Q – 11.18.23 We are wondering what the status might be of our scheduled tour with Globus in February. We have called twice and all they are saying is there are no refunds being given and the tour will operate based on current information. Is there anywhere we can get more definitive information? We would love to postpone this trip by a year just to see if things calm down in Israel and along the Gaza Strip. We are not getting any information about safety from the company and we have paid in full. Any specifics you can provide would be really appreciated – our phone calls have not produced anything of value except that we are being told a credit to use another time is out. For what it is worth, we are in our seventies, we are Jewish, and we certainly don’t need the uncertainty or the stress. I am sure you understand.
A – What we don’t understand is why you are making these calls. Why isn’t this being handled by your travel advisor? Someone is earning a nice commission on your booking so it would seem appropriate that they do a little work to earn it. Our concern is that you may have booked this directly with the company. If that is the case, please make certain that the travel agent commission portion of the price you paid is returned to you. If, in this situation, you paid the full rate inclusive of the agent commission, but you never used an agent, someone is making a double profit. We hope that is not the case.
The specifics, for now, are these:
The war is in Israel and in Gaza. It has not extended to Egypt so tours are not being canceled and booked guests are, across-the-board, being denied future credited unless they specifically were booked on a canceled Israel departure.
There is a travel “advisory” issued for American travelers going to Egypt. That means “take extra precautions”. It does not mean “don’t go”. Many American cities are under travel “advisories” and foreign visitors are warned about taking precautions to remain out of harms way. If our State Department, for whatever reason, changes the “Advisory” to a “Warning” your tour will, we are certain, be canceled and you will either be offered a total refund of all but your travel insurance fees or an attractive future credit.
If you are truly nervous about going and you booked with Globus without the advocacy of a travel professional, we would pout together a carefully crafter letter to the director of Customer Services at Globus laying out the reasons why you need to postpone this journey. You might want to include a letter from your physician as well. No guarantees, but that would take it out of the hands of the reservation agents at a call center who have been taking your calls.
