Mexican airline Viva Aerobús is canceling flights from Cuba to Nicaragua starting next Sunday, April 10th.
The company assured that it will refund all money for the tickets already purchased by customers, although it has been made clear that the process can take up to three weeks.
“This is how we inform you that, unfortunately, from tomorrow (Saturday 9 Santiago de Cuba-Cancún-Managua) we last operated,” the company reported in a message quoted by the travel portal’s Facebook page .
“All passengers with paid tickets from April 10th will receive a 100% refund. However, those whose tickets were confirmed on earlier dates and who for various reasons did NOT show up for their original flight (they didn’t show up). their tickets are NON-refundable,” they added.
The airline also clarified that “due to the high volume of passengers we have to process for refunds, the process can take up to 21 days. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused.”
However, other travel agencies have clarified that refunds can take anywhere from three weeks to 45 days.
“The affected passengers will have to contact the agents who made the sale to get a refund of their tickets, which should take between 21 and 45 days due to the high volume. We inform you again that this decision is outside the agency and unfortunately everything affects us,” explained Vagamundos.
The airline has not yet specified whether the cancellation is a permanent or a temporary measure.
Hundreds of Cubans reacted to the news on social media. “It’s not fair that they say that from one day to the next.”
The flow of Cubans to Nicaragua has increased dramatically after that country abolished visas for the island’s citizens.
Cubans choose this destination to continue the perilous journey through Central America to the United States.
According to official figures, the number of migrants from the island arriving via the southern border each day hit record numbers in the first six months of fiscal year 2022, which began last October.
More than in March alone 32,000 Cubans crossed the land border into the United States Southern US The number even exceeds that of the 1994 rafter exodus, when 30,000 migrants were recorded from the island.
The crowd in March is also twice that of those who arrived by the same route in February. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is on track to arrest more than 155,000 Cubans in the current fiscal year, almost four times the 2021 total and a 12-fold increase from 2020.
Recommended for you: