COVID-19: ACV, Sunwing & Transat offer flexible travel options

In the wake of traveller concerns about the current coronavirus situation, Air Canada Vacations, Sunwing and Transat are providing clients with flexible travel options at this time:

Air Canada Vacations

Starting immediately, ACV will offer its CareFlex travel protection free of charge for the month of March, giving customers "more freedom to travel," the company stated in a release issued late Wednesday (March 4) evening. 

"Your customers can book with confidence knowing that our comprehensive travel protection plan allows travellers to change their booking, transfer their package, and cancel with an in-house travel credit and/or a partial refund up to three days before departure," the company release reads.

Free CareFlex travel protection is available for select destinations and resorts in Las Vegas, Mexico and the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Europe between March 5 and 31, 2020 for travel between March 5 and April 30, 2021, ACV states. 

When making bookings online, travel agents will need to ‘select’ CareFlex at $0 during the booking flow. 

"When booking your clients’ group with Air Canada Vacations, travellers can also take advantage of a reduced deposit of only $50 per person between March 5 and 31, 2020 for travel from March 5 and onwards," the company stated. 

Dana Gain, senior director of sales, groups and partnerships at Air Canada Vacations added: 

“We continue to look for new ways of supporting our travel partners and their customers so they can book with confidence through Air Canada Vacations. We believe that providing this additional flexibility will help better support our travel partners in the coming weeks.”

Sunwing

Sunwing has issued a flexibility policy for clients who may be reluctant to finalize their vacation plans amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

"In order to alleviate these concerns, we offer a more flexible way to change the reservations that will be made during the next two weeks," the company said in a statement.

The flexible options below apply to all reservations made with Sunwing, including flight only or hotel reservations only, as well as vacation and cruise bookings.

For bookings made between March 4 and March 19, 2020, Sunwing eliminates the administrative fees usually applied on the first change. This provision applies to all new reservations whose departure date is scheduled between March 4 and June 24, 2020.

Any modification must be made no later than 14 days before departure, otherwise the regular conditions will apply. In addition, the regular conditions will apply if the modification results in a lower or higher price. Cancellation fees continue to apply.

Transat

Transat has implemented a new flexibility policy for its flights and packages to the south.

The new policy lets travellers change their travel dates, destination or hotel at no additional charge. This policy applies to new bookings for flights on all routes offered by Air Transat and for south packages made between March 4 and March 31, 2020 for travel between now and Oct. 31, 2020.

"Although almost all of our destinations are very safe and the Government of Canada's advisories currently affect only one of our destinations located in northern Italy, we are aware that the outbreak and progression of the coronavirus may raise questions and even concerns among some travellers," said Joseph Adamo, chief distribution officer at Transat and president at Transat Distribution Canada. "The situation is evolving rapidly, and in order to reassure travellers and enable our clients to carry out their travel plans, we are offering them peace of mind by deploying a highly advantageous flexibility policy."

Travellers can change their booking up to 24 hours before departure. Note that travel must be completed within 12 months of the original travel date and that if the price for the new booking is higher, customers must pay the difference.

The policy excludes group bookings. Cancellation requests are subject to the terms and conditions.

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