Air Canada has cancelled flights to San Juan until at least Christmas

[Schplinky]

For those who booked on Air Canada, you should know they are in the process of cancelling reservations and re-accommodating passengers. They appear to be working week by week, in order of flights. You can either accept what they are offering on code shares (some report being over-nighted in Newark and then flying onward the morning of the cruise) or you can cancel your airfare and get a full refund, deciding then to get yourself there by whatever routing you like. WestJet having already cancelled its flights to PR, there are now no flights on major airlines directly from Canada. A friend pointed out that AC's decision is likely informed by the fact that most of the hotels Air Canada Vacations does business with in PR are not open to the public for the same time period of the current flight cancellations.

 

I communicate this not to be the bearer of bad news but to let you all know in the hopes that you might be able to get your preferred routing by dealing with AC sooner than later.

[FLACRUISER99]

I only flew on air Canada once and hope I never have to do it again. Worst airline that I have ever flew on.

 

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Y

[bouhunter]

We've flown AC 3 times and loved it.

[Schplinky]

I lov AC, too!

[irishgal432]

If you have to look at other airlines try Delta from AtlantA or New York. They reduced their nonstops flight but are still going.

 

 

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[ckrobyn]

Our return flight on November 18th is on Air Canada. I just checked and our booking is intact. Nothing much I can do at this point, except wait and see what they do - I'll cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

[Shar27]

Our return flight on November 18th is on Air Canada. I just checked and our booking is intact. Nothing much I can do at this point, except wait and see what they do - I'll cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

 

Seriously??? What else can go wrong with this cruise?:loudcry:

[Schplinky]

Our return flight on November 18th is on Air Canada. I just checked and our booking is intact. Nothing much I can do at this point, except wait and see what they do - I'll cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

W

Ours was intact to but that doesn’t change what they’ve said to multiple passengers.

[ckrobyn]

W

Ours was intact to but that doesn’t change what they’ve said to multiple passengers.

 

UUUUUGH. I think you are correct.

I called AC and although my res is still intact, the agent agreed that it is suspicious that all direct flights in and out of San Juan have disappeared :(

 

So it's as you said in your original post - the airline has to re-book us because they cancelled they are obligated to get us home.

 

Obviously less than ideal, but I am glad it is on the return only. We are flying AA on the way down.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

[Schplinky]

UUUUUGH. I think you are correct.

I called AC and although my res is still intact, the agent agreed that it is suspicious that all direct flights in and out of San Juan have disappeared :(

 

So it's as you said in your original post - the airline has to re-book us because they cancelled they are obligated to get us home.

 

Obviously less than ideal, but I am glad it is on the return only. We are flying AA on the way down.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

 

Definitely! We can all usually be more flexible on the way home.

[Russ Lomas]

Definitely! We can all usually be more flexible on the way home.

Unfortunately, we cannot be flexible really on the way home. I booked Air Canada's non-stop flight back to Toronto from San Juan on the day they released it back in February to obtain a decent price (not really decent, but one-third what it was selling for later). I was worried that my flight may be cancelled since it is no longer on their website, so I called them yesterday and they informed me that the only reason it was not showing was that it is 100% sold out, so they took it off the site and all is fine. That said, my flight is for January 7th, so I hope it is intact.

 

We need to be back into Toronto at a decent hour since we have a few hours drive to do and all must be at work and school the following morning. This planned New Year trip has been a constant worry between port changes, the question of if our ship would be embarking in San Juan (NCL Dawn), possible hotel cancellations, Airbnb cancellations, Delta already cancelled our flight down and never bothered to tell us, and now hearing what you are saying has me worried that Air Canada will be abandoning us as well. UGgghhh....

