Despite the warnings people traveled to XYZ and are now stuck. Who is responsible?

[caydiver]

We have taken our dive boat out of the water and have no reasonable expectation when she will go back in. On the flip side we are going to to take a run to Stingray City later and feed the Rays. They will learn to adapt but it is a big change in their daily routine and I can make space in the freezer when I use the squid

 

[rbahr]

Hi All,
.
Let's go straight to the horses' mouth - that would be my wife & I - Rosenzweig and Bahr

1st observation, there are sure a lot of arm-chair quarterbacks out there!

Let's chat about the real way this played out:

Maybe 6 months ago we planned this trip, bought tickets etc. Shortly before the trip we asked the question about whether or not we should go. Remember - at that time there were no known cases in Honduras or Central America AND there was NO Level 4 travel alert in place. Then while there, we questioned if we should leave a bit early - figured that was a bit drastic. This was before borders started closing.

Well, literally over night, a Level 4 travel alert came into being, and borders started closing - many actually - including Honduras, JUST before we were to leave

At this point, we decided that we would rather be back home where testing was ubiquitous (not), and plenty of medical care (also not really) - not to slam Utila, but one chamber will only go so far in a pandemic, and we really had no information.

So we started asking for help through the US Embassy and the State Dept - ya know 'Please let us out', 'Please make the money-hungry airline fly empty planes down' cuz they will be asking for LOTS of handouts... (big surprise) - this is where the audience's opinion REALLY matters, along with 'Get testing available' and maybe for good measure, get some of that ventilator equipment distributed.

We NEVER said - please fly us out of there - just 'Let us get out of here' We never asked for anything other than information. Problem is We ended up with tickets on every airline and were in discussion with 3 or 4 charter organizations, and flights kept being canceled. See, the Honduran Government said 'Airlines can fly down to get people, BUT they MUST be planes with no passengers' Delta said - literally 'We are not going to fly down', American just kept being coy - would not answer their phone, when they did, they did not appear to know anything...

One charter flight came through - and we were on it - at NO cost to the taxpayer. But the Woman's football team WAS picked up by a military transport - turns out it is good to have friends in high places - BTW this same transport avoided taking other US citizens ... Go figure!

Will be glad to answer rational questions.

Ray

 

[Hartattack]

Left March 9th? Should have known better. I think this is a perfect opportunity for people to learn personal and social responsibility.

Those idiot kids on spring break should all be quarantined in an aircraft hanger with aluminum shock blankets, fenced pens and no mattresses.

Don't we already do this to kids?

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Don't we already do this to kids?

Only desparate minorities.

 

[KatieMac]

@rbahr which charter did you fly home on?

Your story is about the same as mine time-wise. The biggest difference is that I flew charter - about the only way Canadians can get to Roatan without tons of stops. I also came home on my regularly scheduled flight after the borders closed.

While commercial airlines get most of their business from non-sun destinations, vacation travel is the only business for the Canadian charter airlines like Air Transat and Sunwing. I think had these airlines not retrieved their passengers, their businesses would be in a world of hurt coming out of this. So I think their decision was business related rather than a moral one.

Either way, Air Transat has gotten a loyal customer with me. I would highly recommend that people who live in the northern states near a Canadian airport fly one of these charters to Roatan in the future.

 

[rbahr]

We ended up using Global Guardian as the charter company. It was the 3rd company, but had the best political connections, which in the long run mattered the most.

Of the three US airlines flying both Delta and American walked away from Honduras just as fast as they could. I was mouthing some pretty bad stuff at the Delta guy who was pretty much saying, to bad, we wont go back. There may have been some small magnanimous gesture on the part of the charters, but it still cost $175 to go from Utila to Roatan, ~$1400 to go from Roatan to Miami and $35 to go from Miami to Boston...

I do need to say that the charter was willing to keep pushing to get the flight approved - took 3 or 4 tries to make that happen.

All in all, the money is secondary, we are home which is important!

Ray

 

[KatieMac]

We ended up using Global Guardian as the charter company. It was the 3rd company, but had the best political connections, which in the long run mattered the most.

Of the three US airlines flying both Delta and American walked away from Honduras just as fast as they could. I was mouthing some pretty bad stuff at the Delta guy who was pretty much saying, to bad, we wont go back. There may have been some small magnanimous gesture on the part of the charters, but it still cost $175 to go from Utila to Roatan, ~$1400 to go from Roatan to Miami and $35 to go from Miami to Boston...

I do need to say that the charter was willing to keep pushing to get the flight approved - took 3 or 4 tries to make that happen.

All in all, the money is secondary, we are home which is important!

Ray

Boston. You should look at flying Air Transat out of Montreal in the future. Flights would be dirt cheap for you - $650 CDN when we watch the prices. A 5 hour drive that I have done many times.

 

[Tool Belt]

We ended up using Global Guardian as the charter company. It was the 3rd company, but had the best political connections, which in the long run mattered the most.

Of the three US airlines flying both Delta and American walked away from Honduras just as fast as they could. I was mouthing some pretty bad stuff at the Delta guy who was pretty much saying, to bad, we wont go back. There may have been some small magnanimous gesture on the part of the charters, but it still cost $175 to go from Utila to Roatan, ~$1400 to go from Roatan to Miami and $35 to go from Miami to Boston...

I do need to say that the charter was willing to keep pushing to get the flight approved - took 3 or 4 tries to make that happen.

All in all, the money is secondary, we are home which is important!

Ray

United is our new go to airline.

 

[rbahr]

Sorry, I forgot to add that United was there the whole time. They were active during the travel ban as they were prepared to deal with the issues of no passengers on the flight TO Roatan (deadhead?)

Trouble is that unless you had a ticket on United, you did not get to fly.

 

[rbahr]

Hi Katie,

Montreal is a 6-7 hour drive for us - we go to Mount Tremblant several times a year during the summer. I forget what tickets down cost, pretty sure we used FF miles...