'A sucker punch': COVID-19 advisory creating chaos for holiday travellers

Janice Nikkel gets to see her grandson on FaceTime every day.

But what she really wants is to hold him.

“If I could go see him, it would make my Christmas extra special,” the Langley resident said.

When travel restrictions were lifted in the fall, she booked a trip to visit baby Benji and her daughter and son-in-law, who live in Switzerland for part of the year.

Then Ottawa changed the rules on Wednesday, advising against all non-essential international travel because of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Nikkel said it felt like a “bit of a sucker punch.”

“I felt gutted in a way,” she explained. “You’re double vaccinated. You get to travel. That’s what we were told.”

Nikkel is one of thousands of Canadians wading through the chaos created by COVID-19 this holiday season, their travel plans in limbo.

Nikkel is trying to figure out if she can get a refund or credit for her flight, but hasn’t been able to reach the travel company.

“I’m having trouble getting a hold of them and getting answers on what I can and cannot do. I don’t know if I have coverage at the moment,” she said.

One of the questions for many travellers is whether their travel insurance will allow them to cancel their trips.

“If you booked your trip during the time that the advisory wasn’t at the current level, chances are you are going to have a good opportunity to claim on that should you need to choose to cancel this trip,” explained Will McAleer, executive director of the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada (THIA)

Some airlines – like Air Canada – also offer options including making a change to another date without a change fee, even on non-refundable tickets.

WestJet allows passengers who book before January 31, 2022 to change or cancel the flight once without penalty, but the change must be made more than 24 hours before departure.

Another concern is whether the travel advisory change will affect medical trip insurance.

“(Travellers) don’t necessarily need to be really concerned about whether or not – if they get sick while they’re away – that they’re going to have a problem because the travel medical insurance policies are, by and large, going to continue to be able to cover you, even though the threat level has been raised by the government,” said McAleer.

Travel agents say some people are cancelling their trips, but others are sticking with their plans.

“People are calling asking where they get can PCR tests, so obviously people are still planning on travelling,” said Cathy Larsen of Departures Travel in Sidney.

As for Nikkel, her heart is in Switzerland with her grandson.

“It’s really heartbreaking because I love my grandbaby,” she said.

But the new rules have left her trip to see him up in the air. 

Janice Nikkel gets to see her grandson on FaceTime every day, but what she really wants is to hold him this holiday season. (Janice Nikkel)