To Our Valued Clients,

We thank you for your patience & understanding during these unprecedented and uncertain times. The majority of clients with travel arrangements booked through to the end of June 2020 have been contacted by their Anthony Smith Travel consultant and work is underway in obtaining refunds where permitted &/or postponing travel arrangements.

We are continually monitoring the global situation and receiving regular updates from various government bodies as well as our travel suppliers (airlines, tour companies etc). If there is a change to what we have currently advised you, we will let you know. For those of you with travel from 1 July 2020 onwards we will be in touch as soon as we receive any notifications regarding your travel arrangements. However, we are here for you, if you have any questions or concerns around your proposed upcoming travel plans that can’t be answered by the below Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s), please reach out to your Anthony Smith Travel consultant.

In the meantime, head over to our YouTube Channel, many of our industry partners (including those that were scheduled for a presentation) and members of the Anthony Smith Travel Community are sharing videos to help us escape reality & isolation, reminisce about past holiday experiences and inspire new travel ideas for when the world returns to normal. If you would like to share your own videos, please email them to info@anthonysmithtravel.com.au along with a brief description & title for the video. Each time you share a video you will receive an entry into our Christmas Hamper Draw, plus the video/videos with the most likes as at 30 November 2020 will also receive bonus entries.

The Anthony Smith Travel Team

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. I have not heard from my consultant and I am due to travel before 30 June 2020, what should I do?
A. We do apologise for not being in contact, please call your Anthony Smith Travel consultant ASAP.

Q. I have travel arrangements booked through another travel agency or through an online agency, can I still contact you for help?
A. Yes, we are here to help you as much as possible. Whilst we may not be able to access your specific booking, we can certainly try & point you in the right direction. The advice we can provide will be general supplier advice (ie airline, tour companies, cruise lines) however we won’t be able to advice on the specific conditions of your booking agent.

Q. My booking has been cancelled and I am entitled to a refund, when will I receive this?
A. Unfortunately during these unprecedented times and due to the sheer volume of global refunds, companies are taking longer than usual to process these. They are working as quickly as possible through the requests and are processing them based on the date of departure order. Your Anthony Smith Travel consultant will let you know as soon as we receive your refund back.

Q. I originally paid for my holiday by credit card, when my refund comes back can you refund me by direct deposit instead?
A. Unfortunately not, due to the Australian Government’s Anti-Money Laundering Laws, a refund must be paid back by the same payment method. If you paid by cash, EFTPOS, BPAY or Direct Deposit your refund will come back to you via Direct Deposit. If you paid by debit or credit card your refund must be processed back to the same card used to make the purchase.

Q. My booking has been put into credit for future use, when do I have to use this by?
A. Every airline, tour company, cruise line and hotel etc have different conditions. Please contact your Anthony Smith Travel consultant so as they can advise the specific timelines for your credit.

Q. I have booked & paid for travel arrangements between 1 July 2020 & 31 December 2020 and I am unsure as to whether I should proceed?
A. Currently most companies policies only extend for travel arrangements for departures to 30 June 2020. Please contact your Anthony Smith Travel consultant so as they can look at your specific arrangements and advise their current policies.

Q. I have travel arrangements booked for between 1 July 2020 & 31 December 2020 and final payment is due soon, what should I do?
A. Currently most companies policies only extend for travel arrangements for departures to 30 June 2020. Please contact your Anthony Smith Travel consultant so as they can look at your specific arrangements and advise their current policies.

Q. Can I still book travel for between 1 July 2020 & 31 December 2020?
A. Yes. Many companies are operating under the assumption that the world will have return to normal by then and it will be business as usual. Many companies are providing more flexible booking conditions and “Book With Confidence Policies” for travel during this time (see below). We recommend that you only book flexible rates for travel during this time especially with airlines & hotels. We also recommend only booking with AFTA/ATAS accredited suppliers, taking out their Deposit Protection Plans where offered and paying by credit card.

Q. Can I still book travel for 2021 & 2022?
A. Yes. Many tour and cruise companies have some incredible Earlybird/Presale deals on offer at the moment (see below). We recommend only booking with AFTA/ATAS accredited suppliers, taking out their Deposit Protection Plans where offered and paying by credit card.

