By Adam Donnelly

“Be patient”: Kamloops travel agent urges travellers to wait out Boeing 737 Max 8 situation

Mar 25, 2019 | 5:05 PM

KAMLOOPS — After two crashes in five months, the entire Boeing 737 Max 8 fleet was taken out of service – a total of 387 planes – while investigators try to determine the exact cause of the two tragic incidents. While new information about the crashes continues to emerge, travellers around the world have been scrambling to change their plans as a result of the Max 8’s grounding, to ensure they get to their destinations safely and on-time.

It’s been almost two weeks since Boeing 737 Max 8’s around the world were grounded, after two crashes – one in Indonesia in October 2018, and another in Ethiopia on March 10th. More details are emerging on similarities between the two accidents, and just what caused them, but for now, travel agents everywhere have been scrambling to make sure their clients travel plants aren’t grounded, too.

“On Friday, we probably spent a total of 14 hours re-routing people, trying to find something for them,” Roxanna Ferguson with Travelwise Kamloops explains. “When people say ‘I don’t need travel insurance’, you never know what’s going to happen.”

On the weekend, some travel experts said they expected flight prices to increase as a result of the cancellation, but so far Roxanna Ferguson of Travelwise says she hasn’t seen a jump in the costs to travellers – except on a specific route, where the Boeing 737 Max 8’s were used exclusively.

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“The [destination] I’ve seen increases in Hawaii because almost every aircraft [flying there] was a Max,” Ferguson says. “When they don’t have those aircraft, and they’re paying to get other aircraft, there’s going to be an increase for sure.”

Over at the Kamloops Airport, there have been some delays as a result of Max 8’s being taken out of service.

“It caused a few issues… when the event occurred,” YKA’s new Managing Director Ed Ratuski says.

Ratuski says none of the airline that service Kamloops used the Boeing 737 Max 8’s on any of their routes into the city –

“There’s no 737 Max 8’s that serve Kamloops directly,” Ratuski says. “We have a predominantly Q400 fleet here, with WestJet and Air Canada. In the summer, we have Air Canada Rouge with flies an Airbus A319.”

For Ferguson, the best plan for anyone booked to travel on an affected plane is to be patient, and remain in contact with their airline.

“We have to do 72 hours in advance for most Max 8 changes,” Ferguson explains. “[The airlines are] hoping everything is back to normal sooner rather than later, so I’d say be patient.”