TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Air Canada Suspending Flights to Caribbean

We were booked on Air Canada Feb 3rd to enjoy a two week holiday in St. Maarten. I was checking on our flight this weekend when I was informed my "booking did not exist". After waiting on hold for close to two hours I finally got an agent who confirmed our flight was cancelled. And - they hadn't informed us. No emails - nothing. For a couple of days I've seen a few news stories floating around that Air Canada was suspending flights to the Caribbean starting Jan 31st, but for now I wanted to share my personal story.

So, my fellow Canadians - beware and check on your flights. We'll get back to the island soon but for now we are really disappointed....
With all the uncertainty around the airline industry we've decided not to re-book right now.

Sorry to hear that, Teresa, for yourself and your fellow Canadians.

We have an Air Canada flight to St. Lucia at the end of February and I just checked and it is still going. I haven't read or heard anything about Air Canada cancelling flights to the Caribbean - where did you see this?

Here is the story.

Link

Neither St. Maarten or St. Lucia is on that list in the story though??

Have a flight booked Toronto to St Maarten on West Jet for Feb 1/22 - at this point still going.
Have a flight booked Toronto to St Kitts on Air Canada Rouge for April 24/22 - but Air Canada has cancelled all flights to the Caribbean up to April 30/22

www.winnmediaskn.com/air-canada-withdraws-from-skn-and-other-caribbean-destinations/

What a shame

How about taking a flight to a US airport and then booking on an airline without those restrctions.

Very confusing. Are all flights canceled or not?

My AC Flight Thursday Jan 20 to St Maarten still appears to be a go. I have a friend who is an AC pilot and he has verified the pilots for that flight. I assume my flight back in mid February could be in jeopardy. It does say flights after January 31st. It does not list Sint Maarten in their list but it does say Caribbean flights. WestJet and Sunwing are still flying. Although WestJet is flying only twice per week. Difficult time to travel. Never a dull moment.

It’s doable but usually at a much higher cost for the tickets… Especially for us in Western Canada… Flights thru Toronto are the most convenient….

Our Feb 5th with AC return was cancelled so we have rebooked with Air Transat, hopefully it goes ahead.

If air Canada cancelled the flights- it’s just a matter of time that the rest of our Canadian airlines will follow…

If you can fly out of SEA there is a direct to MIA or CLT that then goes to SXM on AA. Same on way back.

Oh nooo, what a shame, so sorry.

This is an old story recycled from last year. Air Canada had to issue a press release. Don’t worry everyone!

https://www.narcity.com/air-canada-...PY9euIT-MiwxKWv8HlF_EjrKt3WtJDHL8zk0J-pQ

I'm thinking not. St. Maarten isn't a big hub for Air Canada I think. airtransat & westjet are. We are hoping not. So far our flight sunday airtransat is still a go as I believe westjet also.

I hope yours is a go as feb 6th is our return flight airtransat! And I hope you get there! Lol

OK, I really don't know what the real story is here, so will open this one back up. Hopefully the real story will be figured out soon.. Very confusing!!!

I believe in the article the dates it states are from 2021 which would indicate an old publication.

"Flights will be suspended from January 31, 2021 through April 30, 2021 to the following destinations"

Carol - thank you for opening this thread back up. I am the original poster and would like to explain further. Poster "d_Fish" is correct that there are stories floating on the internet from 2021. I have been in the media for 25 years in Canada and have been following this story for a few days. I wanted to make sure that I had my facts straight before I posted on TTOL - a site that I respect and value very much. Here is the rebuttal I wrote to poster d_fish regarding my investigation and personal experience:

"Air Canada is suspending direct flights to St. Maarten after Jan 29th for at least a month. I have been following the info from 2021 circulating through the feeds for three days (mostly Caribbean news outlets) but my first post warning my fellow Canadian travelers to check their flight information is very valid. There are no direct flights on Air Canada (Toronto to SXM) from Jan 30th until at least Feb 26th and there are no guarantees the airline will start up then because they are monitoring the current situation. Our direct flight from Toronto to SXM on Feb 3rd for two weeks was cancelled without warning and they did not contact us. I had to do some checking on my own so hence the warning that I posted. The bottom line is - right now, we have to advocate for ourselves and be vigilant because airline schedules change every day due to Covid. And that is solid advice for every Caribbean destination."

I mentioned that this story has been floating on the web for a few days...I am following stories from Antigua, Jamaica and Bermuda. Something is going on but I will leave the details up to Air Canada on when they wish to go public. They did suspend flights to the Caribbean in 2021 and now in 2022, there are some suspensions again and I found out the hard way that I won't be going to SXM as planned on Feb 3rd because both of my direct flights were cancelled without warning nor was I informed.

Thank you to the helpful posters who pointed out that Canadians can fly through the US and get to SXM - much appreciated. When we share information on TTOL, we all benefit. My husband Gary and I sure have and I'm on this wonderful site almost daily. I've been going to St. Maarten since 1989 and like many, it is our destination of choice. We all try to help one another on TTOL and I was only trying to warn other Canadian Travelers that they might encounter the issues that hit my husband and I without warning.