Q. Why should I pay by credit card and pay the surcharge?
A. The credit card surcharge does not only cover the fee that card companies charge us for using your credit card it also covers the AFTA Chargeback Scheme. This means if you pay us by credit card for a travel company that is AFTA/ATAS Accredited and they become insolvent, you can claim your money back for that component of your travel arrangements. Please ask your Anthony Smith Travel  consultant for more information.

Q. How do I know if a company is AFTA/ATAS Accredited?
A. Most companies that have this accreditation will display the AFTA & ATAS Logos on their websites and brochures. Please ask your Anthony Smith Travel consultant for more information.

Q. Who is AFTA and what is their purpose?
A. The Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) is the peak industry body through which the business interests of travel agents are represented. Founded in 1957, AFTA seeks to enhance the professionalism of Travel Agents through: the effective representation in industry and government affairs, facilitating changes to education and training curriculum, providing business support through professional advice and services, and administration of the national travel accreditation scheme, ATAS.

Q. What does ATAS stand for & what do they do?
A. The AFTA Travel Accreditation Scheme (ATAS) is an industry accreditation scheme that sets the benchmark of quality for the travel industry. ATAS is a national accreditation scheme, endorsing travel agents who have met strict financial and customer service criteria. As Australia’s best travel agencies/companies/operators, they can provide you with peace of mind when planning and purchasing your travel arrangements. Through this third party industry endorsement, ATAS provides a strong platform for consumer recognition of professional conduct and business ethics, and can strengthen a businesses reputation and value proposition to the customer.

Suspended Tours & Cruises:

Below is a list of all known tour/cruise suspensions as at 25/5/2020. If you have travel with one of these companies and your start date falls with in the companies suspended dates and you have not been contacted by your Anthony Smith Travel Planner please call 1300 315 985.

If you have travel with one of these companies outside of their suspended dates, your Anthony Smith Travel Planner will be in touch as soon as we receive any notification affecting your travel arrangements. However, please contact us should you have any queries.

If you have travel arrangements (other than flights) with a company not listed here, your Anthony Smith Travel Planner will be in touch as soon as we receive any notification affecting your travel arrangements, however please contact us should you have any queries.

Airline policies & procedures change on an almost daily basis. Your Anthony Smith Travel Planner is constantly monitoring these and will be in touch as soon as we receive any notifications affecting your upcoming flights. However, please contact us should you have any queries.