[ckrobyn]

Unfortunately, we cannot be flexible really on the way home. I booked Air Canada's non-stop flight back to Toronto from San Juan on the day they released it back in February to obtain a decent price (not really decent, but one-third what it was selling for later). I was worried that my flight may be cancelled since it is no longer on their website, so I called them yesterday and they informed me that the only reason it was not showing was that it is 100% sold out, so they took it off the site and all is fine. That said, my flight is for January 7th, so I hope it is intact.

 

We need to be back into Toronto at a decent hour since we have a few hours drive to do and all must be at work and school the following morning. This planned New Year trip has been a constant worry between port changes, the question of if our ship would be embarking in San Juan (NCL Dawn), possible hotel cancellations, Airbnb cancellations, Delta already cancelled our flight down and never bothered to tell us, and now hearing what you are saying has me worried that Air Canada will be abandoning us as well. UGgghhh....

 

That is what they told me last week too when I was looking at how the flight home was filling up and what seats were still available, and I couldn't find it. When you look at any date (Saturday's) over the next several months, there are no direct flights showing either to, or from San Juan. That's pretty good indication that it is not a sell out situation, but rather flight cancellations so they removed it off the website altogether.

This is just another issue none of us need......:(

[SensFan11]

Unfortunately, we cannot be flexible really on the way home. I booked Air Canada's non-stop flight back to Toronto from San Juan on the day they released it back in February to obtain a decent price (not really decent, but one-third what it was selling for later). I was worried that my flight may be cancelled since it is no longer on their website, so I called them yesterday and they informed me that the only reason it was not showing was that it is 100% sold out, so they took it off the site and all is fine. That said, my flight is for January 7th, so I hope it is intact.

 

We need to be back into Toronto at a decent hour since we have a few hours drive to do and all must be at work and school the following morning. This planned New Year trip has been a constant worry between port changes, the question of if our ship would be embarking in San Juan (NCL Dawn), possible hotel cancellations, Airbnb cancellations, Delta already cancelled our flight down and never bothered to tell us, and now hearing what you are saying has me worried that Air Canada will be abandoning us as well. UGgghhh....

 

When I had a twitter chat with Air Canada, they gave me the same line...that the flight on Nov 25 was sold out. I found it suspicious that seats in all classes had been available at a good price the day before and that they all disappeared overnight.

 

Doubly suspicious was that EVERY flight to and from San Juan throughout the months of December and January had sold out.

 

If you go on the AC website and try to book a new flight, the first nonstop you'll find is January 13th. I suspect all AC flights up until then are being cancelled, and that happens to coincide with when Westjet is restarting their San Juan service.

 

If you're in a hurry to get back to Toronto, there are actually a couple options with connections that actually arrive earlier than that AC flight.

[xvi]

I can confirm this is happening as well. We are a large group traveling from Toronto to San Juan, flights Dec 2, ret Dec 10, and it began about a week ago... when one in our party received a message that their flights were being canceled. This person was told Air Canada was now in the process of cancelling flights as they are suspending service in and out of San Juan until December 16th. At first my flight seemed good to go online and when i signed in looked fine, and even the call centre agent said the flight looked fine. But, sure enough, after escalating the issue up the ladder, we received confirmation that they are in the process of cancelling flights to San Juan. When we called they just hadn't been updated in the system yet. Another friend who has Elite status called the Air Canada Elite hotline and they double confirmed the upcoming flight cancellations.

 

They had no suitable alternative flights to put us on so we took the refund and booked on another airline... which is cash out of pocket because our Air Canada flight was paid with points and we couldn't rebook with points as Air Canada could not accommodate us. I don't understand why Air Canada is only cancelling and telling us this now, when other airlines cancelled like a month ago and are now ramping back up to regular service... It also doesn't sit well with me that Air Canada knew about these cancellations for over a week and sat on the information while other flights are filling up... and why only some passengers are being notified and not others? ugh.

