Q – We have a rather special privately planned trip to Egypt scheduled to depart in the next 45 days. With war in the region we have to face the necessity of canceling our long-awaited trip to Egypt. Do we cancel now or let the tour company in Egypt cancel? . The government is telling Americans not to travel to the Middle East and I suppose there is good reason. We will be using our credit card insurance coverage. We booked this online so details are rather sparse.
A – We sort of knew you had booked online by your third sentence. Your credit card insurer will likely not cover your final payment which we are guessing has already been made. Normally, we would advise that you wait for the tour company in Egypt or whoever it was that handled your arrangements to cancel. But as you are scheduled to depart in 45 days, our guess is that your trip will not be cancelled.
In fact, Egypt inbound tourism is generally not affected by events in Iran. Egypt is not on the Level 3 or Level 4 State Department Advisory List. Here is the latest State Department notice that would affect your trip:
On March 2 we issued a region-wide precautionary message to Americans in the Middle East in light of evolving dynamics. Here is a summary of our latest security updates as of March 3, 9pm EST. We have increased Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE to Level 3. Egypt remains at Level 2 reflecting that our overall assessment of the security situation there has not changed at this time.
You need to speak to the firm handling your arrangements directly. You also need to assess exactly what level of coverage you are holding. Do you, for instance, have the kind of coverage that would pay your bills for a stay in an Egyptian hospital? Do you have the kind of coverage that would allow you to be medically evacuated from Egypt if that was necessary?
Your note was rather brief so it is difficult to give you a comprehensive answer. In looking at your situation, we would advise that you consider moving forward with this journey. But if you do, you may need to purchase additional travel coverage (Really challenging at this late date).
We are concerned about you. You are in a difficult situation. If you cancel you will likely be out a great deal of money. If you get frustrated, call us. There will be no charge but we would like to be available in case you need us.
We are starting to hear from a number of people who made bookings abroad, offering up their personal details and credit card information with a 1-800 call center that, given technology, could be located anywhere in the world. Sadly, these travelers are all being charged for the services of a US-based travel adviser without their knowledge. It is always included in all online pricing even though no highly-qualified adviser is involved. It is one of the major travel scams associated with online bookings. The public knows little about this because media outlets are so dependent on travel advertising from online purveyors.