  • AAT Kings:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 July 2020 (Sydney & Melbourne Day tours to 31 October 2020)
  • Abercrombie & Kent (A&K):
    • All travel suspended until further notice
  • Adventure Tours Australia:
    • All tours suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Adventure World:
    • All travel suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Albatross Tours:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  •  AmaWaterways:
    • All cruises suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • American Queen Steamboat Company:
    • All cruises suspended through to 19 July 2020
  •  APT:
    • All Tours & Cruises suspended through to 30 September 2020
  • Aqua Expeditions:
    • All cruises suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Aurora Expeditions:
    • 2020 Arctic and Central/South America voyages have been rescheduled for between May and October to 2021; with the exception of Iceland, Greenland & East Canada which has been cancelled
  • Avalon Waterways:
    • All cruises suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Awesome Adventures Fiji:
    • All travel suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Azamara Club Cruises:
    • All cruises suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Back-Roads Touring:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Bench Africa:
    • No update since 30 April 2020
  • Bill Peach Journeys:
    • All travel suspended through to 30 September 2020
  • Blue Lagoon Cruises:
    • All cruises suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Botannica World Discoveries:
    • All Tours & Cruises suspended through to 30 September 2020
  • Bunnik Tours:
    • All travel suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Busabout, Haggis & Shamrocker:
    • All Festival Travel suspended for 2020
    • Europe & Ireland travel suspended to 31 July 2020
    • Asia travel suspended to 30 September 2020
  • Captain Cook Cruises:
    • Murray Princess cruises are suspended through to 30 June 2020
    • Australian sightseeing cruises are suspended through to 30 June 2020
    • Fiji cruises are suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Captain’s Choice:
    • All travel suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Carnival Australia:
    • All Australian cruises suspended through to 17 September 2020
    • Transpacific sailing from Honolulu to Brisbane on 6 October 2020 has been cancelled
  • Carnival International:
    • All San Francisco sailings through 2020
    • All Carnival Sunrise sailings through and including October 19, 2020
    • All Carnival Legend sailings through and including October 30, 2020
    • All Carnival Radiance sailings through and including November 1, 2020
    • All Carnival Spirit Alaska, Hawaii, & Trans-Pacific sailings through and including October 6, 2020
    • Carnival Breeze, Carnival Dream, Carnival Elation, Carnival Freedom, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Magic, Carnival Sensation, & Carnival Vista sailings through and including July 31, 2020
    • Carnival Splendor sailings through and including September 17, 2020
    • All Other Ships sailings through and including August 31, 2020
  • Celebrity Cruise:
    • All cruises suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Celestyal Cruises:
    • All cruises suspended through to 29 June 2020
  • Chimu Adventures:
    • All travel suspended through to 30 September 2020
  • CIE Tours:
    • All tours suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Collette:
    • All tours suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Contiki:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Cosmos:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Costa Cruises:
    • All cruises suspended through to 14 July 2020
  • Costsaver:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Coral Expeditions:
    • All cruises suspended through to 14 June 2020
  • CroisiEurope:
    • All cruises suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Crooked Compass:
    • TBA
  • Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV):
    • All cruises suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Cunard:
    • All Alaska cruises suspended through to 8 September 2020
    • All other cruises suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Disney Cruise Lines:
    • All cruises suspended through to 27 July 2020
  • Dragoman:
    • All tours suspended through to 16 August 2020
  • Dream Cruises:
    • TBA
  • Evergreen Cruise & Tours:
    • All travel suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Exodus Travels:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Explore Worldwide:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • G Adventures:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Globus:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Grand Pacific Tours:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Great Trains of Europe:
    • TBA
  • Holland America:
    • All European, Alaskan, Canadian & New England Cruises for 2020 plus the Grand Africa Voyage for 6 October 2020 have been cancelled.
  • Hurtigruten:
    • All cruises suspended through to 16 June 2020
  • Insider Journeys:
    • TBA
  • Insight Vacations:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Inspiring Journeys:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Inspiring Vacations:
    • All travel suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Intrepid:
    • All tours suspended through to 30 September 2020
  • Kirra Tours:
    • TBA
  • Luxury Gold:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Mattt McLachlan Battlefield Tours:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Moose Travel Network:
    • All travel suspended through to 31 October 2020
  • MSC Cruise:
    • All cruises suspended through to 10 July 2020
  • MW Tours:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Norwegian Cruise Lines:
    • All cruises suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Oceania Cruise:
    • All cruises suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • On The Go Tours:
    • All tours suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Outback Aussie Tours:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 May 2020
  • Pandaw:
    • All cruises suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Paul Gaugin Cruises:
    • All cruises suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • P&O Australia:
    • All cruises from Australia suspended through to 17 September 2020
    • All cruises from New Zealand suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • P&O UK:
    • All cruises suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Peregrine:
    • All tours suspended through to 30 September 2020
  • Ponant:
    • TBA
  • Princess Cruise:
    • All cruises from Australia & New Zealand are suspended through to 17 September 2020
    • All cruises on Pacific Princess sailing to Hawaii & French Polynesia are suspended through to November 2020
    • All cruises sailing from Taiwan on Majestic Princess are suspended through to July 2020
    • The following cruises have been cancelled:
      • All remaining Alaska cruises on Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess in 2020
      • All remaining Europe & Transatlantic cruises on Enchanted Princess, Regal Princess, Sky Princess, Crown Princess and Island Princess in 2020
      • Northern Hemisphere Summer Caribbean cruises and all 2020 Canada & New England cruises on Caribbean Princess and Sky Princess
      • Northern Hemisphere Autumn 2020 cruises departing from Japan on Diamond Princess
  • Quark Expeditions:
    • All cruises suspended through to 18 September 2020
  • Regent Seven Seas Cruise:
    • All cruises suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Rocky Mountaineer Rail:
    • All travel suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Royal Caribbean Cruise:
    • Explorer of the Seas Europe sailings: 30 August, 2020
    • China Market Sailings: 1 July, 2020
    • All other Sailings: 1 August, 2020
  • Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours:
    • All River cruises & Land Tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
    • All Ocean cruises suspended through to 30 September 2020
  • Scott McGregor’s Railway Journeys:
    • All Australian & New Zealand departures suspended through to 30 June 2020
    • All international 2020 departures deferred to 2021
  • Seabourn Luxury Cruise:
    • Seabourn Odyssey: cruises suspended through to 20 November 2020
    • Seabourn Sojourn: cruises suspended through to 13 October 2020
    • Seabourn Quest: cruises suspended through to 6 November 2020
    • Seabourn Encore: cruises suspended through to 19 October 2020
    • Seabourn Ovation: cruises suspended through to 6 November 2020
  • Silversea Luxury Cruise:
    • Silver Cloud: cruises suspended through to 19 July 2020
    • Silver Wind: cruises suspended through to 10 November 2020
    • Silver Shadow: cruises suspended through to 25 July 2020
    • Silver Shadow: cruises suspended through to 25 July 2020
    • Silver Spirit: cruises suspended through to 16 July 2020
    • Silver Muse: cruises suspended through to 15 July 2020
    • Silver Whisper: cruises suspended through to 17 July 2020
    • Silver Explorer: cruises suspended through to 22 July 2020
    • Silver Moon: cruises suspended through to 1 October 2020
    • Silver Origin: cruises suspended through to 21 August 2020
  • Small Group Touring Co:
    • All travel suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Star Clippers:
    • All cruises suspended until 30 June 2020
  • Sundowner Overland:
    • TBA
  • Sun Island Tours:
    • TBA
  • Swagman:
    • All travel suspended until 30 June 2020
  •  Tauck:
    • All travel suspended until 15 July 2020
  • The Africa Safari Co:
    • All travel suspended until 30 June 2020
  • This is Africa:
    • All travel suspended until 30 June 2020
  • Tiki Tours:
    • TBA
  • Top Deck:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Trafalgar Tours:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • TravelGlo:
    • All Tours & Cruises suspended through to 30 September 2020
  • Travelmarvel:
    • All Tours & Cruises suspended through to 30 September 2020
  • Trek America:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Tucan Travel:
    • All Africa (except North Africa) & European tours suspended through to 31 December 2020
    • All South America, Central America, Asia, North Africa & Middle East tours suspended through to 30 September 2020
  • U River Cruises:
    • All cruises suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Uniworld Boutique River Cruise:
    • All cruises suspended through to 30 June 2020
  • Utracks:
    • All tours suspended through to 30 September 2020
  • Viking Ocean & River Cruises:
    • All cruises suspended until 30 June 2020
  • Vodka Train:
    • TBA
  • Wendy Wu Tours:
    • All tours suspended through to 31 July 2020
  • Windstar Cruise:
    • Wind Spirit: All cruises suspended through to 2 September 2020
    • Wind Surf: All cruises suspended through to 28 November 2020
    • Wind Star: All cruises suspended through to 15 January 2021
    • Star Breeze: All cruises suspended through to 26 October 2020
    • Star Legend: All cruises suspended through to 28 February 2021
    • Star Pride: All cruises suspended through to 4 July 2021
  • World Expeditions:
    • All Australian tours suspended through to 30 June 2020
    • All International tours suspended through to 31 August 2020
  • Zegrahm Expeditions:
    • All travel suspended through to 2 June 2020

