The United States military action in Venezuela , has some Canadian travellers reconsidering trips to the Caribbean or looking for alternative destinations . But those who have already booked trips may not have the option to cancel without cost.

John Gradek, an aviation management lecturer at McGill University and a former Air Canada executive, said travel to the area has been impacted, “no doubt about it.”

On Jan. 3 the U.S. attacked Venezuela, capturing its leader and not ruling out further military action. However, the U.S. senate voted Thursday on a resolution that could check the U.S. president’s ability to launch future attacks without the approval of Congress.

“There’s a heightened level of anxiety for people travelling to the Caribbean for the next few months,” Gradek said, noting that travellers are worried about getting caught in a similar situation to the weekend, when the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily closed airspace over the Caribbean and left fliers stranded. “It’s not over yet.”

Gradek said he has heard from Toronto travel agents that Canadians are reconsidering travel to “ potential hotspots ” such as Colombia and Cuba in particular, and that some people are asking travel agents questions about alternative destinations outside of the Caribbean as well.

McKenzie McMillan, managing partner at Vancouver-based The Travel Group Ltd., said the agency has not seen a huge influx of cancellations to or around Venezuela, though he noted the Caribbean tends to be a more

popular tourist destination for travellers further east in Canada. “Where we are hearing some concern is with travellers heading to the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao) as they are quite close to Venezuela and were affected by the FAA airspace closures over the weekend,” McMillan said in an email. “While Canadian carriers were not directly affected by this, it has definitely given some of our clients pause about flying to the region.”

Spokespeople from Air Canada and WestJet both told Financial Post they have not seen any significant impact on bookings, and flights to the Caribbean and South America have been operating as scheduled. They are, they said, monitoring the situation.

Kristine D’Arbelles, managing director of public affairs at the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), which offers travel planning and travel insurance, recommended Canadians regularly keep an eye on the Government of Canada’s travel advisories and check whether their airline is offering to waive cancellation or change fees.

Following the U.S. action in Venezuela, Canada updated its travel advisory to the country on Saturday.

“The current situation in Venezuela is tense and could escalate quickly,” the advisory says. “Borders and airspace could close at short notice. Several airlines have suspended flights to and from Venezuela, reducing options to leave the country.”

Air Canada followed suit and also issued a travel advisory for the country as well as surrounding regions. The airline offered fliers the ability to reschedule trips free of charge if they purchased tickets no later than Jan. 2 for travel between Jan. 3 and Jan. 6, to another date between Jan. 3 and Jan. 13.

Gradek said Air Canada makes these decisions based on the Canadian government’s travel advisories, so a future shutdown of airspace or high-risk advisory could also lead to a similar response from the airline.

But travellers who decide to avoid a trip to the Caribbean out of precaution are “out of luck” if they are hoping to get a refund or credit

from their airline , he said. “Usually, people would wait until the red light goes on and Air Canada takes action before they start cancelling,” Gradek said. “But by that time, looking for alternative accommodation or alternative trips would be pretty difficult.”

Martin Firestone, president of Travel Secure Inc., said people face a similar dilemma over travel insurance coverage when it comes to cancelling a trip to countries near Venezuela since Canada has not set any higher-level travel advisories to these places.

“I am getting calls daily from people saying, ‘I’ve got a cruise scheduled through the Caribbean in February, what should I do?’” said Firestone. “And I don’t have answers.”

For example, Canada’s travel advisory for Colombia and Cuba currently recommends exercising a high degree of caution (level two), in comparison to its “avoid all travel” advisory for Venezuela (the highest risk level on its travel advice and advisories page).

“You can’t call and cancel with your insurance company because you think it’s getting bad in in Colombia, and you don’t want to go,” Firestone said. “The only thing that will trigger (an exemption) is if they make a travel advisory at (level) three or four.”

Trip cancellation and interruption insurance will cover you only if you purchased your policy before the travel advisory was put in place, Firestone added. Otherwise, the advisory is considered a “known cause” and your coverage is “worthless,” he said.

Only some special travel insurance policies, which tend to be costlier to purchase, can cover a cancelled trip for any reason.

It is unclear whether the U.S. could take action against other countries in the region

“We don’t have a crystal ball, and we don’t know what the future holds,” Firestone said.

Colombia deployed about 30,000 troops to its border with Venezuela, with Colombia’s foreign minister saying in a press conference that the country’s military must defend its territory and sovereignty in case of a hypothetical U.S. invasion.

Trump has also said that Cuba, Venezuela’s closest ally, was “ready to fall,” though he said military intervention would be unnecessary. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Cuban government was “in a lot of trouble” and should be concerned.

Firestone said he is less troubled about the risk of invasion in Cuba and more concerned about medical emergencies, highlighting the country’s mosquito-borne virus outbreak. He noted he has some clients who recently cancelled trips to Cuba due to these concerns.

“Again, your cancellation policy isn’t going to cover you if you choose not to go because you’re worried about mosquitoes,” Firestone said. “If our government increase the travel advisory from two to three, though, that would be a trigger point for cancellation insurance.”

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