Escaping the devastating tsunami and air travel policies

The latest tsunami in Asia has led to 10s of thousands of deaths and during a time of year when many tourists make their way to Asia, many are just trying to survive the deadly effects of this force of nature.

Here are some of the initiatives airlines are taking for passengers caught in the affected areas, and those who were planning to travel there:

From Northwest Airlines' website: "Due to an earthquake/tsunami in South Asia, Northwest Airlines has issued a travel waiver for passengers with confirmed tickets purchased on or before December 26, 2004 for travel on or before January 31, 2005 to, from or through Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Singapore or Thailand."
"For wholly unused tickets, customers may reissue tickets for travel up to one year from original issue date with the same origin and destination. Northwest will waive the change fee. Any fare difference will be collected. Any residual value will be issued back to the customer as a voucher valid for future travel on Northwest/KLM."
"For partially used tickets, Northwest/KLM will waive the change fee and minimum stay requirements. Changes that do not follow the requirements of the originally ticketed fare will be reissued following standard procedures and may require collection of fare differences and applicable change/cancel fees."
"Full refunds will be processed according to the rules of the ticketed fare. Cancellation fees will not be waived."

From British Airway's website: "Earthquake in South East Asia - Commercial Policy...customers due to travel to affected destinations with a ticket on British Airways have the following flexibility: ... passengers due to travel up to and including the 9 January 2005. Rebooking must be made before midnight on the 02 January 2005."
"Rebook onto a British Airways flight to your original destination on the closest available flight to your original flight within two weeks of your original date of departure. This will be in the cabin you are currently booked in and is subject to availability."
"If you do not wish to travel within two weeks of your original booking, you may rebook on a British Airways flight to your original destination at a later date subject to availability. This will be in the same fare class and the same cabin as you are currently booked in. Rebook on a British Airways flight to an alternative destination subject to availability with any difference in fare and additional costs to be paid by you."
"...any customer already in an affected area holding a ticket on British Airways or connecting to a British Airways service, and who wishes to bring forward their departure date, may rebook. This can be in any fare class within the same cabin."

From Cathay Pacific's website: "The recent earthquake in Indonesia/South Asia has not affected our operations. All Cathay Pacific flights are operating as scheduled. For inquiries regarding your ticket reservation to the affected region, kindly contact our North America Reservations Center at 1-800-233-2742." No alerts placed on their UK or Australia sites.

From the Washington Times: "Singapore Airlines and Qantas indicated they would waive their cancellation fees for travelers heading to regions affected by Sunday's earthquake and even budget carriers that have a no refund policy are ready to make some exemptions."