Thanks for all your work on this thread. Sure can be confusing.

Air transat canceled my sxm flight for Sunday Jan 23. They notified me a few days before Christmas. This was the notification.

AIR TRANSAT

Dear Clients,

Due to the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid rise of the Omicron variant, we have to unfortunately, revise our flight schedule and reduce capacity in the coming weeks.

Therefore, we regret to inform you that your trip has been cancelled with a full refund of monies paid on file.

The refund will be processed automatically and in the method of payment on file; you don’t need to do anything. Please note that cancelled bookings will be processed in order of notification, so there may be a delay of approximately 4 weeks in receiving your refund.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you and thank you very much for your understanding and loyalty to Transat.

Sincerely,
Transat


They have already refunded me. I have rebooked for Jan 20 on Air Canada 😲.

So far that AC flight is still a go. But, you never know these days.

Dr Phil sxm

Dr. Phil - we hope you are flying to St. Maarten soon because we sure have enjoyed your "boots on the ground" stories about our favourite (favorite) island. Keep us informed. You have been so helpful!

Was that to SXM?

Thank you Teresa sxm. I will get there and post again.

As of today, my flight is still a go so that is good news.

If it is canceled, i will book another flight.

Today a couple from Ontario flew to my place. They were on Westjet.
They had no issues flying down and are currently enjoying the beautiful warm weather ☀️😎

Dr Phil SXM

UPDATE ON MY AIR CANADA FLIGHT FEB 10 2022

CANCELLED

As of last night, my return flight from SXM to YYZ has been cancelled along with the entire Caribbean FEBRUARY schedule. Actually true. Emails and messages soon to be sent from AC and/or their agents.

I have booked Westjet for Feb 10 2022 flight from SXM to Toronto YYZ. Sunwing also fly that date (at this point).

I am sure that Air Canada will put out a news announcement for this soon as it will affect a lot of people.

However, my Air Canada flight from Toronto to St Maarten on Jan 20 2022 is still a go as of today.

Keep you posted.

Just checked my February 25th Air Canada flight to St. Lucia and it stills shows as going. Are you sure they have cancelled the entire Caribbean for February?

Hi lovemysxm, that is what I was told by their ticket agent.

I had |NO notification and still nothing to this minute. However, this is how you can tell if the flight is still going.

LOGIN to your Air Canada account. go to your bookings .

Type in your Booking reference number that they sent you.

If it comes up, you are good. But if it says not a valid Booking Number, it is cancelled and you will probably be notified over the next few days.

I tried this and my Jan 20 AC flight was there but not my Feb 20 2022 AC flight.

Dr Phil SXM

Once you log in to Air Canada, the "My Bookings" tab is located at the top right by clicking on you name..........FYI

I just checked your AC flight Feb 25 to St Lucia and online it appears to be a go !

I would be interested to know what their ticket agent deemed to be the ENTIRE Caribbean .

Keep an eye on it over the next few days.

Perhaps these corporations are willing to forfeit profits for public safety? Just saying.
irina

Yea that's how I check my flights. Keeping my fingers crossed that nothing changes. We also have flights to SXM on Westjet late January and March - everything still okay with those flights.

My AC flight Toronto SXM for March 5 was just cancelled today. Rebooked on Air Transat but expect they will likely follow with cancellations. Alas.

....don't shoot the messenger, but.....checking the Air Canada timetable and they have quietly cancelled flights to MANY caribbean destinations for the month of February.....

Here is the confirmation:

Nino Montagnese, VP of Air Canada Vacations just confirmed in a letter to Canada's travel trade that there will be disruptions to their flight schedule from Jan 24th-April 30th. Affected destinations will include St. Maarten plus Antigua, Aruba, Samana, Curacao, Exuma, Grenada, Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo, Bermuda, Grand Cayman, Havana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis.

To make sure travelers aren't stranded, Montagnese says Air Canada plans to operate a number of one way flights from the affected destinations to get people back to Canada.

The full story is here: https://openjaw.com/newsroom/operat...on-suspensions-affecting-7-of-customers/

Hi. This is also on the Air Canada website now. Link here

Quote from the website says "Air Canada will be suspending some flights to Sun destinations from January 24 until April 30, 2022."

It isn't clear to me if they are suspending ALL flights or just some, but everyone with reservations on AC should keep very close watch on this.

Absolutely Carol. If COVID is the concern then why is AC keeping flights going to Barbados, St Lucia, Nassau and Turks and Caicos?

So sad. If you are within driving distance of Buffalo, NY; perhaps you could get a connecting flight via Charlotte or Miami.
AA also flies non-stop Philadelphia to SXM on Saturdays, and I hope that they continue to do so, as we are booked PHL to SXM on March 5.

Air transat, another chartered airline just followed the Air Canada example….. I think they all will do the same pretty soon… They alway do follow AC. I still have a hope that our WestJet flight will happen….a very small hope.

According to the Air Transit website they are still offering weekly flights to and from Montreal and the Toronto flights resume February 6th. Not quite as bad as you suggest.