Air Canada has announced that it is cancelling its service to Sint Maarten for the remainder of the winter 2017/2018 season, following the damage the island and major airport received from Hurricane Irma.

Sint Maarten/St. Martin was devastated by the storm, including wind damage, flooding and power outages, with many killed as a result. And the island’s primary international airport, Princess Juliana International Airport, suffered significant damage, with the storm destroying part of the terminal, safety fences and aircraft and spreading parts of the terminal building across the runway.

Reservation Handling Policy and Procedures:

Agents will receive a schedule change notification indicating that flights to and from Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) in Sint Maarten have been cancelled with no protection offered.

Options for passengers are:

- Refund on unused ticket coupon(s)

- Change of destination with no change fee, however, additional collection may apply

- ONLY as a last resort, customers may be offered re-protection on another airline that holds a ticketing agreement with Air Canada, per Air Canada’s schedule change policy. Those customers should be advised, however, that although they are being re-protected on the other airline, there is a significant risk that other airlines may also cancel service to SXM

When ticketing, follow the correct ticketing procedures as outlined below:

- Add ticket endorsement: DUE SKCH

- Add OSI: AC SXM ROUTE SUSPENDED

To request a refund for tickets issued in your GDS, please process as follows:

- Add the following in the OSI field: DUE SKCH

- Cancel the space

- Issue the refund

To request a refund for tickets issued on www.aircanada.com/agents, please process as follows:

- Cancel the booking

- Fill out the online ticket refund form with the following in the comments: SXM/[FLIGHT NUMBER]/[DATE]

Air Canada is the last of the major Canadian airlines to cancel their winter 2017/2018 programme to the Dutch/French dual-nation island, with Sunwing, WestJet and Air Transat all having cancelled their programmes through the end of April 2018.

At press time, Air Canada Vacations had not yet communicated policy and procedures for handling the tour operator's package bookings to Sint Maarten.

For full details, contact Air Canada or Air Canada Vacations.

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