Déjà vu as tour operators work to stay ahead of Maria

TORONTO — Hurricane Maria has roared over Dominica, Martinique and Guadeloupe and is now on its way towards Puerto Rico, expected to hit that island “with a force and violence that we haven’t seen for several generations,” said the territory’s governor. Tour operators, airlines and cruise lines are once again doing everything they can to get passengers out of harm’s way, as Maria, which briefly dipped to Category 4 strength, regains Category 5 status as it heads along the same track as Hurricane Irma just two weeks ago.

Maria smashed into Dominica with 257 kmh winds last night, ripping the roof off the prime minister’s residence and causing what he called “mind-boggling” devastation.

Credit: nhc.noaa.gov

Here are the latest updates from Sunwing, Air Canada Vacations, WestJet and Transat:

SUNWING

Sunwing’s flight services into Punta Cana and Puerto Plata have been suspended until Sept. 22. Sunwing has also made the decision to activate its contingency plans and repatriate all customers from D.R. in advance of the storm’s projected landfall.

Customers scheduled to depart on the four Sunwing flights from Puerto Plata or Punta Cana on Sept. 19 will return to Canada as planned.
Customers scheduled to depart Punta Cana and return to Toronto on Sept. 20, will also return to Canada as planned.
Sunwing will be operating nine additional flights on Sept. 19 and Sept. 20 to repatriate all other customers ahead of the storm. Sunwing destination representatives will be in touch with all guests to confirm their flight details.

Sunwing does not have any passengers in other destinations currently forecasted to be impacted, but says it continues to monitor the situation closely.

AIR CANADA VACATIONS

Air Canada Vacations is operating a total of 5 additional flights to bring customers home early from the D.R.

Puerto Plata

Sept. 19 – ZX1759 Departing from Puerto Plata at 1:40 p.m to Montreal
Sept. 19 – ZX2111 Departing from Puerto Plata at 12 p.m. and then from Samana at 12:55 p.m. to Montreal

Punta Cana

Sept. 19 – ZX1991 Departing from Punta Cana at 3 p.m. to Toronto
Sept. 19 – ZX1999 Departing from Punta Cana at 5 p.m. to Toronto
Sept. 19 – ZX1993 Departing from Punta Cana at 7:45 p.m. to Montreal

ACV customers who are currently in the D.R. and have scheduled vacations up until Sept. 24 are being rebooked on an earlier flight as a precautionary measure. Customers are asked to see the hotel front desk for updates on departure information. ACV adds that it will continue to monitor the situation closely and will communicate further changes as they become available, as well as update the travel advisory on its website.

ACV customers travelling to the D.R.

For customers who have planned to travel to the D.R. with a scheduled departure from Sept. 18 to Sept. 22, all flights are cancelled. Files will automatically be eligible for rebooking at a later date.

The following flights are cancelled:

Sept. 21: RV1758 – Departure from Montreal to Puerto Plata
Sept. 21: RV1776 – Departure from Toronto to Puerto Plata
Sept. 21: RV1986 – Departure from Montreal to Punta Cana
Sept. 22: RV1712 – Departure from Toronto to Punta Cana

ACV customers who planned to travel Sept. 18 – 24 can rebook an alternate Air Canada Vacations package by Oct. 15, 2017 for travel until April 30, 2018. Customers are responsible for any price differential resulting from selection of a higher-priced alternative. This policy applies to scheduled departures as indicated above only.

ACV customers travelling to Antigua, Barbados, Fort de France, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia

Customers who planned to travel Sept. 18 – 20 may rebook an alternate ACV package by Oct. 15, 2017 for travel until April 30, 2018. Again, customers are responsible for any price differential resulting from selection of a higher-priced alternative. This policy applies to scheduled departures as indicated above only.

WESTJET

WestJet has a travel advisory for BGI, SXM, UVF, POS, PUJ, POP and AZS, for passengers who booked on or before Sept. 16 for travel until Sept. 25.

“For your clients that are impacted by this, all change/cancel fees can be waived to and from all impacted destinations for travel indicated above,” says WestJet.

WestJet air bookings

GDS bookings: There is no need for agents to call to receive a waiver code to waive a change fee for their client, says WestJet. “Simply add the generic waiver code *MARIA0917* in the endorsement field and process the exchange in your GDS. If your client was scheduled to travel during the dates above, and you have cancelled their booking and it is left in unused status, you can use the generic waiver code above to waive the change fee when you rebook within the next 12 months.”

WestJet notes that this is an exception due to the extenuating circumstances and any violations outside of the approved exception will result in a debit memo.

WestJet Agent (TA Web) bookings: For clients that are impacted and wish to either cancel or exchange their ticket without a change fee agents will need to contact the Travel Support Team at 1-877-664-3205.

WestJet Vacation bookings

SIREV/Revnet/Contact centre bookings: For clients that are impacted and wish to either cancel or exchange their package without a change or cancel fee, call the Travel Support Team at 1-877-664-3205.

TRANSAT

In response to Hurricane Maria, Transat’s hurricane policy is applicable for flights scheduled for Dominican Republic until Sept. 22. Clients can choose to travel at a later date at no additional cost, travel to another destination served by Transat without incurring any change fees (if the package price is higher than the original booking, the client will be responsible for paying the difference) or cancel their bookings and obtain a full refund in credit vouchers. “We are in constant communication with our team at destination as well as our hotel partners in the region.”

With files from The Associated Press