lot of people and other guys just messaged me

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Speaker 2: now about his kidney meeds. So sometimes we see things

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Speaker 2: like that. Then we have to reach out to doctors

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Speaker 2: there to engage with doctors in South Africa to write

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Speaker 2: a script that is being valid in that country. And

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Speaker 2: then we get the situation where some people are For example,

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Speaker 2: that mom on her travel on her transit visa, if

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Speaker 2: she were to drive six hours to Amant and get

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Speaker 2: on a plane to wherever, let's say, I mean she

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Speaker 2: was talking about going a specific route which I asked

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Speaker 2: her not to go because that airport kept closing. But

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Speaker 2: if she tried that route and that plane gets canceled,

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Speaker 2: how does she then get back into Dubai because she

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Speaker 2: doesn't have a valid visa. So these are things that

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Speaker 2: we have to play out, sometimes with the help of

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Speaker 2: DERKO personnel and sometimes just kind of navigating what we've

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Speaker 2: learned from other wars.

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Speaker 1: Kim, I mean, thank you for pointing out that this

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Speaker 1: is much more than just I need to get home

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Speaker 1: from my holiday that in some cases, you know, there

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Speaker 1: are very much more immediate, pressing, urgent issues that have

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Speaker 1: got to be dealt with before you worry about how

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Speaker 1: am I going to continue the trip onward or leave

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Speaker 1: the country I'm in. That really does shed a new

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Speaker 1: light on this. I'm guessing you're probably also hearing from

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Speaker 1: the other side of the story, which is the family

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Speaker 1: members back home here in South Africa saying I'm desperately worried.

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Speaker 1: I've got a loved one who's grounded in Dubai and

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Speaker 1: I'm seeing footage of you know, debris from a drone

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Speaker 1: strike hitting a hotel in Dubai. Are there safe? Are

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Speaker 1: you having to sort of do a lot of work

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Speaker 1: to a layfiers on this side as well.

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Speaker 2: So I actually was speaking to the therapists that I work

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Speaker 2: with about doing maybe creating something a platform for those

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Speaker 2: people specifically, because you know, when you're sitting in a

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Speaker 2: room and there's something that goes overhead, you share it.

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Speaker 2: You're nervous for the moment, and then the moment passes.

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Speaker 2: Even though you stay in a state of anxiety, you

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Speaker 2: still know that you are safe. Whereas the loved one

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Speaker 2: doesn't know that, and on a moment to moment basis,

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Speaker 2: especially when you're talking about places like Dubai where you

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Speaker 2: can't WhatsApp called the person, So unless you're going to

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Speaker 2: ask them minute by minute are you okay? Are you

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Speaker 2: okay here? It's often more anxiety driving for the person

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Speaker 2: that is away. And often, I'd say about twenty percent

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Speaker 2: of the time it's the parent. Usually the moms who

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Speaker 2: reach out to me and say, how do I get

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Speaker 2: on your WhatsApp group to help my child? And I say, look,

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Speaker 2: I'm happy to put you on, but I need the

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Speaker 2: child on as well, because the child's a mad out.

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Speaker 2: And sometimes it's a parent who's dealing with two parents

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Speaker 2: in different parts of the Middle East and grandchildren. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and now they're here and feeling extremely helpless, and that's

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Speaker 2: a very difficult space to be.

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Speaker 1: In, Kim, in terms of I mean the feeling of helplessness.

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Speaker 1: As you say, it's from the unknown, and there is

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Speaker 1: a lot that is unknown right now and that nobody

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Speaker 1: can offer clarity on. We don't know how long this

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Speaker 1: is going to continue, what you know to what degree

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Speaker 1: it might escalate or de escalate in the coming days,

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Speaker 1: and the airlines themselves don't don't have a crystal ball

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Speaker 1: that they can gaze into to tell them. But just

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Speaker 1: generally speaking, are the airlines doing a good job of

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Speaker 1: communicating with passengers who've been impacted? Is that adding to

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Speaker 1: the stress or detracting from the stress in terms of

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Speaker 1: how they are managing people's expectations and fears.

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Speaker 2: So they are putting out communications, often on the front

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Speaker 2: pages of the of their websites. But you know, you

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Speaker 2: can never calm an anxious person going through a war zone.

