United, American and other major airlines that fly out of Chicago were offering refunds for canceled flights and others booked for early this week.
Virtually all carriers were waiving fees normally charged for changing travel dates or itineraries, at least for the near term, and some were offering full refunds for tickets booked beyond this week.
Meantime, tour packagers were scrambling to hold onto customers despite new restrictions, while hotels dealt with guests still marooned as flights slowly resumed.
“Our main thrust,” said John Riordan, spokesman for Virgin Atlantic Airways, “is to get them back from whence they came.”
Virgin will refund or rebook tickets for travel that was to begin Sept. 11-17; British Airways, Sept. 11-18; and both will extend that date for travelers who would have flown out of, or connected in, New York through Sept. 21. All changes would be penalty-free.
Low-fare carriers were more restrictive. American Trans Air was offering refunds only on tickets for departures Sept. 11-14, and penalty-free rebookings on same-itinerary tickets for departures only from Sept. 15 through Tuesday. Changes in tickets for departures Wednesday or later are subject to the usual penalties.
Policies also varied for airline-based tour packages. United Vacations was allowing passengers with planned departures through Sept. 25 to cancel or rebook the air portion without penalty, and Southwest Airlines Vacations was waiving its fees for planned departures through Sept. 30–but neither United nor Southwest could guarantee waivers from the hotels included in the packages.
Customers of Apple Vacations who booked packages that were to begin before Sept. 24 can rebook without penalty through Dec. 17 of this year. But beginning Sept. 24, normal penalties apply, said Annette Carollo, spokeswoman for the Elk Grove Village-based company. She said 70 percent of her clients have been going ahead with their vacations.
Hotel chains typically were waiving cancellation penalties and offering benefits to stranded travelers.
All those variations put a burden on travel agents, who just last month endured reductions on commissions paid by airlines on tickets purchased at agencies.
A spokewoman for the American Society of Travel Agents said Monday a letter will be sent asking Congress to include travel agents in the financial relief being considered for the airline industry.
“We’ll survive,” said Susan Contos, an agent at Sunset Travel in Lincoln Park, “but a lot of travel agencies are going to close.”
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