Cuba power outage: ACV activates goodwill policy, Air Canada cancels two flights

Due to the power outage in Varadero, Cuba, Air Canada Vacations (ACV) has activated a Goodwill Policy to offer customers travelling to the destination between October 21-27, 2024, some flexibility. 

Customers affected by Cuba’s blackout, which started Friday (Oct. 18), will be offered the following options:

Modify Your Booking – clients may modify their booking by selecting new travel dates or a new destination from those offered by ACV. “Note that all modifications to your original booking will incur additional fees,” says the tour operator.

Future Travel Credit – If your client chooses not to travel, they can cancel their booking and receive a full refund in the form of a future travel credit, which will be valid for one year from the originally scheduled departure date and can be applied to any purchase of products offered by ACV

In addition, due to Cuba’s power outage, Air Canada has cancelled some flights to the destination. They are as follows:

Varadero: October 23, 2024

• AC1746: Montreal to Varadero
• AC1740: Toronto to Varadero

The following return flights, however, are operating as scheduled:

• AC1747: Varadero to Montreal
• AC1741: Varadero to Toronto

Passengers scheduled to travel on these flights will be contacted by ACV to review other travel options.

Cuba in crisis

Cuba is dealing with an energy and social crisis after a nationwide power outage last week left millions in the dark.

As of Monday, the outage was still impacting many, forcing some in Havana to take to the streets in protest, the Associated Press reports.

Unfortunately, the extent of the blackout goes beyond lights. Other services in Cuba, like water supply, also depend on electricity to run pumps.

Cuban officials have blamed the outage on various things, from increased U.S. economic sanctions to disruptions caused by recent hurricanes to the deteriorating state of the island’s infrastructure.

Adding to the already-tense situation was Hurricane Oscar, which made landfall near Baracoa along Cuba’s eastern shores on Sunday afternoon as a Category 1 storm (which later weakened to a tropical storm).

Lessner Gomez, director of the Cuba Tourist Board in Toronto, told PAX Monday morning that the electrical situation in Cuba is “improving."

"We don’t have problems in Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo, Cayo Cruz, Cayo Paredon, Santa Maria, Holguin and other destinations right now," Gomez wrote in an email. "Just until today, [the blackout is in] Varadero and Havana. It's not 100 per cent recovered, but we took measures with the clients that stayed in some hotels that don’t have power generation and we moved them other hotels in the area. We are making all the best in order to protect our customers."

Gomez said the airports in Cuba are operating "without any problems." Excursions are running also, he said.

"We hope that in the next day, everything will be OK in all the tourist areas," he said. 

Note for Air Canada customers

Air Canada customers can visit the Air Canada app for details on their revised itinerary.

Customers headed to Varadero, as well as those who are in destination, are being advised to monitor their email or phone (or any other method of communication selected when booking) to receive updates about changes to their travel itinerary, and monitor their flight status on the Air Canada website here. 

“Customers who are in destination may also see the hotel front desk for updates on departure information,” says ACV, which is monitoring the situation in Cuba closely.

Sunwing and Transat have also activated flexible rebooking policies for their Cuban vacations. Click here for more info.

WestJet told PAX yesterday that its operations have not been impacted by the outage. WestJet's next flight to Cuba is scheduled for Oct. 26. 

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