Following US military action in Venezuela, widespread flight cancellations and disruptions snarled airline schedules across the Caribbean on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
The airport chaos began when the FAA issued a Notice to All Air Missions (NOTAM) late on Friday night that closed most of the airspace over the Caribbean to US passenger planes. The US government restricted the region’s airspace as the military performed a large-scale raid on the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas in order to capture the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro.
After the airspace was restricted late on Friday 2 January, hundreds of US flights were cancelled across the Caribbean on Saturday 3 January, including in some of the region’s largest airports. At Puerto Rico’s San Juan Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU), 200 flights were cancelled on Saturday, which was about 58 per cent of its total schedule, according to FlightAware data. At Cyril E. King International Airport (STT) on the US Virgin Island of St. Thomas, there were 56 flights cancelled on Saturday, which accounted for 66 per cent of its total flights, FlightAware shows.
The FAA allowed the flight ban NOTAM to expire at late midnight on Sunday, clearing airlines to resume flights to the Caribbean. However, the agency has replaced the ban on US passenger planes in the region with an advisory NOTAM that will remain in effect until Monday 2 February. That alert does not prohibit airliners from flying in the region, but tells them to exercise caution due to military activity “for flights around Curaçao, San Juan, Maiquetia and Piarco Flight Information Regions,” according to the Miami Herald.
US carriers have responded by adding flexible policies for travellers who are stuck in the region or have upcoming trips to the area. Some carriers, like Delta and American Airlines, have been boosting capacity across the Caribbean. American, for one, has added 43 extra flights, totalling 7,000 seats, to give more options to passengers in need.
It’s important to remember that if your flight was cancelled and you no longer wish to travel, you are entitled to a refund to the original form of payment. Below is everything you need to know.
Should travellers visit the Caribbean right now?
The immediate risk to travellers in the Caribbean right now is not so much violence, but cascading disruptions, says Kent Webber, a former senior official at the Pentagon and senior manager of operations and intelligence services at Global Rescue, a travel insurance and safety firm. “Airspace restrictions, mass flight cancellations, and overwhelmed rebooking systems will take time to unwind,” Webber says. “Travellers should plan for extended delays and avoid assuming that a rapid return to normal operations is realistic.”
But even though flights are operating normally, travellers should still think carefully about whether they want to continue their trip. “Adhering to official travel advisories, limiting non-essential movement, and allowing conditions to stabilize are the most effective ways to reduce exposure” to risk, Webber advises. “This is not a moment for speculative or discretionary travel in the region.”
Venezuelan airspace has been effectively closed to passenger planes since the FAA issued a NOTAM warning in late November. That alert stated that pilots should exercise caution in the nation’s airspace due to “the worsening security situation and heightened military activity in or around Venezuela,” and that flying over the country is “a potentially hazardous situation” that poses threats to aircraft “at all altitudes” – even those on the ground. That notice remains in effect until at least February 19.
A look at US airlines’ policies in the Caribbean
Here’s a brief description of major airlines’ policies for fliers who are looking to return to the US or need to change an upcoming flight to the Caribbean.
American Airlines
Over the weekend, American added dozens of extra flights from multiple Caribbean islands to the US to help travellers who might have been stranded by sudden and widespread cancellations. On Monday 5 January, the carrier added four additional flights to and from Miami (MIA) and San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) operated by its largest plane, the Boeing 777-300. The carrier is also operating two interisland flights on Monday to connect San Juan (SJU) with Anguilla Wallblake (AXA) and Beef Island, British Virgin Islands (EIS). Aside from its additional flight capacity, the carrier no longer has a travel waiver in place for passengers with flights to or from the region.
Caribbean Airlines
The airspace restriction applied only to US airlines, and regional carriers in the area continued operations. Caribbean Airlines, one of the area’s largest operators with flights to four US cities, including New York, Miami, Orlando, and Fort Lauderdale, alerted customers on Saturday that its schedule was operating “with no disruptions” and that flights would “continue as scheduled.” The airline added that it would “continue to monitor regional developments to ensure safe and reliable travel.”
Delta
After the Caribbean airspace’s reopening, Delta has added more than 2,600 additional seats to its routes across the region. The airline has also issued a travel waiver allowing changes with no difference in fare to flights to, from, or through 13 Caribbean airports. To qualify for the free changes, the original flights must have been for travel between January 3 to 6. Rebooked travel must be purchased by Friday 9 January in the same cabin class and between the same airports, and new flights must also begin by Friday 9 January.
