For the past few months, I’ve been planning an incredible round-the-world trip with my best friend Mike. We both recently turned the big 5-0, so we decided to do something we don’t normally do and splurge on ourselves. We purchased business class tickets with a mix of cash and miles. Here’s the breakdown of my itinerary:
Los Angeles to Toronto on American Airlines (via Dallas)
Since AA doesn’t fly nonstop between LAX-YYZ anymore, I’m going via Dallas. I was going to buy a non-stop flight on Air Canada but the ticket was $353, and that was without paying for a seat towards the front of the plane or in an exit row and without paying the baggage fee. Since I’m in bed with American’s frequent flier program, I figured I might as well stay with them to earn the miles and start putting spend towards retaining my Executive Platinum (EP) status for next year. I could have flown economy for $230 but since I wanted to start my birthday trip off right, I splurged and purchased business class for $503 since the LAX-DFW portion is on a 787 in a lie-flat seat.
Toronto to Singapore (via London and Helsinki)
I’m going to Toronto (YYZ) because that’s where my ridiculously low business class fare ($1,582) to Singapore (and Hong Kong) originates. Besides, my wife grew up in Toronto so I have a place to stay and can spend the day doing errands for my mother-in-law. From Toronto I’m flying YYZ to London (LHR) on a British Airways A350. Then it’s LHR to Helsinki (HEL) and finally on to Singapore, both on Finnair’s new A350.
I have a three-hour layover in London, which is just enough time to take a shower, hang out in the first class lounge and get some good food. In HEL, the layover is eight hours so Mike and I are planning to take the train into the city (30 minutes), tour around and go to dinner before returning to the airport. In Singapore, we’re going to spend a couple of nights at the swanky Marina Bay Sands Hotel, which was featured in the movie Crazy Rich Asians. I’ve been to the hotel but never swam in its surreal rooftop infinity pool so I’m really looking forward to it.
Singapore to Bangkok to Hong Kong (and then home to Los Angeles)
We decided we could squeeze Thailand in for 24 hours so we could get our Thai food fix and flights from Singapore to Bangkok to Hong Kong (HKG) on Cathay Pacific were just 22,500 American Airline miles total for both business class tickets.
The plan is to spend three nights. I really only wanted two but American Airlines’ HKG-to-LAX flight had confirmed upgrade space on the Monday night so I decided to spend an extra day. The coach ticket was $534 but I had confirmed space for my system-wide upgrade (American EP members receive four system-wide upgrades a year to use on any flight as long as space is available).
Coronavirus: Should I cancel my trip to Asia?
Then in early January the news about the coronavirus started trickling in. Obviously, we’ve been monitoring the situation, and it just keeps getting worse. Both Mike and I have two little kids at home, we’re not traveling for work, and we don’t want to cause our families anxiety. So now we’re asking ourselves: Should we cancel our trip?
We both have travel insurance through Allianz (I’m one of their brand ambassadors) but I don’t imagine insurance will cover all the tickets since they don’t all involve China. However, before I go down the road of filing an insurance claim, I’m going to call the airlines to see if they will refund the tickets. My buddy Mike called Delta Air Lines about his New York-to-Budapest ticket and the agent surprisingly told him they would refund him in full since they understand the concern. I was shocked because his ticket was a one-way just to Europe and his Asia portions weren’t on a Sky Team partner. Good on Delta! Now let’s see what American, Finnair and Cathay Pacific have to say (I will update the post once I contact them).
Obviously, I’ll be really bummed if I have to cancel this incredible trip. Southeast Asia is my favorite destination to travel to and I haven’t been in four years. But when I asked friends and family on Facebook what they would do and the overwhelming response was to cancel and stay home (even from a lot of seasoned travelers).
Maybe the media is making this a bigger deal than it really is, but many sources say that the numbers of cases are being underreported. As of this writing, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in China is more than 8,200. The death toll has risen to 171. To put that in perspective: In the U.S., the CDC estimates that there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses and more than 8,000 deaths so far this flu season.
What scares me most about traveling to Asia (besides getting the virus and infecting others) is that right now, if you do go and you come down with a fever, you could be quarantined for up to two weeks. I recently read about a flight from Singapore to Shanghai (I think, as I can’t find the story) that had two people with fevers so they quarantined all the passengers. Then in Italy just yesterday, a Chinese cruise passenger showed signs of coronavirus and they quarantined the whole ship of 6,000 passengers!
What would you do?
