Details on Airline Cancellations, Refunds & More

Hello everyone, and happy Monday! We took a few days off, so we have a lot of updates to share with you all today. Let’s start with cancellations.

There are numerous airline cancellations. Here is a quick rundown. Please note: This is an ever-changing situation, so please contact the airlines for the most up-to-date information.

• Delta has cancelled all flights to and from St. Thomas (the airport you need to fly into when traveling to St. John) through April 24.
• United has cancelled all flights to and from St. Thomas starting on April 7.
• American reduced its schedule to one flight per day between Miami and St. Thomas. (One to St. Thomas; one from St. Thomas) through May 4. Beginning on May 5, there is not a consistent schedule between Miami and St. Thomas. There is one direct flight from Miami to STT on May 25. There are only seven direct flights from STT to Miami during the month of May. Clearly those schedules do not add up, as the plane typically comes from Miami, unloads passengers, reloads new passengers, and returns back to Miami. So this is one airline we will continue to watch for all of you.
• Spirit has cancelled all flights to and from St. Thomas starting on April 7.
• JetBlue has reduced its schedule, but continues to fly some of its flights with stops in San Juan. It will stop its direct service between Ft. Lauderdale and STT , and also Orlando and STT beginning on April 8.
• Cape Air and Silver Airways (formerly Seaborne) continue to run flights between STT and San Juan but on a limited schedule.

The US Department of Transportation ordered all airlines to provide full refunds for flights cancelled due to COVID-19. If you want to accept a voucher for future travel, you can. But if you prefer a full refund, you are now entitled to that. Please click here to read the article posted Friday on Bloomberg. 

Now onto villa reservations… This is a bit trickier.

(I updated the following bullet points and reformatted them for clarity purposes on April 7, 2020 due to a FB admin taking my words out of context and causing unnecessary drama.)

• If your stay falls within the 30-day period when the Governor prohibits accommodations from accepting new guests (March 25 through April 24) or while the US Virgin Islands is under a State of Emergency (now through April 30), you should receive a full refund if you want one (again for stays scheduled in April 2020 only).  This, however, is my opinion. Most owners are offering to rebook these affected stays (April 2020) f0r a later date, which is great if that works for you. It’s good for the owner, and it’s good for the guest in most cases. As you know, I prefer you all postpone, not cancel, if possible. But if you can’t (again April 2020 only), you should be entitled to a refund.
• But if postponing your trip does not work for you and your stay was scheduled during April 2020, I suggest you contact the USVI Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs if  you’ve requested a refund and the owner is unwilling to provide one, again for stays in April 2020 only. They were instrumental in helping guests receive refunds after the 2017 hurricanes when owners and guests had issues.
• If your stay is on or after May 1 and the US Virgin Islands is no longer under a State of Emergency and the Governor has stated that new check ins are once again allowed, I believe the contract rules would apply and you would not be entitled to a refund. But again, this is all simply my opinion.

Now on to the stats…

As of April 6 at 9 a.m., there have been 42 positive cases of COVID-19 in the US Virgin Islands. There have been two cases on St. John, 28 on St. Thomas and 22 on St. Croix. The USVI Department of Health announced over the weekend that the US Virgin Islands had its first death due to COVID-19. They did not release any other information regarding the death. A press conference is scheduled today at 1 p.m. AST.

This is a time of uncertainty for all of us. It’s a very scary time for many. After the storms, I kept saying that we needed to get from A to B, and then we could have a semblance of normalcy. Right now, we just need to get from A to B. And it will happen. We will get through this. Life will be normal again. We’re all in this together, folks. Stay safe wherever you are.

Tag: St. John airline cancellations

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