[ckrobyn]

I can confirm this is happening as well. We are a large group traveling from Toronto to San Juan, flights Dec 2, ret Dec 10, and it began about a week ago... when one in our party received a message that their flights were being canceled. This person was told Air Canada was now in the process of cancelling flights as they are suspending service in and out of San Juan until December 16th. At first my flight seemed good to go online and when i signed in looked fine, and even the call centre agent said the flight looked fine. But, sure enough, after escalating the issue up the ladder, we received confirmation that they are in the process of cancelling flights to San Juan. When we called they just hadn't been updated in the system yet. Another friend who has Elite status called the Air Canada Elite hotline and they double confirmed the upcoming flight cancellations.

 

They had no suitable alternative flights to put us on so we took the refund and booked on another airline... which is cash out of pocket because our Air Canada flight was paid with points and we couldn't rebook with points as Air Canada could not accommodate us. I don't understand why Air Canada is only cancelling and telling us this now, when other airlines cancelled like a month ago and are now ramping back up to regular service... It also doesn't sit well with me that Air Canada knew about these cancellations for over a week and sat on the information while other flights are filling up... and why only some passengers are being notified and not others? ugh.

 

 

 

I booked on points as well, so there is little doubt I will be going out of pocket. Having said that, it is booked on my RBC Avion which has a pretty comprehensive cancellation policy, so I’ll call them today and see what I can do.

For me it’s only the return flight, but it is still causing me major stress [emoji30]

 

 

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[xvi]

If you booked through aeroplan points, Aeroplan was very helpful and refunded all our points as well as the taxes paid without the usual penalty fees. If you have cancellation insurance and booked through another points system then I’m sure you’ll get your points / taxes refunded, too. But it’s the rebooking of new flights that nobody would cover for us, so we had to pay cash because our points were useless. Air Canada wanted to us to switch to a connecting United flight with a 12 hour overnight layover in New York but refused to cover the hotel costs of course... and that was the only option we were given within their network, therefore any Star Alliance / Aeroplan points are useless in this situation.

[Saint Cruiser]

Yup. Just spoke to a Director of Operations for AC who is a friend of mine and he was able to confirm that all Air Canada flights and West Jet flights as well are cancelled till sometime mid Dec - January as the terminal that they deal with was heavily damaged as well as the bridges.

 

Then 10 minutes later AC called and rebooked me for a flight with United leaving on the same day. Not direct home but still helping us get home.

 

Suggest any other Canadian booked on the flight to contact their TA or AC directly.

 

Now I hope Delta doesn't change our flights headed in....

 

Good luck.

[Schplinky]

Just got my call from AC. We took the refund as we're bailing on this cruise.

[ckrobyn]

Happy ending alert :)

 

We are all re-booked on American Airlines for the return trip home at no extra charge!

 

I can't wait to get onboard and sip that first drink!!!! :cool:

[Clarea]

Happy ending alert :)

 

We are all re-booked on American Airlines for the return trip home at no extra charge!

 

I can't wait to get onboard and sip that first drink!!!! :cool:

Excellent! I was afraid you were thinking of cancelling the cruise.

[ckrobyn]

Excellent! I was afraid you were thinking of cancelling the cruise.

 

 

Not a chance! ;)

 

I was in total contingency mode and was looking at every single option, but canceling definitely wasn't one of them!

[xvi]

Happy ending alert :)

 

We are all re-booked on American Airlines for the return trip home at no extra charge!

 

I can't wait to get onboard and sip that first drink!!!! :cool:

 

 

Diddo! American Airlines also rescued us. Much relieved! ;)

[Russ Lomas]

When I had a twitter chat with Air Canada, they gave me the same line...that the flight on Nov 25 was sold out. I found it suspicious that seats in all classes had been available at a good price the day before and that they all disappeared overnight.

 

Doubly suspicious was that EVERY flight to and from San Juan throughout the months of December and January had sold out.

I just got off the phone with Air Canada (again) to reconfirm my direct flight back from San Juan to Toronto on Sunday, January 7th. I asked the representative to go to a higher level to confirm it was still OK, and after that I got confirmation that at this point the flight is still a go. I was told Air Canada flights up til December 16th are cancelled however.

