CAL suspends flights to hurricane-hit areas

Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) will not fly to hurricane-hit St Martin/St Maarten today but re-route that flight, and otherwise will not charge passengers to re-book flights in affected areas.

CAL in a statement yesterday advised that due to damage to the St Martin Airport, it is re-routing Flight 456 on Sunday to avoid the hurricane-hit island. Instead of Flight 456 passing through St Martin/St Maarten, it will fly directly from Port-of-Spain to Kingston. Likewise Flight 457 the same day will also fly directly from Kingston to Port-of-Spain, avoiding St Martin.

“Please be advised that St Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport remains closed due to significant damage from Hurricane Irma.”

The statement said affected passengers travelling today can change or cancel their reservations without penalty subject to conditions, chiefly that they had a confirmed ticket issued before September 9. The statement said passengers travelling between September 6 to September 15 to destinations affected by hurricane Irma (namely St Maarten, Antigua, Bahamas, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Orlando) will have all penalties waived once re-booking for the same cabin. “Passengers must make these changes or request refunds on or before September 30.

“Caribbean Airlines will not be responsible for arrangements or transportation to/from an alternate airport or hotel/overnight expenses incurred by affected passengers.”

CAL advised passengers to visit their website and check their flight status before going to the airport, or to call the CAL call centres for further details.

These can be reached at: USA, Canada and St. Maarten (+ 1 800 920 4225), Caribbean and Guyana (+ 1 800 744 2225), Trinidad & Tobago and Suriname (+ 1 868 625 7200), Caracas (+ 58 212 335 7405), Jamaica (International calls) (1 800 523 5585), Jamaica (Local calls) (+ 1 888 359 2475), and All other locations (+ 1 800 523 5585).