Book with Confidence & Flexible Booking Policies

We are in the process of compiling this information for you, in the meantime if you are considering booking travel for 1 July 2020 onwards, please ask your Anthony Smith Travel consultant for the travel suppliers updated/temporary conditions.

  • AAT Kings
  • Abercrombie & Kent (A&K)
  • Adventure Tours Australia
  • Adventure World
  • Albatross Tours
  • AmaWaterways
  • American Queen Steamboat Company
  •  APT
  • Aqua Expeditions
  • Aurora Expeditions
  • Avalon Waterways
  • Awesome Adventures Fiji
  • Azamara Club Cruises
  • Back-Roads Touring
  • Bench Africa
  • Bill Peach Journeys
  • Blue Lagoon Cruises
  • Botannica World Discoveries
  • Bunnik Tours
  • Busabout, Haggis & Shamrocker
  • Captain Cook Cruises
  • Captain’s Choice
  • Carnival Australia
  • Carnival International
  • Celebrity Cruise
  • Celestyal Cruises
  • Chimu Adventures
  • CIE Tours
  • Collette
  • Contiki
  • Cosmos
  • Costa Cruises
  • Costsaver
  • Coral Expeditions
  • CroisiEurope
  • Crooked Compass
  • Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV)
  • Cunard
  • Disney Cruise Lines
  • Dragoman
  • Dream Cruises
  • Evergreen Cruise & Tours
  • Exodus Travels
  • Explore Worldwide
  • G Adventures
  • Globus
  • Grand Pacific Tours
  • Great Trains of Europe
  • Holland America
  • Hurtigruten
  • Insider Journeys
  • Insight Vacations
  • Inspiring Journeys
  • Inspiring Vacations
  • Intrepid
  • Kirra Tours
  • Luxury Gold
  • Mattt McLachlan Battlefield Tours
  • Moose Travel Network
  • MSC Cruise
  • MW Tours
  • Norwegian Cruise Lines
  • Oceania Cruise
  • On The Go Tours
  • Outback Aussie Tours
  • Pandaw
  • Paul Gaugin Cruises
  • P&O Australia
  • P&O UK
  • Peregrine
  • Ponant
  • Princess Cruise
  • Quark Expeditions
  • Regent Seven Seas Cruise
  • Rocky Mountaineer Rail
  • Royal Caribbean Cruise
  • Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours
  • Scott McGregor’s Railway Journeys
  • Seabourn Luxury Cruise
  • Silversea Luxury Cruise
  • Small Group Touring Co
  • Star Clippers
  • Sundowner Overland
  • Sun Island Tours
  • Swagman
  •  Tauck
  • The Africa Safari Co
  • This is Africa
  • Tiki Tours
  • Top Deck
  • Trafalgar Tours
  • TravelGlo
  • Travelmarvel
  • Trek America
  • Tucan Travel
  • U River Cruises
  • Uniworld Boutique River Cruise
  • Utracks
  • Viking Ocean & River Cruises
  • Vodka Train
  • Wendy Wu Tours
  • Windstar Cruise
  • World Expeditions
  • Zegrahm Expeditions

Earlybird Specials for Travel in 2021 & 2022

We are in the process of compiling this information for you, in the meantime if you are considering booking travel for 2021 or 2022, please ask your Anthony Smith Travel consultant for the current deals.

Update 1 April 2020

To our valued clients,

Firstly, apologies for the delay in posting an update, the last two weeks have flown by.

Anthony, Kevin & family returned safely from Thailand on Friday 20/3/2020 and went into self-isolation. They now have 3 days left, and so far, everyone is fit & healthy and showing no signs of Covid-19.

Again, we thank you all for your patience & understanding during these unprecedented & uncertain times. It has been an extremely busy 2 weeks with the entire Anthony Smith Travel team working tirelessly to assist all our clients with affected bookings through to the end of June, as well as assisting people in returning home early (whether that be from overseas back to Australia or from Australia back to their home country). We are pleased to say, that we are now almost on top of most bookings. Whilst all may not have reached a final outcome, they are now at a manageable position, and we will continue to keep you personally updated as to where we are at with your individual bookings.

For those of you with travel arrangements from 1 July on wards, we are continually monitoring the global events and checking with our suppliers for updates on a regular basis. Again, we will be in touch personally as soon as we receive any notifications that will impact your travel plans. However, we understand and share the concerns you may have, and if you do have any questions please reach out to your Anthony Smith Travel consultant.

Being part of the Travel Partners Mobile Agency Group means that we are part of the Flight Centre Travel Group, Australia’s biggest travel company. We have supported our customers through difficult situations before, and will continue to do so in the future. We are here to make sure that you and your family are safe in any travel plans and we will of course be here for you when you are ready to travel again.

As we advised in our last update, we have cancelled the 12 May Morning Tea with Bunnik Tours & Silverseas Cruise. Due to the uncertainty as to when the venue will be able to reopen and when we are allowed to socialise again, we have also decided to cancel the 2 June Morning Tea with Rocky Mountaineer & Holland America Cruise. Whilst we love putting these events on for you, everyone’s health & safety is more important than ever at this time. We will continue to monitor the situation and will make decisions on future events as further information comes to hand.

But all is not lost, over the last 2 weeks we have had some time whilst sitting on hold to various airlines, cruiselines, tour companies & wholesalers and we have created our own YouTube Channel to help you escape the reality of self-isolation, allow you to relive past experiences and to inspire you for future travels. We have reached out to our industry partners and asked them to supply us with videos about their product, destinations & experiences, and we will upload these as & when we can whilst we continue to look after affected bookings. We have also provided the links to our various industry partner’s own YouTube Channels. Lastly, we feel that now more than ever, it is a great time for you to share your memorable holiday videos. Anthony & some of the other agents that he went to South Africa with last year have already added some videos from their trip. If you have some videos that you would like to share with the Anthony Smith Travel community and the wider global community, please email these to info@anthonysmithtravel.com.au along with a brief description of the video and we will add it to the channel as we get time.

