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Flair Airlines customer Douglas Connors and his partner have been trying to get back home to Eastern Ontario from Mexico, but he’s still not sure how soon that can happen, days after their flight home was abruptly cancelled.
“We’re not clear at all,” Connors told CBC News on Tuesday, expressing exasperation in getting needed details from Flair, despite several calls to the airline and having scoured its website for information.
After a three-week stay in Mexico, Connors and his partner were supposed to fly home last Sunday from the Pacific Coast tourist city of Puerto Vallarta, in the country’s Jalisco state.
But their flight home was cancelled, amid violence that erupted after a special forces operation saw Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as El Mencho, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, killed.
Tourists in Puerto Vallarta were urged to shelter in place on Sunday. The situation caused Canadian airlines, including Flair, to temporarily cancel flights to and from Puerto Vallarta.
Air Canada began resuming flights to the city on Tuesday, as did WestJet and Air Transat. Flair said it would do so starting Wednesday.
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) advises Canadians to go to airports in Mexico “only if they have a confirmed flight, and it is safe to do.”
Its current travel advisory tells Canadians to avoid non-essential travel at this time to more than a dozen states in Mexico, including Jalisco within 50 kilometres of neighbouring Michoacán.
GAC says that more than 61,000 Canadians in Mexico have registered with the department, a number that jumped from 18,000 on Sunday.
Flair working to add flights
After Sunday’s events, Flair subsequently rebooked Connors on a flight home on Tuesday, March 3 — more than a week after his prior departure date.
Connors says Canada’s air passenger protection regulations stipulate that large airlines like Flair are supposed to provide customers with a rebooking on a new flight within 48 hours of their originally scheduled departure time, when flight disruptions occur involving circumstances that are beyond the carrier’s control. He also points out that Flair references this on its website.
Calm has started to return to Mexico following the killing of the powerful cartel leader known as El Mencho, but travel advisories remain and Canadians are waiting for flights to resume. Meanwhile, Mexico’s president said authorities tracked a romantic partner of the drug kingpin to start the operation that left about 30 cartel members and 25 troops dead.
The airline told CBC News it has been dealing with a fluid situation.
“As capacity is limited on Flair-operated flights departing from Puerto Vallarta tomorrow, we may offer affected customers rebooking on other airlines as part of our ongoing recovery efforts,” Flair Airlines said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
“We are actively working on building additional recovery flights … and customers will receive email updates as options become available.”
Hearing the airline’s statement, Connors said it was “not reflective of our experience.”
Connors had seen availability on a slightly earlier Toronto-bound flight from Flair on March 1, but he was hesitant to make that change as he feared he’d have to pay again, if an earlier flight became available afterward.
The airline told CBC News that it has tried to let customers understand that they can rebook at a date of their choosing and without extra cost.
“Generally, we wouldn’t allow multiple changes without a fee, but as these are unprecedented times, we’re waiving them,” the airline said.
Connors said he was having trouble on his first attempt at rebooking a new flight. He said he’ll wait to see confirmation on whether the statement holds true.
Later Tuesday evening, Connors said he had not been able to book an earlier flight.