 

Now I hope Delta doesn't change our flights headed in....

 

Our Air Canada flight is still OK (for now), but out Delta flights down on December 25th were all cancelled and they never bothered to notify us. I found out from a posting on the NCL board. Best they could do for me was fly my family down to San Juan on the 26th. You may want to call and check your Delta flights.

 

Cancelling this cruise is not really an option for us either since I do not care to throw away 6 New Year cruise payments that are non-refundable and paid in full already. May have to start swimming up the St. Lawrence and make my way down the coast to the Caribbean, but one way or another, we intend to be on our New Year cruise out of San Juan.

[Bluepilot]

I'd be happy to throw in a little insider information for you with respect to the airlines and San Juan.

 

I fly for JetBlue and we have a very large presence in San Juan. I've been in there since the storm and what I will say is that the island has a long road ahead of it. However, we are in the process of normalizing operations in San Juan as thankfully our terminal was quite free of major damage and is mostly back to normal other than the occasional power outages that seem to occur at random. We have direct flights to San Juan from JFK, EWR, FLL, MCO, and I think we just started doing DCA. With respect to Canada, and if you by chance live in Toronto, I know a lot of you use BUF as an alternate (from what I hear its cheaper in taxes than YYZ too). It seems that whenever I fly from BOS, JFK, and MCO to BUF, I have quite a few Canadian citizens aboard who either drive or use one of the few bus services that make the trip across the border. It should be a pretty easy connection from BUF to one of our hubs that serve SJU. Check the weather I only caution you however, We have a heavy focus of aircraft routing through the Northeast and delays can get crazy at times especially with the construction projects that is plaguing operations in JFK

 

If you are having airline troubles to SJU, I offer to you to take a look at us from BUF to one of our hubs that serve SJU. Flights to SJU lately have been very open. Now, I warn you to look carefully at return flights however as those have been packed lately. We do not overbook our aircraft at Jetblue and if the flight is oversold, its usually due to something out of the ordinary. Good luck.

[ckrobyn]

I'd be happy to throw in a little insider information for you with respect to the airlines and San Juan.

 

I fly for JetBlue and we have a very large presence in San Juan. I've been in there since the storm and what I will say is that the island has a long road ahead of it. However, we are in the process of normalizing operations in San Juan as thankfully our terminal was quite free of major damage and is mostly back to normal other than the occasional power outages that seem to occur at random. We have direct flights to San Juan from JFK, EWR, FLL, MCO, and I think we just started doing DCA. With respect to Canada, and if you by chance live in Toronto, I know a lot of you use BUF as an alternate (from what I hear its cheaper in taxes than YYZ too). It seems that whenever I fly from BOS, JFK, and MCO to BUF, I have quite a few Canadian citizens aboard who either drive or use one of the few bus services that make the trip across the border. It should be a pretty easy connection from BUF to one of our hubs that serve SJU. Check the weather I only caution you however, We have a heavy focus of aircraft routing through the Northeast and delays can get crazy at times especially with the construction projects that is plaguing operations in JFK

 

If you are having airline troubles to SJU, I offer to you to take a look at us from BUF to one of our hubs that serve SJU. Flights to SJU lately have been very open. Now, I warn you to look carefully at return flights however as those have been packed lately. We do not overbook our aircraft at Jetblue and if the flight is oversold, its usually due to something out of the ordinary. Good luck.

 

 

 

Thanks for that great information, and for taking time to post it.

 

While in contingency mode, I did in fact look at Jet Blue out of BUF as an option. I’ve flown Jet Blue before, and really like the planes and the service. Had plans not worked out on AA (no change fees) I probably would have looked a little more closely at flights from SJU to BUF. You’re right though, when I was looking this morning, the return flights were very full, and also pretty expensive.

 

 

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