JOHANNESBURG, 29 NOVEMBER 2021 – While international travel bans against South Africa are still in place, the Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) has been working around the clock to assist affected customers and has shared free resources to answer customer’s frequently asked questions.
“Flight Centre’s 48 stores and 500 Travel Experts across the country are open and willing to assist travellers impacted by the travel bans,” says Andrew Stark, Flight Centre Travel Group MD. “We have had meetings today with our key international airline partners and are working closely with them so that international air travel can resume as soon as possible, as we continue to learn to live with the virus.”
“Our Experts are in contact with all affected customers to rebook their travel and are assisting getting stranded South Africans home. We understand that this is a confusing and surreal time for all and we remain committed to relaying information as soon as we receive and confirm it – and will continue to do our best to help South Africans navigate through the current complexities of travel.
Five FAQs from customers on international travel now are:
- I have a booking for travel in December, what do I do?
- What happens if I want a refund?
- Can I remain in a destination until my holiday is complete?
- What happens if my travel is interrupted?
- How long will the restrictions be in place for?
Travellers can find the answers to these and many more questions in the Group’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document. For anyone looking for answers to which destinations are still open and which airlines are still flying, FCTG continues to update a list of destinations and airlines that have restrictions in place.
Over the weekend, the Maldives closed its borders to seven African nations, including South Africa, with travellers who arrived over the past 2 days having to spend 14 days in quarantine.
Ireland, another popular destination with South Africans, has now implemented a new visa requirement for South Africans, with visas only being accepted if they meet specific emergency or priority criteria.
“We thank our customers for their positive feedback and their understanding as our Travel Experts deal with the mountain of queries, with priority given first to customers that are stranded overseas, and then to customers with upcoming travel,” says Stark.
The Group continues to call on all South Africans to get vaccinated. “It’s a much firmer and balanced approach; the country can’t afford further lockdowns as we know. Thank goodness domestic travel is still available. Let’s hope things move and DIRCO now does a job of unravelling the mess and chaos we saw on Friday and that international travel resumes for all South Africans, specifically for vaccinated South Africans,” concludes Stark.