Woman faces challenges getting refund after trip cancelled due to coronavirus outbreak

Isa Suarez-Solar's plan for an international trip was disrupted by the travel restrictions and flight cancellations caused by the Coronavirus. 

Her trip to Japan and South Korea had been in the works for almost a year. 

“I’m a pretty meticulous planner, so I had days and activities and I had it mapped out to coordinate with the locations and areas I was going to be in," Suarez-Solar said. 

With the March 25 departure date quickly approaching, Suarez-Solar said it was not clear what she should do with her trip. 

“I didn’t know what to do. Flights hadn’t really been canceled yet but everyone was saying not to travel, so I was kind of caught in the middle zone. After a lot of research and figuring out, I decided I’m not going to go because I can’t afford to be quarantined on my way back," she said. 

Suarez-solar said she was told a refund wasn’t going to happen. She said she also learned her travel insurance would not cover this type of cancellation. 

“It was really eye-opening. You see the news. You’re getting info from the World Health Organization, from the CDC and you see all these things happening and yet the insurances don’t cover it.  I found really surprising," Suarez-Solar said. "And of course there are in some instances, there's the opportunity to pay a premium to get additional coverage for cancellation for any reason but there is a time limit on when you can buy that." 

She said she called and emailed American Airlines for a week-and-a-half and was finally about to get a refund. 

Suarez-Solar said it was an ordeal she would not wish on anyone else. 

She has put her highly anticipated trip on hold and has now booked a flight to Peru. 

“It’s going to be a great time. It wasn’t quite the trip that I had planned but honestly at this point, I was fortunate enough to get that refund and I was fortunate enough that these flights and these things were available. So, gotta make the best of it," she said.