WestJet suspends flights to Mexico, Calgary travellers undeterred

WestJet and Air Canada are cancelling flights to Mexico due to increased concern over the spread of the human swine-flu virus.

Calgary-based WestJet and WestJet Vacations will stop service to Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallerta between May 4 and June 20. Passengers with scheduled flights can change or cancel their plans for no charge, the airline said. WestJet will be contacting all guests currently in Mexico to inform them about additional flights to expedite their early departure.

"We certainly understand and empathize with the upheaval this represents for our guests," said Sean Durfy, WestJet's president and CEO. "Ultimately, we have made this decision for the safety and well-being of our guests."

Air Canada is suspending all operations to Cancun, Cozumel and Puerto Vallarta from now until June 1.

While Canada's public health agency is advising against travel to Mexico, and for travellers to take precautions in some U.S. states, some Calgarians proceeded with their travel plans on Tuesday. On the same day, Alberta officials confirmed two cases of swine flu in the province — one in Calgary and the other in northern Alberta.

Mike Noise and his wife said they had no concerns with embarking on their month-long vacation to Puerto Vallarta. "Four thousand people die in Canada from the flu every winter," said Noise, calling the situation "overblown."

Barry Forry, 50, also had no intention of changing his plan of moving to Puerto Vallarta. He said he sold his Calgary house and looks forward to "retire, fish, golf and drink beer" when he lands in Mexico.

"I'm not worried at all," Forry said, wearing a straw hat and sunglasses on his way to getting on a WestJet flight.

Alan Verbeke was also continuing with his plans to go surfing for nine days in Mexico, but he packed "lots of hand sanitizer and masks" as a precaution.

Several travel companies suspend trips to Mexico

Air Canada said Tuesday it will allow travellers to make changes to their bookings for travel to and from Mexico City without paying penalty fees until May 8. The company is also suspending all operations to Cancun, Cozumel and Puerto Vallarta until June 1. Air Canada Vacations customers booked for those destinations April 28 and June 1 can rebook their holiday with no change fees, the company said.

Transat AT announced Tuesday it will bring any customers and employees now in Mexico back to Canada, and is postponing any flights into Mexico from Canada until June 1. Carnival Cruise lines has cancelled stops at Mexican ports for three of its ships. Sunquest Vacations is postponing all of its bookings to Mexico until June.

High school music trip in jeopardy

After fundraising for a trip to New York City, band and choir students at a Calgary high school may be sidelined because of the swine flu outbreak.

About 140 students from Bishop Carroll High School were to leave Calgary Wednesday to play music festivals on the five-day trip, but the school cancelled the trip on Monday.

Principal Simone Gratton said the decision was made after learning the majority of the confirmed cases in the state were in New York City. State officials updated the number of confirmed cases to 45 on Tuesday.

"It was with great difficulty that this decision was made, but our first concern is always the safety of our students," wrote Gratton in a message posted on the southwest high school's website. "At the moment we are exploring other options such as potentially rescheduling the trip and recovering as many of the travel expenditures as possible."

The Catholic school is holding a meeting with parents at 7 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the situation and potential alternatives, raising the possibility that the trip may go ahead. Each student paid about $2,000 for the trip, with some fundraising for the past year to meet the cost.

"We were selling pizzas and we were selling Spolumbo's sausages and stuff and tickets for hockey games," said student Kim DeLisle, who plays the flute and piccolo in the Bishop Carroll band. "To find out like a day before is kind of upsetting."

"I'm pretty disappointed," said student Tory Rosso. "We've been practicing non-stop for the past couple of weeks like I haven't had time to do any school work at all and now this."

The Calgary Board of Education said no trips with public schools are affected at this point.

"We just have recommended to school authorities that they consider rescheduling student trips to Mexico and the affected areas in the United States until additional information is issued in the days ahead," said Alberta Education spokeswoman Kathy Telfer.