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Coachella Postponed: Will There Be Refunds For Tickets & Flights?

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Is Coachella 2020 going to be cancelled because of coronavirus?

Coachella has reportedly been postponed until October, leaving many to wonder if they will be refunded for their tickets, flights, or accommodations. General admission passes for the festival this year were valued at $429, plus fees. The costs only go up from there.

The  music festival has not yet confirmed this date change, though several publications have reported that this is the plane. The new dates are projected to be the weekends of Oct. 9 and Oct. 16, with Stagecoach, a country music festival, projected to take place the weekend of Oct. 23.

The festival has not yet clarified whether tickets will be refunded for those who cannot attend the October dates. It also hasn’t established whether or not any of the 100,000+ guests will be able to get refunds for their accommodations or flights.

To confirm, Coachella is expected to clarify in the next 48 hours if it is, indeed, moving the dates, or even cancelling the 2020 festival altogether.

Ultra Miami, another festival that has been postponed due to coronavirus fears, will not be offering people the option to refund their tickets.

Here’s what you need to know:

Will Coachella Give Refunds for a Potential Cancellation or Date Shift? Ultra Miami Hasn’t Offered Refunds

Coachella has not yet confirmed what it will do if the dates for the music festival will shift to October. Many users have started reaching out to AirBnb and flights directly, to see if they’ll be eligible for a coronavirus-related cancellation. .

One person tweeted, “@Airbnb will I be allowed to cancel my coachella house being that there an outbreak happening there – with a full refund or?”
Though Coachella hasn’t given any information, there might be some precedent to be found within the recent cancellation of Ultra music festival in Miami, Florida. Ultra was scheduled to take place March 20-22, and was cancelled indefinitely due to the coronavirus.
Soon after the cancellation was confirmed, Ultra informed ticket owners that it would not be giving refunds, but rather would be providing options for people to move their tickets to 2021 or 2022. The statement read in part,

All tickets purchased will of course remain valid and will be honored at either the 2021 or 2022 Ultra Miami event, at your option. You have 30 days to choose which Ultra Miami event you want to attend.”

The festival will offer 2020 ticket owners a number of “benefits” for future festivals, including:
  • one free ticket to smaller Ultra Worldwide or Resistance events
  • a discount code for up to 50% off $250 in Ultra merchandise
  • exclusive access to a $99.95 private sale to upgrade to a premium ticket category

Again, though, the festival will not be refunding people for their ticket costs, let alone the costs of their flights and accommodations.

Given how much money music festivals rake in each year, it’s easy to understand why it’s been a slow deliberation process for Golden Voice. regarding whether or not Coachella and Stagecoach would move forward as planned. According to RollingStone, the two festivals combined brought in more than $1.4 billion in profits last year.

Though October might seem like years away, in festival time, some savvy festival attenders have noted that coronavirus could very well still be an issue by that point of the year.
Others have noted that if there aren’t ways for people to be refunded for their flights or accommodation reservations, then tens of thousands of people might still descend upon Coachella Valley.
“If @Airbnb does not give full refunds due to concerts and festivals like @goldenvoice @Stagecoach because of coronavirus, theres no point to cancel the show! People will still be out there and now instead of going to the venue they will be at bars!,” one person tweeted.
Still others have pointed out that that there might be a reason why festivals have chosen to postpone, rather than to cancel their events, even if it disappoints ticket holders.
“Using legal terms such as ‘postponement’ instead of canceling entitles these organizers to withhold and not give refunds which is what Ultra did,” one user tweeted.
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