The federal government has asked Canada’s main airlines to cancel their flights to the Caribbean & Mexico as the risks of new variants of coronavirus are mounting.

The airlines have agreed to this request which is effective Sunday 31 January until April 30, 2021. They will arrange to fly back customers currently in those regions. These destinations are:

  • Cayo Coco
  • Cancun
  • Liberia
  • Montego Bay
  • Punta Cana
  • Varadero
  • Puerto Vallarta
  • Antigua
  • Aruba
  • Barbados
  • Kingston
  • Mexico City
  • Nassau
  • Providenciales
  • San Jose

Starting February 22, all travellers landing in Canada will have to submit to a PCR test and wait 3 days for the results in a designated hotel. They will have have to pay for their 3-night hotel stay, estimated to a whopping $2,000. Travellers who have booked trips will be refunded in full.

If negative, they can continue their 14-day quarantine in their home. However, if positive, the federal health agency will assign them for quarantine in dedicated places.

This comes on top of producing a negative test 72h prior to embarking on the flight back to Canada.

Travel restrictions are adding-up, as the federal government wants to discourage people for taking leisure or non-essentiel trips abroad. Spring Break is particularly a concern that the governement is addressing in advance. The new variants of Covid-19 are also of great concern. Some Canadian travellers have been infected with the UK variant and provincial public health authorities are struggling to track it.

Many provinces have stiff quarantine rules even on domestic flights. Manitoba, the Maritimes . This make Canadian domestic air travel very limited and the Air Canada Infinite Canada Flight Pass very hard to use to it full value.

The current Covid-19 crisis is far from over. Despite the promise of the various vaccines, the roll out has been significantly delayed with the slowdown of production. Many airlines have been making new destination announcement such as Air Canada’s service to Doha & New Delhi. But no one is flying anywhere for leisure as many countries have totally closed their borders.

Air Transat ceases all operations

Air Transat announced in the afternoon that it ceases all of its operations until April 30, 2021. The airline did not specify if it was to refund bookings made until April 30, 2021.

To be followed.

Hotels are ready for quarantine

No hotel list for travellers in quarantine has been made available yet. Hoteliers are ready as their occupancy rate is under 10%. During quarantine, no hotel employee is allowed to be in direct contact with guest.

Hotel associations have stated they were ready and have already submitted their offering proposals to the federal government.

Conclusion

As travel restriction are stiffer and the Covid-19 situation still worrisome, the best thing to do is to stay home. But don’t sit idle. This is the best time to plan, earn and stack-up on miles and points.

Planning your future reward trips will be the best thing to do right now. Earn them across Aeroplan, Avios, Hilton & Marriott, and watch those balances grow slowly but surely.