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Speaker 2: It's almost an impossible task. And that's why a lot

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Speaker 2: of these people who are desperate to get out or

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Speaker 2: who really are you know, not necessarily desperate because of

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Speaker 2: a specific situation like one guy's got to get to

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Speaker 2: his chemo appointment next week, But these are people also

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Speaker 2: who just don't want to take the risk. And those people,

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Speaker 2: a lot of them we're driving. For example, we've got

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Speaker 2: tours going from Jerusalem through to Egypt or Jerusalem to Jordan,

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Speaker 2: and we've worked out a route at the cheapest possible

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Speaker 2: rate that we can get them and literally helps them

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Speaker 2: to move through that way so that we can get

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Speaker 2: them home and let them get on with their lives.

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Speaker 2: But then you've got other people who are trying to

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Speaker 2: get home into the Middle East to their to in

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Speaker 2: the Middle East, You've got Israelis and Kuwaitans and you know,

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Speaker 2: all these people. They're trying to get to their jobs,

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Speaker 2: they're trying to get to their homes. Because this is

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Speaker 2: not a full out war zone. A lot of these

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Speaker 2: people really just need.

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Speaker 1: To get a live Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're thinking of it from the point of view

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Speaker 2: of how to get away from the bomb. And for

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Speaker 2: a lot of these people, especially those in Israel, who've

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Speaker 2: almost become accustomed to that way of life, they look

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Speaker 2: at South Africans and think, how do you cope being

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Speaker 2: afraid to drive in the middle of the nights, you know,

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Speaker 2: or after dusk. We look at it and say that

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Speaker 2: that's our normal. We've kind of grown accustomed to it.

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Speaker 2: When you've got somebody who's used to it almost I

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Speaker 2: don't know if you can ever get completely used to it,

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Speaker 2: but more accustomed to it and more target like that,

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Speaker 2: they've kind of grown to understand their body has learned

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Speaker 2: to understand it. They cope with it better. Whereas when

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Speaker 2: you've got somebody who's on vacation there running down, up

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Speaker 2: and down to underground space can be extremely difficult, and

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Speaker 2: especially for children who in that position. Remember there's also

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Speaker 2: children on holidays who having to navigate this and here

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Speaker 2: sirens and be afraid and parents trying to stay calm

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Speaker 2: to keep their children calm, which is another dynamic. You've

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Speaker 2: got to kind of put a fake smile on your

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Speaker 2: face and say, don't worry, darling, nothing will happen, when

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Speaker 2: in the back of your mind you're wondering if your

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Speaker 2: children will ever see their father again. So it is difficult.

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Speaker 1: Kim, thank you so much for putting that very human

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Speaker 1: face to this for us. Last question for you before

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Speaker 1: I readirect to Paula for some sort of on the

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Speaker 1: ground travel planning stuff, is if somebody listening to this

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Speaker 1: is thinking I need to be on your platform. I

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Speaker 1: would like to be able to reach out for this

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Speaker 1: kind of help or connect to you. What's the best

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Speaker 1: place for them to engage with you? Is it on

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Speaker 1: the Facebook page?

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Speaker 2: The best thing for them to do is to go

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Speaker 2: into groups in Facebook and look up community Circle SA

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Speaker 2: join the group, and then from there there is a

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Speaker 2: post that's been pinned to the top that they can

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Speaker 2: find that they can then click on it or just

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Speaker 2: you know, reach out to the admin and message me

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Speaker 2: privately and I'll add them on and also work out

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Speaker 2: what their specific situation is.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Kim, sorry I lied one more question because Keith

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Speaker 1: has just asking her on WhatsApp line. Hearing you mentioned

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Speaker 1: that you are in contact with DIRKO personnel. Keith is

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Speaker 1: asking how much can the government assist people to get

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Speaker 1: home safely? Is that happening behind the scenes or are

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Speaker 1: we not there yet?

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Speaker 2: So what DERKO are doing at the moment, and I

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Speaker 2: mean my first meeting was with three members of DURKO

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Speaker 2: on Saturday and Saturday. What they are doing is they're

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Speaker 2: trying to get everybody to register, at least on their platform,

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Speaker 2: where they are, how many people they're worth, what their

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Speaker 2: passport numbers are, etc. Who their next of kinners. Because

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Speaker 2: remember also you've got to unfortunately worry about you know,

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Speaker 2: if something happens, who do we contact, how many children

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Speaker 2: are there if the parents get injured. They've also got

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Speaker 2: an app, the UCO app, which is quite good except

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Speaker 2: some parts of what action some parts of the country

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Speaker 2: have actually blocked it from being able to relate information.

