Airlines Issue Travel Advisories for Coronavirus Outbreak

Travelers scheduled to fly to China in the coming weeks will be able to change their flights without fees thanks to several airlines in the United States issuing travel advisories.

Several of the top carriers in the U.S. are waiving change fees for travelers flying to airports in Wuhan, Beijing and Shanghai, including American, Delta and United. Change fees will be waived through March.

To be eligible for the free change, travelers must cancel their trip before the outbound flight departs—even for nonrefundable tickets on certain journeys—and have purchased the tickets before January 21.

According to coronavirus-chicago-resident-diagnosed.html” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow noopener noreferrer”>CNBC.com, health officials in Chicago announced Friday that a second U.S. case of coronavirus was confirmed, just hours after the State Department issued a Level 4 travel advisory for the central Chinese province of Hubei.

As a result of the outbreak, the Chinese government has shut down train, subway, bus and ferry service in Wuhan, Huanggang and Ezhou, isolating an estimated 20 million people.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) also announced this week it is calling for coronavirus-precautions.html” target=”_self” rel=”nofollow noopener noreferrer”>stronger precautionary actions as the coronavirus outbreak in China continues to spread to other countries.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also announced this week it had expanded screening of travelers arriving from impacted areas in China to five total airports in the U.S., including Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International, Chicago’s O’Hare International, Los Angeles International, New York JFK and San Francisco International.