A Northern Michigan couple was looking forward for years to what they described as "an amazing return to a country we love." It was to be a return to Japan, a place they once lived, but then the quake hit. They figured the tour company that they had paid thousands of dollars too would cancel the trip. It didn't. The couple wondered why the tour company opted to send well paying customers to Japan even though the state department was telling them not to go. The answer is the subject of this Fact Finder.
Linda and Earle Caldwell know a thing or two about Japan. They lived there 25 years ago and this week they were supposed to be back there, catching up with old friends, and revisiting places they loved. Then on Friday March 11th the largest earthquake in Japan's history struck. The prepaid trip that they had booked with Overseas Adventure Travel was scheduled to leave two days later. As Linda explains, "through a lot of tears and talking we contacted Overseas Adventure Travel to ask them what their plans were and at that time they told us on the 11th our safety was their biggest issue and they were still discussing whether the trip would go on or not."
So the Caldwell's spent the next day and half weighing their options. Then Linda says they knew what they were going to do, "Sunday morning we finally decided that they were going to send people and we were concerned for our safety." Linda says Overseas Adventure Travel decided two days after the quake, and after the U.S. state department issued a travel advisory for Japan to go ahead with the trip. She questions that decision, "it is my strong feeling that Overseas Adventure Travel for their own good name and for the safety of all of us that were going should have cancelled the trip."
Now Linda and Earle are lucky. They aren't out the non refundable $8000 they paid for the trip because they bought trip insurance. She says "we will be receiving a voucher for another trip Oversees Adventure Travel but the money we spent on the insurance had now been lost. We will have to buy insurance to take another trip." That's about $760 dollars they feel they shouldn't have to pay, they believe that if the trip had been cancelled they would have been refunded that amount. They say all things considered, it could have been worse. Linda says she knows people who went on the trip because they didn't have trip insurance. They paid the $8000 and would have lost that money had they not gone. Linda believes that Overseas Adventure Travel was motivated by money and didn't want to cancel a trip.
Linda says she has one simple question for Overseas Adventure Travel, "you claim you are always concerned about the safety of your clients and yet you send at least one group that we know of, you sent them in that danger, how can you say that you are a travel agent that's so concerned about people?
So I contacted O.A.T. to get their side of the story. Why send travelers two days after the quake to Japan and then two days later cancel all outgoing trips to Japan. Here's what they told me.
"We were in constant contact with our office in Tokyo as well as with our guides and our passengers in Japan. They told us that our trips were running smoothly, without interruption, and that none of our travelers wanted to come home, so we decided to continue operating our departures. Shortly afterwards, though, the situation in Japan became more uncertain, with electrical blackouts and reports of food shortages, so we made the decision to cancel all departures through the end of the month."
Priscilla O'Reilly Director
Public Relations
Linda and Earle are still trying to work out the details of their travel insurance. At this point their first concern is the people of Japan as they try to recover from the devastation, but they wanted to send a simple message to everyone who is considering such travels. They say be sure to budget for the travel insurance. They hope their example serves as a lesson to all of us that you never know what could happen.
What do you think? Should the travel company have cancelled the trip? Offered refunds to anyone who chooses not to go? Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.
