China Airlines (CAL, 華航) and EVA Airways (EVA, 長榮航空) said yesterday they would not charge processing fees if passengers want to change or refund tickets to Thailand.
CAL said that a total of 290 passengers have asked for refunds since Friday after canceling trips to Thailand. It decided yesterday that those who had purchased the tickets before April 11 and are scheduled to leave between yesterday and April 18 will not be charged if they request a refund.
EVA said that those who purchased tickets before April 11 and were scheduled to leave between yesterday and April 23 would be exempt from paying the processing fee if they ask for a refund or change their tickets.
Thai Airways Taiwan also said that the same policy would apply to its customers and said it would announce the affected departure dates after receiving instructions from its headquarters.
Roget Hsu (許高慶), secretary-general of the Travel Agents Association, said nearly all the tour groups that were scheduled to leave for Thailand yesterday had been canceled. Because the conflict in Thailand has worsened, Hsu said the association recommended that tourists refrain from traveling to Thailand for safety reasons.
Some of the nation’s larger travel agencies, such as Phoenix Tours (鳳凰旅行社), EZ Travel (易遊網) and Lion Travel (雄獅旅行社), received hundreds of calls yesterday morning inquiring about their trips or asking if they could postpone their trips.
Lion said in a statement yesterday that it would cancel package tours to Bangkok between yesterday and Monday next week given concerns over tourist safety. The agency said it would absorb all the costs except passport and visa processing fees, the statement said.
Some tourists, however, showed up at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday and insisted on leaving for Thailand as planned despite the travel alert. They were asked by travel agencies to sign affidavits saying they would travel at their own risk and the travel agencies would not be held responsible for their safety.
The Tourism Bureau said yesterday that there are about 2,000 Taiwanese traveling in Thailand and all of them are safe.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KEVIN CHEN
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
RSS