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Speaker 2: So you can do it by email, they do it

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Speaker 2: by phone, and they do it by the app, which

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Speaker 2: also gathers a lot of that information. At the moment,

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Speaker 2: Duko have said that there is no plan to do

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Speaker 2: any repatriation of flights or anything like that. There are

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Speaker 2: countries that are America did a huge drive today to

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Speaker 2: get everybody out urgently. The UK are also looking at

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Speaker 2: something like that and a few other countries. South Africa

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Speaker 2: is usually very hesitant to do that. We've seen it

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Speaker 2: in other wars. We've had to get people out on

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Speaker 2: their behalf because but then they'll suddenly when things get

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Speaker 2: very tense that okay, look let's get some certain people

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Speaker 2: out and then they'll look for donors to do that.

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Speaker 2: But at this stage all they're doing is just collating

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Speaker 2: information and then helping with things like, for example, this

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Speaker 2: lady's visa so that if she does leave she can

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Speaker 2: get back into Dubai. They do help where they can.

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Speaker 1: That's good to hear, Kim, and thank you so much,

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Speaker 1: really interesting input, and we appreciate your time this afternoon,

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Speaker 1: especially given how busy you are chasing up all of

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Speaker 1: these solutions for people who really need them. So we'll

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Speaker 1: let you get back to that important work, Kim Ker,

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Speaker 1: They're the founder of Community Circle SA and please do

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Speaker 1: reach out and join that platform on Facebook if you

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Speaker 1: are in need of that kind of help and reassurance

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Speaker 1: that she's been describing. Now listening into all of that,

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Speaker 1: and thank you for your patients. Paula Martini, who is

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Speaker 1: a travel industry insider. She is the owner of co

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Speaker 1: Travel and the author of Travel with Purpose. And Paula,

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Speaker 1: thanks for your time as well this afternoon. I mean,

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Speaker 1: Kim just painted the very human aspect there. Do you

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Speaker 1: want to just give us the sort of the broader

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Speaker 1: business perspective? I can put it this way, of just

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Speaker 1: how big a hub this part of the world is

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Speaker 1: for the travel industry. And you know, I think a

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Speaker 1: lot of people heard that figure I quoted of more

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Speaker 1: than twelve thousand flights disrupted and might have gone sorry

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Speaker 1: in three days? Is it really that many? Do you

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Speaker 1: want to just paint the picture for us of how

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Speaker 1: severe the disruption is of having an airport like to

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Speaker 1: buy closed?

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Speaker 3: Sure? Thank you so much for having me propound And

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Speaker 3: I'm sure we don't have a lot of time, so

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Speaker 3: I'm going to try and cover everything as much as

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Speaker 3: I can. I think in times like this, you know,

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Speaker 3: we've got that whole COVID experience again from a travel

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Speaker 3: professionals point of view, and it's almost like a lot

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Speaker 3: of them are having PTSD at the moment because and

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Speaker 3: I think it's it's in moments like this that the

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Speaker 3: value that a travel professional brings to this entire human

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Speaker 3: experience becomes an asset to all those that are around

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Speaker 3: the world. Yes, twelve thousand flights, and I'd like to

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Speaker 3: point out that nine and a half thousand of those

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Speaker 3: are UAE airlines. So I think it's also important to

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Speaker 3: note just the amount of spread and distribution that this

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Speaker 3: small little area actually has on a global scale in

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Speaker 3: terms of logistics, because the likes of dough Are, the

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Speaker 3: likes of Dubai have become travel hubs for the rest

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Speaker 3: of the world, and when when that part gets shut down,

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Speaker 3: it's a global problem, you know, from from people being

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Speaker 3: stuck in Australia, from people being stuck all over the world,

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Speaker 3: because these are transit hubs for many people around the world.

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Speaker 3: So it is a problem. It's a massive problem. I think.

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Speaker 3: Luckily we're dealing with the likes of Emirates and CATA

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Speaker 3: Airlines even etty ad they you know, they quick to action.

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Speaker 3: The updates that we are getting are you know, we've

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Speaker 3: we've even got a training that is happening for travel

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Speaker 3: professionals at four o'clock. Because the problem that you've got

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Speaker 3: is tickets. You know, you've got flights canceled, you've got delays,

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Speaker 3: you've got all of this. But in the back end,

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Speaker 3: you've got a whole administration night me because the moment

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Speaker 3: you've got a flight canceled, you've got rebookings, you've got reissues,

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Speaker 3: you've got Viza dramas. I mean, we've we've got travel

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Speaker 3: professionals in South Africa at the moment with people on

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Speaker 3: cruise ships. You know, the whole problem with that area

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Speaker 3: and the Gulf is now we have I think there's

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Speaker 3: five at the moment with people stranded in the middle

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Speaker 3: of the ocean on a cruise ship that cannot move.

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Speaker 3: So it is a far bigger problem than we anticipating.

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Speaker 3: And you know, the longer it goes on, the worse

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Speaker 3: it's going to get. Yeah, the other problem that we've

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Speaker 3: got is travel insurance. You know a lot of people

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Speaker 3: have got travel insurance with regards to medical and all

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Speaker 3: the rest but your war zone and you know, war

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Speaker 3: threat or war anything that happens related to war. Travel

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Speaker 3: insurance companies don't cover you for that. So now you've

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Speaker 3: got the unexpected expense of having to stay for longer

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Speaker 3: in accommodation. You know. Unfortunately that you know, the UAE

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Speaker 3: and all of that. I mean, it's the first time

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Speaker 3: in my thirty one years of travel that a government

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Speaker 3: is actually offered to cover those costs. There are still

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Speaker 3: a bit of of things that we try to out

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Speaker 3: from a travel professional's point of view, on how those

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Speaker 3: costs get claimed. You know, the hotel properties at the

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Speaker 3: moment aren't entirely sure so whether we claim direct from

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Speaker 3: the government itself or if there's going to be a

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Speaker 3: process in place, but you've got unexpected costs that you've

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Speaker 3: now haven't budgeted for. The Other problem is you've you've

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Speaker 3: got people in places takeing Australia for example, and if

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Speaker 3: you had to if you were traveling and you needed

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Speaker 3: to transit in Sydney and you you know, on your

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Speaker 3: way to New Zealand or something like that, you now

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Speaker 3: are stuck in an airport as a South African that

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Speaker 3: doesn't have a transit visa you can't. You know, there's

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Speaker 3: no connecting flight. You are in destinations where visas are

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Speaker 3: required the UK, for example, South Africans you know, require

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Speaker 3: transit visa or a visa to actually enter the country.

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Speaker 3: So if you are now in a country that you

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Speaker 3: know you're going to be stuck for a longer period

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Speaker 3: of time than your two hour connection, it creates a

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Speaker 3: massive problem. And from a travel professionals point of view,

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Speaker 3: you know, I think this is something that you know

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Speaker 3: and looking at and I strongly advocate for my colleagues

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Speaker 3: in this in this you know, in this time, because

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Speaker 3: it's something that only people with travel experience can help

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Speaker 3: you navigate. You know, you've got so many people that

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Speaker 3: have booked online and the logistically and from a system

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Speaker 3: point of view, were already see problems just you know,

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Speaker 3: without war, people arriving at airports that haven't bothered to

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Speaker 3: check visa requirements, that haven't looked at health requirements, that

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Speaker 3: haven't checked for transits, all of that which are being offloaded,

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Speaker 3: and all the rest. Now add add war zone and

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Speaker 3: closed airspace. This entire thing has been compacted and people

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Speaker 3: that have booked directly, people that have gone through I

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Speaker 3: mean we even seeing travel professionals having to deal with

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Speaker 3: a bad clients because you now have all these banks

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Speaker 3: in South Africa that are offering travel rewards and allowing

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Speaker 3: people to use their cards and get massive discounts, but

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Speaker 3: they haven't, you know, they haven't taken into account that

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Speaker 3: they now need to have travel officers that can deal

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Speaker 3: with these travelers themselves as a professional does, because that

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Speaker 3: is that is where you know. And I love that

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Speaker 3: Kim brought in the psychology of all of that, because

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Speaker 3: I think if there's one thing a travel professional is,

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Speaker 3: we are lawyers, We are visa advocate, you know, visa professionals,

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Speaker 3: we are airline professionals, We psychologists, we are travel insurance

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Speaker 3: fundi's and gurus. You know, there's so many different aspects

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Speaker 3: that a travel professional has to deal with in times

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Speaker 3: like this.

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Speaker 1: Paula, if I may, I'm going to pause you there.

