Delta Air Lines issued a travel advisory for Punta Cana, Dominican Republic Wednesday morning in the midst of ongoing media reports raising concerns about traveler safety in the Caribbean nation.
Citing “recent events in Punta Cana,” Delta will allow passengers to reschedule or cancel their upcoming flights to the popular resort town without being penalized by additional fees.
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The travel advisory applies to flights to Punta Cana International Airport between June 21 and August 15, 2019.
Customers can either choose to remain on their current flight, change to a different flight or cancel their trip altogether. Those changing flights must rebook and begin travel by November 20, 2019, to avoid change fees while customers making cancellations can “apply any unused value of the ticket toward the purchase of a new ticket for a period of one year from the original issue date,” Delta said.
“Applicable change fee and fare difference will apply for new travel dates and will be collected at the time of booking the new ticket,” the carrier added.
Citing flight-data analysis firm ForwardKeys, The Washington Post recently reported that July and August flight cancellations have spiked 45 percent since the start of June while flight bookings to the Dominican Republic from the U.S. in July and August have decreased by 59 percent compared to last year.
Despite the influx of reports of mysterious illnesses and deaths involving American tourists in the Dominican Republic dominating the headlines, the U.S. State Department hasn’t updated its travel advisory for the Caribbean destination, which remains at a Level 2 (exercise increased caution).
For perspective, the Bahamas, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turks and Caicos and the United Kingdom are considered Level 2 by the State Department.
“There are people on the ground there today that are having a great vacation,” TravelPulse founder Mark Murphy told Fox Business earlier this month. “I was just there in January. Personally, I would get on a plane with my wife and kids and go there tomorrow because I know the destination and this is too scattered to be some conspiracy.”
