Some Canadians are racing to get home before their insurance expires, others remain stranded in remote locales, some feel abandoned by airlines, and still others are wondering how safe the roads, planes and airports will be as they return.

“There are a lot of things happening right now,” says Evan Rachkovsky, director of communications and research for the Canadian Snowbirds Association. “We’ve been hearing stories of people that having some issues finding their way back.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there. We’ve been doing this, we’ve been providing members with updated advisories with the latest information, latest details that are coming out of the Government of Canada, and then obviously telling them to heed the advice of the federal government to return home as soon as it is feasible.

“Most of all, people just want good information.”

The travel issues surrounding Canadians trying to get home amid the COVID-19 pandemic are endless. Questions mount, and answers — so far as there are any — seem empty.

Here are some of the issues Canada’s returning snowbirds are facing:

A race with their health insurance

The moment Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on Canadians overseas to come home on March 14, a rider in the small print for most out-of-country insurance holders kicked in. Some travellers were told they had 10 days — until March 23 — to get back. If they weren’t home by that date, then — in most cases — if they got sick from the coronavirus, they would not be covered.

The Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada is urging all travellers to check with their individual insurance companies.

“The industry would echo the Canadian government’s advice that it is now time to come home,” said Will McAleer, the travel association’s executive director. “Travellers are strongly encouraged to take all actions to return to Canada as soon as possible.

“By delaying return, transportation options could become even more limited or non-existent and will put travellers at greater risk staying abroad.”

Upon hearing Trudeau’s pronouncement, Silvia Grava and her husband booked tickets on WestJet to come home from Merida, Mexico. Hours later, WestJet cancelled that flight.

“My husband and I are Canadian citizens stuck in Merida, Mexico right now because WestJet sold us tickets just hours before their press release (to cancel flights),” she said. “They did not get notify us of the cancellation, and when I called them, they informed me there are no more flights from our location,” she said.

Grava is exploring Mexican airlines to get home.

WestJet spokeswoman Morgan Bell was sympathetic, but pleaded patience.

“We are seeing a lot of these notes and are working as fast as possible on our plans to bring Canadians home,” said Bell. “We continue to add extra flights day by day as we determine the needs of WestJet and WestJet Vacation guests as well as other Canadians across various destinations.”

Refund issues

It’s not just WestJet, Air Canada’s policies have befuddled its customers. Ashley Billard, of Labrador, needs to cancel a family vacation to Florida in April. He had booked four tickets for himself, his wife and his two sons through travel agent Carlson Wagonlit at a total cost of $6,298.68; the airline is offering him a credit for the full amount — good for 24 months — or a refund of merely $297.12. Travel insurance is a possibility, but he’d lose about 25 per cent.

“Air Canada has $6,000 of my money, which is an awful lot of money,” he said. “What happens when we all emerge from this?” he asked. “Because how can they continue business under the weight of all this money owing?”

Emails and other messages to Air Canada were not returned. The airline’s website asks for “patience and understanding during these times of rapid change.”

Fly or drive?

Sharon, who asked her last name not be used, fretted for a good two weeks about how to get her 95-year-old father home from his winter home in Bradenton, Fla.

She worries planes aren’t a good idea — packed with people who may have the virus without knowing it.

But driving? With a 95-year-old who suffers from arthritis, requiring frequent bathroom stops, plus stops for gas, stops in hotels and motels, stops at restaurants. That doesn’t seem like a good idea either.

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“It’s a question of a whole different set of risks in each case,” said Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto. “So I think this kind of understanding that and then making a decision that seems less frightening. I can’t say that one is way better than the other.”

Ultimately, the airlines made the choice, telling her the only flight available for her leaves Wednesday, from Sarasota to Toronto.

“I have to make sure that I’m taking care of me so I can take care of him because my primary goal now is to keep him. I don’t want him to die from this,” said Sharon. “I pray we are both healthy from the return travels.”

A border closed to “non-essential” travel

The ban on non-essential travel across the border threw Donna Steeves’s travel plans into disarray. Steeves, of Orillia, has lung issues. She would like to come home as soon as possible, but she needs help. Her boyfriend was going down on Wednesday and they would drive home together, but his passage was denied because the U.S. border authorities deemed his travel to be non-essential travel. (Canadians returning to Canada won’t have that issue.)

In Bradenton, Fla., she’s heard stories of looting — although no reliable media outlets have reported that — and she said she’s worried state prisons will release prisoners to help stop the spread of coronavirus. Flying is not for her. She might do it, but she’s hoping she can hop a ride back to Ontario with a fellow Canadian.

“For me to go by myself to go back to Canada — no way. I’m scared,” said Steeves. “I’d be terrified to do that.”

Landing in Toronto

The prospect of returning to Canada through a busy airport raises other fears.

At Pearson, things started off well for Tony Clift when Air Transat issued all passengers a mask as they exited a flight from Portugal. But his confidence in the system didn’t last, especially when the customs kiosk needed to take his picture.

“They tell you to wear the mask, and you have to wear it in customs,” said Clift, of Burlington. “But then when you get to the machine you have to take the mask off. Otherwise, the machine doesn’t work. It can’t take a photograph with the mask on. So that was a bit odd.”

There were other issues, too. There was no segregation of flights. And there didn’t seem to be any thought given to social-distancing.

“You’re just there, with everybody scrambling together to use these kiosks,” said Clift.

The operators of the airport did not respond to requests for interviews about the crowd at customs, where returning passengers from all over the world converge.

Then the idea of simply being asked if you’re sick, and being asked to promise to self-isolate for 14 days, didn’t leave him with any confidence in the system.

“It was all very casual.”

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