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Speaker 1: We have to go to the news because they're writing

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Speaker 1: terribly late, but if we can keep you online, just

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Speaker 1: straight out of the news, I want to ask your

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Speaker 1: opinion on forward travel booking and what people should be

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Speaker 1: doing at this point, which I think is the one

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Speaker 1: question that's coming up most often on our WhatsApp line.

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Speaker 1: So apologies to interrupt you so abruptly.

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Speaker 2: There.

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Speaker 1: We'll come back to you after the eyewitness news bulletin

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Speaker 1: and just finish up this conversation before we dive into

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Speaker 1: the second hour of the show. So let's just jump

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Speaker 1: straight back into our conversation with travel professional Paula Martini,

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Speaker 1: who is the owner of co Travel and author of

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Speaker 1: Travel with Purpose. Now, before the news, she was giving

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Speaker 1: us the big picture, the global view, the serious nature

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Speaker 1: of the disruption. Twelve thousand plus flights already impacted. Knock

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Speaker 1: on impact obviously in terms of reticketing and accommodation for

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Speaker 1: people who are stranded, visas running out, etc. People not

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Speaker 1: able to source enough chronic medication. And there's a lot

436
00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,399
Speaker 1: of knock on impact here that we've already discussed. But

437
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 1: I wanted to just finish in conversation with Paula on

438
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:53,840
Speaker 1: the issue that several of you have whatsapped us about.

439
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:58,080
Speaker 1: We have travel bookings for the near to medium near future.

440
00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:00,159
Speaker 1: What do we do? Let me just share there are

441
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:03,000
Speaker 1: a couple with them at TQ saying we are due

442
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 1: to flight to Bangkok with Emirates on the seventh of April.

443
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,480
Speaker 1: What do you think, will we be okay? Lindy's flight

444
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 1: is only in August, but she says she is worried.

445
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:14,400
Speaker 1: Do I need to be rebooking on a different airline

446
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,920
Speaker 1: rather than going through Dubai? I mean, Paula, we don't know.

447
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:20,480
Speaker 1: We don't know what the future holds, and whether the

448
00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,040
Speaker 1: situation is going to escalate or de escalate, and whether

449
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:25,399
Speaker 1: that's going to happen over a factor of days or

450
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,280
Speaker 1: weeks or months. We just don't know. What would your

451
00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:32,080
Speaker 1: advice be to somebody who has a ticket booked for

452
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:34,960
Speaker 1: Let's start with the quite near future. So somebody who's

453
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,200
Speaker 1: due to fly, for example, for the Easter school holidays

454
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,920
Speaker 1: and had a flight booked worth Emirates or Qatar, etc.

455
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:42,439
Speaker 1: What are you advising people who are in that position?

456
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,640
Speaker 3: So, Papa, I think it's very important to understand with

457
00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:51,159
Speaker 3: regards to travel and aviation regulation rules and airline change fees,

458
00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 3: we have something that is called a voluntary change and

459
00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:59,040
Speaker 3: an involuntary change. So what we're see now and the

460
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:03,080
Speaker 3: airline's current only up until the tenth of March, and

461
00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:07,000
Speaker 3: it's going to be assessed. Originally it was a couple

462
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,879
Speaker 3: of days before today Emirates have extended it until the

463
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:13,000
Speaker 3: tenth of March and they're going to reassess every single day.

464
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:17,159
Speaker 3: So what happens is you have an involuntary change. So

465
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:20,960
Speaker 3: that is what is happening now with flight cancelations, delays

466
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 3: all the rest the airline will automatically update your reservation,

467
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,440
Speaker 3: so all those that are traveling need to keep an

468
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,439
Speaker 3: eye on the platform that they've booked through or the

469
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:34,480
Speaker 3: agency that they've booked with and to ensure that their

470
00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,359
Speaker 3: flights still remain valid. Then with regards to people that

471
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,399
Speaker 3: are traveling after this period, so for example, I have

472
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,639
Speaker 3: clients the eighteenth of March as well as the twenty

473
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:47,000
Speaker 3: sixth of March, they fall outside of that category, so

474
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:51,800
Speaker 3: any changes relating to those tickets become a voluntary change.