The link for the channel is below. We ask that if you visit the channel that you please subscribe to the channel, as once we reach 100 subscriptions we can start doing a little more with it, including customising the link.

Again, thank you for you patience & understanding at this time. We share your pain & concerns but this situation will end, it is just a case of when not if, and when it does we will still be here to assist you, as we are now.

Stay Safe, Stay Home (where possible) and together we will get through this.

The Anthony Smith Travel Team

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSbGjX4hL-A6E1siUNNP7kQ

Update 18 March 2020

Important Updates For Our Valued Clients!

We thank all of you for your patience and understanding during these unprecedented times. We share your fears, concerns & nervousness around travelling during the rapidly changing Global responses to combat the current Covid-19 pandemic. We are constantly receiving updates from various trusted sources such as Smartraveller, as well as travel suppliers. We continue to work around the clock on affected bookings based on date of departure and will be in touch as quickly as possible as new information comes to hand.

For some of you who are experiencing financial loss due to inflexible supplier conditions, we share that pain as well. As you are aware, Anthony & Kevin are currently in Thailand with their parents & Kevin’s 4 young children. When they left Brisbane the world was still somewhat of a normal place and felt comfortable attending their conference followed by a well deserved family holiday in Phuket (Kevin lost his wife just over 12 months ago). As the Government advice changed rapidly over the last few days, with the call to return home released last night, Anthony was straight on the phone to see if he could change their flights to return as soon as possible. With an initial quote of somewhere between $5700 & $7500 to change the 8 flights he was not prepared to accept this and was back on the phone again, this time to Qantas to see what else he could do to reduce that cost. After over 9 hours on hold & being cut off several times he was able to contact our Travel Partners Support Network. They immediately clarified the current Qantas Waiver which negated the $1800 change fee. They then rechecked the fare quotes and advised Anthony he had been misquoted and the actual fare difference was only $3900. He didn’t just do this because it is his booking, he did this as he will always fight tooth & nail to get the best outcome for his clients, as all of the Anthony Smith Travel Team will. It may take some time for us to get back to you but this is the reason why.

If all goes as planned and there are no more border closures or flight cancellations in the next 48 hours, they will depart Phuket at 9:35am 19 March 2020 local time, this will be followed by a 9 hour transit in Singapore before boarding a flight to Brisbane & arriving home on Friday morning. During there transit in Singapore they will endeavour to reply to emails, however sometimes the free WiFi at Chiangi is not the best. On arrival home they will be in 14 days self isolation so unfortunately no face to face consultations will be available till they are cleared, they will still be contactable via phone & email.

As for our Customer Information Sessions, whilst we love sharing the amazing travel companies we work with and inspiring you “To Live Is To Travel’, we have decided to cancel the May morning tea. In a time where we are not making new bookings & thus making commission, which is our sole source of income, we need to remain financially sound and limit our expenses. We will continue to monitor the situation and may have to cancel other dates. We will keep you up to date with this via Facebook, our newsletter and website.

Please remember during these uncertain times we are here for you. We will weather this storm together and when the world returns to normal and confidence in travel returns, we will be here for you.

During these times we ask that you advocate the importance of using a travel agent, no matter how big or small the booking is. The internet may sometimes may be slightly cheaper than what we can offer, but we ensure that we use trusted companies & booking platforms to give your booking the most security. No one wants things to go wrong, but sometimes they do and sometimes we find ourselves in these unprecedented circumstances, this where the importance of using a travel agent becomes apparent. All we ask is that you refer us to all of your family, friends, hairdresser, doctor etc, and when you are next ready to travel please support a local business andtrusted travel agents.

Please reach out whenever you need us and we will reply as quickly as we can.

Thank you

The Anthony Smith Travel Team

Update 15 March 2020:

To all our valued clients, the team at Anthony Smith Travel understand the feelings of uncertainty around your upcoming travel plans and would like to reassure you all that we are doing everything possible for you. In these uncertain and unprecedented times, things are changing on a daily basis. We are working through every client’s bookings based on the date departure. Please bare with us during these trying times, we will be in contact with you as soon as we get information about your trip. If you have travel arrangements not booked with us and need advice please reach out and we will do our best to help you. Even though Anthony and Kevin are in Thailand and unsure if they will be able to get home, they are contactable via email and on Anthony’s mobile 0419747925.