To travel or not to travel?

I'm currently booked to fly out of Brisbane on 10 June for a 6 week study secondment to the UK. Due to fly back on 15 July. I have a two day stopover in Singapore either side of my flights in and out of the UK.

At the moment my study is still going ahead but given today's upgrading of the travel advice I wonder if I need to proactively cancel my trip?

The tricky part is, Singapore Airlines (which I'm flying with) aren't offering free cancellations or waivers on flights as late as June/July. But, while travel out of Australia isn't entirely 'banned', it's basically the equivalent of that - Do Not Travel advice is as serious as it gets.

I suppose I'm interested in the collective wisdom of the community as to whether I play it 'safe' and cancel it all now or wait it out and see if things change by late April/early May?

I'd wait and see if your flight is cancelled, and hopefully you'll then get a full cash refund.

In any case, by mid-May it'll be clear as to whether it's actually safe for you to travel to the UK with 2-day stopovers in Singapore.

I've been "proactively" cancelling for a couple of months now and I have to say that I regret doing so. I've paid cancellation fees on flights which, if only I'd waited an extra week or two to cancel, would have had cancellation fees waived. Even if you assume that it's probable you won't be flying, my advice would be to not cancel yet -- wait and see whether the fees are waived at a later date.

Agree with Sibelius. I'm in similar situation with flights booked in late May and June to North America. Better to wait to late April/May and see what the situation is. If the travel ban and restrictions are still in place, then airlines and hotels will most likely extend their fee waiver/refund/credit voucher policies to June/July flights. If not and you still want to cancel, the fees will be the same as if you cancel now. So better to wait.

Good advice, all.