As much as I love travel and the Asian continent, I just don’t think it’s worth the risk right now because I have a wife and two little kids. If I were single, I would wait until the day before to decide to go. What do you think? Should I cancel my trip to Asia? If you were in my position, what would you do? Please leave a comment with your thoughts in the comments below!
I am in Singapore as I write this and was in Hong Kong last week.
Take your hand sanitizer, a box or two of face masks and do the same things you do when the flu is going around. Keep your hands away from your eyes, avoid touching rails, etc.
We were on a tour with an oncology nurse yesterday and she said a strain the coronavirus has been in the US for quite a while and they see it often enough in the hospitals. It’s not bacterial so they merely treat the symptoms. Those more so at risk are the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.
Enjoy your trip but take precautions. Is it a bit unnerving seeing everyone around you wearing masks? Yeah, a bit. Did I come down with an upper respiratory infection after stupidly wearing the same surgical mask for two days? Yeah. I mentioned it to the nurse who was surprisingly sans a mask and she says hospital protocol is they change theirs every 20 minutes if worn continuously. I was the only one in my family to get a cold and I was the only one to wear a “used” mask. Lesson learned. ?
Enjoy your trip.
Cancel and do it next year. That will have the added benefit of delaying turning 50 for another year!
If your kids were old enough to travel on their own would you want them to go? Me either.
You could `play it safe’ cancel the trip and then drop dead for any one of a host of other reasons (like getting hit by a bus or getting the flu). Go for it dude. My opinion is that this is now totally over hyped like the Dominican nonsense last year. I went to the DR in June for 5 days, still here… Going back to Bangkok for 8 days via Hong Kong 12 days from now. No worries, I will wash my hands frequently, and have the time of a lifetime cause you never know if you will get another shot at such an opportunity.
Cancel – No, Postpone -probably. My daughter lives in Bangkok so I was impressed with your Singapore – BKK – HKG use of AA miles. I will have to consider that as I go twice a year. I will probably have a REAL mask for those trips not just a loose, paper kind.
Do not go. Wisdom over desire. Others over self. If Mikes such a good friend, he will totally support whatever decision you make.
Go on the trip!
My wife and I don’t currently have a trip planned for this winter. We are going to take advantage of bargains this hysteria is causing, and go to someplace like Malaysia or Cambodia or Vietnam. The Media needs hysterias and feeding frenzies to fill their air time. As late as 1979 there was one half hour of national news on TV. Now they have all this time to fill. Remember all the deaths of tourists in the Dominican Republic? Whatever became of that story?
As far as I can tell reading between the lines this Coronavirus is only dangerous if you are already frail. Otherwise it is kind of like a common cold or flu. Not a threat for two 50-year old men.
With your planned trip, the most likely problem will be passing through Hong Kong Airport. This is the “hub” for Cathay Pacific, when you go to just about anyplace in Asia on CP you go through Hong Kong. You could experience extra screening. That is on your return and if getting through Hong Kong is a problem that is really Cathay Pacific’s problem to resolve.
The good news is that if there is something to Coronavirus it is being treated as a medical issue. Remember Ebola? That was treated first and foremost as a Civil Rights issue.
I would not take the chance. Your destinations will always be there. Your health comes first.
Alert from US State Department:
Event: Due to the ongoing outbreak of respiratory illness, first identified in Wuhan, China, the U.S. Government issued a Level 4 Do Not Travel Alert on January 30, 2020. This alert recommends that U.S. citizens avoid travel to China due to the rapid spread of coronavirus. We strongly recommend that U.S. citizens avoid all travel to China until further notice.
The trip can wait until the dust settles on this virus.
Nope, not worth the risk. The risk I’m talking about is not having a plane to return home. Many airlines and countries are banning flights. You may have a hard time getting home, and then add the worry and stress with all of the virus talk in the news. Stress isn’t the best thing for your immune system, right when you need it most. A coworker of mine was in high school in China during SARS and said it took a good 3 months for schools and business to return/open and things to get back to normal. I just heard today’s numbers have officially surpassed the SARS outbreak from 2002. Please postpone, expect at least 4 months.
shall look for your post on what Alliance will do for policy holders if the virus spreads.
Shall have to call them since I have not purchased my ticket to the alternative location (not Asia) I dont think they will cover my expenses if I cancel……………..
Have been reading a little about ships changing their itineraries……………..and avoiding China
Cancel. My daughter is a pilot for United flying trips to Bejing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and I REALLY do not want her to continue flying those trips. I would imagine many crew members are very concerned about their health as well as the health of all the passengers. I would not take the risk.