Hundreds of Atlantic Canadians will be visiting sunny destinations for free thanks to a New Year’s Day blizzard.
Customers of itravel2000 have been anxiously awaiting official word on exactly how much snow fell at Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Jan. 1.
If the total was more than 12.7 centimetres, the online travel company would refund the retail price of vacation packages booked during a period of 2008.
The company finally got the news.
“We have winners,” said Stuart Morris, vice-president of marketing. The official snowfall was 13.6 centimetres.
Phil Marchand of Antigonish, N.S., is expecting a refund of about $3,200 on a two-week vacation to Cuba in March with his wife and two children.
He said he booked the trip through itravel2000 because of the “Let It Snow” promotion, although he figured a refund was a long shot.
Although he was pleased to be expecting a refund, Marchand and others were a bit stressed out by the wait for confirmation.
A discussion on the website TripAdvisor.com started in the thick of the blizzard on New Year’s Day and grew to 13 pages by Tuesday, with anxious customers delving into arcane discussions over how snowfall is measured.
Morris said refund cheques worth hundreds of thousands of dollars should be in the mail shortly.
Last winter, customers from Quebec won refunds when New Year’s Day snowfall at Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport in Montreal passed the magic number.
