Canadian Government Issues Global Travel Advisory

An official global travel advisory was issued for Canadians Saturday morning. Many Canadians frequent Palm Springs to enjoy the sun, but today they are trying to reschedule their flights and return home earlier than planned. Frustrated travelers began to arrive at Palm Springs International Airport for help, but they were turned away as nothing could be done at the in person. "The Canadian government issued a directive that any Canadians that are abroad should head home," explained Joan Fogarty, visiting from Canada. The Fogarty’s were not scheduled to return home till April 22nd, but because of this advisory, they hope to leave as soon as next weekend. But many travelers are having issues rescheduling. "You can’t get anybody on the phone at Air Canada, it’s impossible. You have to go to the airport to change your reservation so that’s what we’re attempting to do today," said Barb Almos, visiting from Canada. As more concerned travelers started to arrive, they were turned away and told they would have to reschedule their flights online. "We have no idea what to do, we’re befuddled by all this, and you know it’s very stressful, do we leave, do we stay, we put ourselves at risk for being on the plane. we have to go into quarantine when we get home," added Almos. "We’re being more cautious about going in crowds, it just seems like it escalated since maybe Tuesday, before that we hadn’t even thought about going home," said Fogarty. One Canadian shopper left Costco empty-handed saying his plans quickly changed as he is now trying to get home too. "I had planned to stay the month of March and I’ve decided to book a flight home, there talking about perhaps restrictions at the border and whether that will come to be, I don’t know I decided to fly home a couple of weeks earlier of what my plans were," explained Lawrence Rospad, visiting from Canada. An Air Canada employee did tell travelers that canceling your flight and rebooking may be a faster process than rescheduling.