Galapagos and Machu Picchu Rescheduled - January 2024

January Travel Changes

Photo by CTBTO, CC-BY-2.0

With a planned airflight to Quito on January 18, we were watching recent news about the violence and 60-day state of emergency declared by Ecuador President Noboa. Apparently, there has been military action against Ecuador drug cartel members, along with the escape of a high-profile prisoner. The news reported about five prisons became controlled by prisoners and guards were hostages. From just reading and watching the news, it is hard to tell exactly how dangerous the situation is in Quito and, to a more limited degree, the Galapagos.

We received word last week from Celebrity Cruises, the company managing our Galapagos trip, that it now recommends only a one-night stay (January 20) in Quito, instead of the package two-nights (our personal itinerary included three nights in Quito - starting on January 18). The hotel location was moved from the JW Marriott, in a central city location, to a Quito airport hotel. The airport hotel was considered in a safer zone, secured by police and military. Celebrity Cruises also indicated our personal safety in Quito required us to remain in the airport hotel during our Quito visit. Somewhat like a shelter-in-place.

We made our flight arrangements over nine months ago and were unable to make flight changes to arrive later in Quito (January 20) as recommended by Celebrity Cruises. There were simply no flights and seats that were available given the five day advance notice.

Celebrity offered a $500 per stateroom credit for loss of both a Quito day tour and one hotel night in Quito. Celebrity also offered the choice of either cancelling the entire trip for a full refund or rescheduling the Galapagos-Machu Picchu trip to a later date. A reschedule would be protected from any price increase at a later date.

What To Do? 

In an abundance of caution, we decided to reschedule our Galapagos and Machu Picchu trip to 2025 given our inability to make a last minute travel change and any uncertainty from the current unrest in Ecuador. This is no reflection on Celebrity Cruises, just our personal comfort level. I will acknowledge that the 22 travelers in our group all cancelled and/or rescheduled their January 2024 Galapagos visit.  

Air Ticket Changes

Photo by Diego Delso, CC-BY-SA

If we cancelled our American Airlines Galapagos-Machu Picchu tickets, we had one-year from the original ticket issuance date to start a new flight itinerary using the American travel credit from our cancelled January flights. This meant we would lose the entire credit value ($3,500) of our unused tickets if the replacement flights were not started before mid-March 2024. However, we learned that if the replacement pre-March tickets cost less than our Galapagos tickets, American would give us travel credit for the difference. This 'new' credit would be valid for 12 months from the date of the purchase of the replacement flight tickets. 

This policy started us thinking how best to access flight credit. We knew that we had no particular trip to take before mid-March 2024 that would use all or most of American's Galapagos-Machu Picchu airflight credit. You might see where this is going. If we purchased the lowest cost replacement tickets to a nearby airport destination for pre-March air travel, we would receive a new travel credit for the cost difference and the 12 month clock would be reset for new credit use. We found a short distance flight that met this condition ($200 per person cost) and now have a "new flight credit" (about $3k) that expires in January 2025. I'm not sure if we actually need to use the short distance replacement air tickets.  

Updates: The above calendar reset for flight credit appears to only work one time (for American Airlines). So, the "new flight credit" 12 month extension may be only allowed once - depending on the airline.  We ended up cancelling our new (purchased in January 2024) $200 short distance flight tickets just before departure. This cancellation resulted in a new $200 travel credit - with a twelve month expiration valid until January 2025. We applied all of our American Airlines travel credits to our Christmas Market air tickets.  

Travel Insurance Changes

We purchased our travel insurance immediately after booking our Galapagos-Machu Picchu trip. To maintain pre-existing medical coverage, travel insurance must be purchased soon after the first booking payment. The Galapagos-Machu Picchu trip was very expensive and, accordingly, insurance coverage for the trip and for our age group was almost $4k. A 'cancel for any reason' travel insurance option added $1,700 to our insurance cost. Note that once we rescheduled this trip, we no longer had a much of an insurance claim, as the trip was not actually cancelled nor interrupted.

Our insurer permits moving an existing but unused travel insurance policy to a new date but the new travel date must be within three years of original policy purchase date - for us this meant new travel by June 2025. There is also a provision for an insurance premium refund if the cost of the replacement trip is less than the cost of the original insured travel.

Once again, the early purchase date of our original travel insurance policy meant that our now rescheduled 2025 Galapagos-Machu Picchu trip date would occur three months too late for a policy transfer. We needed a 2024 (or early 2025) trip that had a minimum price tag so that our refund could be as high as possible. Our 2025 travel schedule was already filled. Instead, we identified a three-day cruise in spring 2024 that would meet the date requirement and provide us with an insurance refund ($5.3k). The insurer approved our change request.

Lessons Learned for Unplanned Travel Changes

As first steps, confirm your flight and insurance purchase dates. These dates will often determine what options are available to reduce your financial loss from an unplanned travel change. It is also important to be familiar with the rules concerning airflight credit and travel insurance reuse/refunds. Take time to contact your airline and travel insurer before making any decisions. You may not receive a full credit or refund, but there could be creative ways to minimize your loss.