Montrealers escape the Caribbean as Hurricane Irma bears down

With Hurricane Irma making landfall inthe Caribbean and hurtling toward the Dominican Republic, airlines are trying to getCanadians out of the path of the storm.

The Category 5 stormhad maximum sustained winds of 295 km/h when it reached the islands of the northeast Caribbean early Wednesday.

It's heading toward Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba before possibly reaching Florida over the weekend.

Montreal-based airline Air Transatis among the companiesthatsent planes to the Dominican Republic to get customers out of harm's way.

Newlywed Montrealer Elizabeth Baldwin is one of those customers. Shebooked a flight to a beachfront resort in Punta Canalate last week.

She and her husband Patrick Hanley have been there since Monday on their honeymoon, andthey expect to be back home later today.

"It was a little more excitement that we bargained for," she said.

"[We've] never been so happy to be shortchanged on a vacation in our lives, I would say."

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All was fine, until it wasn't

She and her husband left on an AirTransatflight Monday, which was by design, she explained.

"It looked like it would be OK. I mean we booked a matter of a couple of days before we were going to fly, so we figured, OK, it's safe to say that it would be fine."

She said she only started hearing about the threat of a stormafter the flight was booked.

Baldwin called the airline back less than 24 hours after completing that bookingto discuss cancelling. Air Transatwouldn't let herbut said that if anything happened, the company would take care of them.

Reassured, they decided to leave. By the time they arrived, that storm was a hurricane, barrelling toward them.

On Tuesday, she called the airline again to find out what their options were to get home, and she says they had no answers for her.

"We were chasing [the airline]and just received absolute crickets. Not a peep. We got a couple of platitudes, saying, 'It's OK, we're going to do something,' but there was no plan," she said.

Meanwhile, the hurricane getting was stronger. Hotel staff were acting calm and nonchalant, all the while "almost surreptitiously" preparing for the storm to hit, she said, which added to her concern.

They were also hearing Sunwing clients had already been evacuated from the country.

Early morning call

With no word from Air Transat, she and her husband booked return ticketson an Air Canada flight via Toronto.

She said Wednesdayat 1:30 a.m.,she got a call from Air Transat, telling them to be in the lobby by 7:30 a.m. for the evacuation.

The first Air Transat plane bound forthe Dominican Republic left Trudeau airport around7:10 a.m. Wednesday, roughly 40 minutes late.

Baldwin says they're now trying to cancel their back-up Air Canada flight. It's unclear which flight she will be onto return to Montreal, but the first one is slated to land around 4:15 p.m.

She said they are excited to get home.

"On Thursday, we'll decide if we ever want to leave the house again."

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Compensation options

CAA-Qubec spokesperson Annie Gauthier said for those who booked vacations but haven't yet left, airline companies and tour operatorswill likely offer the optionto change travel dates or their destination. Barring that, they should offer a reimbursement.

For those who are alreadyon vacation, their airline or tour operatorwill try to bring them back before the storm hits. If that's impossible, their food and shelter should be paid for.

In general, airlines will make sure they compensate clients, Gauthier said,but the percentage depends on how long they were there.

Policies tend to vary, so Gauthier said she advises travellers to check with the company directly to see what they offer.

While it can be a gamble to travel during hurricane season, it's not necessarily a bad idea, she said.

"If someone decides to travel during hurricane period, it doesn't mean there will be hurricanes."