475
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,119
Speaker 3: So the moment you want to change your ticket because

476
00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:57,399
Speaker 3: you are scared, you don't want to travel, you're not

477
00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:01,040
Speaker 3: going to know what's happened. You're cancellation and your change

478
00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:04,080
Speaker 3: of reservation fees will apply to those air tickets as

479
00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:08,159
Speaker 3: well as accommodation, and of course, because the traveling travel

480
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:13,400
Speaker 3: insurance which we discussed before the news, these are cancelations

481
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:17,880
Speaker 3: and delays relating to war impact. So a travel insurance

482
00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,240
Speaker 3: company are not going to cover these costs. You will

483
00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,879
Speaker 3: be liable for those change fees as well as cancelation

484
00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:29,000
Speaker 3: fees if your travel falls into a period on you know,

485
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 3: past the tenth of March. So we know now that

486
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 3: any travel before the tenth of March will be covered

487
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,879
Speaker 3: covered under the involuntary change rules where we are seeing

488
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:43,959
Speaker 3: airlines allowing for full refund and change of reservation obviously

489
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,919
Speaker 3: minus the admin fees. Those those will take into effect.

490
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:51,600
Speaker 3: But anything after that is going to fall under the

491
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:54,280
Speaker 3: voluntary So if you have a non refundable ticket, or

492
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 3: you have a ticket that is non changeable or one

493
00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:01,439
Speaker 3: hundred dollars, five hundred dollars whatever, those fees will be

494
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:03,000
Speaker 3: applicable to those tickets.

495
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:06,680
Speaker 1: Last question, Pauter, before we must let you go. You've

496
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,840
Speaker 1: saved several times now that almost all travel insurance does

497
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:14,480
Speaker 1: not cover, you know, costs incurrede due to acts of war.

498
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 1: Are there any that do If somebody wants to risk

499
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,240
Speaker 1: booking a ticket for a later departure, but it would

500
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 1: like to do that with some kind of insurance cover,

501
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,520
Speaker 1: does anybody offer a sort of a fully comprehensive policy

502
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,880
Speaker 1: that would cover even a cost associated with a change

503
00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 1: due to an act of war.

504
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, not I think all the insurance companies saw, you know,

505
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 3: were the effects of COVID, and after COVID rewrote all

506
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:45,439
Speaker 3: the terms and conditions, we received a notice this morning

507
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 3: via Travel News Weekly that all the major insurance companies,

508
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:55,000
Speaker 3: which is sometime TRC, Hollard as well as Bright and

509
00:26:55,160 --> 00:27:01,160
Speaker 3: Bright and sometimes being the underwriters for the credit card insurance,

510
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:05,760
Speaker 3: all of those companies do not cover war and they

511
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 3: have sent out the notice this morning clarifying all of

512
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:12,719
Speaker 3: those that unfortunately, this is not going to be covered.

513
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 3: I cannot see any travel insurance company that is going

514
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,920
Speaker 3: to and especially with regards to the credit card insurance,

515
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:24,080
Speaker 3: you know a lot of travelers that have booked themselves

516
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,480
Speaker 3: have gone with the fact of oh I am I've

517
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:29,880
Speaker 3: paid with my credit card, I've got I've got free

518
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:33,640
Speaker 3: cover that that cover is so limited initially, even if

519
00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:37,040
Speaker 3: you've done a top up insurance, that's limited. But the

520
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:44,320
Speaker 3: underwrits is for those free insurances are Bright and sometimes TRC.

521
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 3: So no, they have confirmed today that they will not

522
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 3: be covering. And then you've got your medical aid you know,

523
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 3: whether you're a Momentum or Discovery card holder, but generally

524
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,920
Speaker 3: those are very limited. They don't cover visa denial, they

525
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:02,359
Speaker 3: don't cover much travel delay. You know, they basically only

526
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:07,280
Speaker 3: cover the essentials of medical evacuation and and and and

527
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,840
Speaker 3: the likes thereof. So no, I think at this stage,

528
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 3: you know, if you're wanting to plan, because you're going

529
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:16,440
Speaker 3: to find a travel insurance that is going to cover

530
00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 3: should something happen. It's not even an option.

531
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,720
Speaker 1: It actually just doesn't exist. Okay, that's grim news, but

532
00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:25,600
Speaker 1: important news. Paula, thank you so much, really appreciate your

533
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:27,640
Speaker 1: time this afternoon and the advice you've shared.

534
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,679
Speaker 3: Thanks for your time, my pleasure, Thank you for having me.

535
00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:33,200
Speaker 1: Thank you again, Paula Martini, owner of co Travel,