Smooth rebooking for postponed Tokyo 2020 Paralympics
When the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics were postponed due to the pandemic, we made sure the officials from the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) were taken care of.
Not only were new arrangements made for the rescheduled 2021 games, but the team had to navigate ever-changing travel restrictions and testing requirements.
IWAS’ travel priorities
Staff, athletes and officials from IWAS attend many sporting events around the world. Harry Cootes, Sports Co-ordinator at IWAS, along with the Corporate Traveller team, have to ensure they can all travel efficiently and safely.
Harry adds “The goal is to ensure we have the best possible flights, for the most reasonable cost, to ensure that the sporting events, meetings and anything else can go ahead.”
A major cancellation
2020’s Tokyo Paralympics: cancelled. No surprises why - the coronavirus pandemic. Travel consultant Dylan Jobson and his team sprang into action to cancel flights and make arrangements for the rescheduled games in 2021. New bookings were made for IWAS’ 60+ officials, who were travelling from every continent.
The situation was made trickier by four factors.
- Strict arrival dates and flight times.
- Travel rules varying depending on where the travellers were flying from.
- Ever-changing travel restrictions, permitted routes and testing requirements.
- Alternating air route inventory and availability.
…but everything was handled
Could our team get everyone where they needed to be on time? Of course they could! Even with tension, last-minute changes and flight cancellations they made it work.
Dylan explains a situation with the Belarusian officials. “We had to delicately negotiate the issues with the Belarusian officials as they found their country being under intense pressure due to various embargos and border closures imposed on their country. We managed to amend their travel plans to still get to Japan in time for the event.”
“I could not speak highly enough with all members of staff for Corporate Traveller, to name a few; Rob, Dylan, Grace and Charbel. All have been amazingly helpful, including helping out with such short notice, nothing is ever too much, and the data collection has been prolific. The flight options have always been plentiful and variant in price which is helpful to choose from,” said Harry.
In another example, Dylan ensured officials travelling from the US still arrived on time despite their connection time changed to an ever-so-tight timeframe. Dylan explained “I immediately called the airline to express the importance of them not missing this connection, due to the Japanese governments’ strict arrival deadlines. They were rebooked onto a better flight without any charge. This was all fixed in about an hour and the travellers made it to Japan in the specified arrival window.”
“I am pleased to say all officials made it to Japan for a successful Paralympic event. It was a privilege to be part of something so special,” added Dylan.
Dylan and Grace from Corporate Traveller were exceptional with their eye to detail and the ability to find flights for every member from all over the world to get to Tokyo on the correct specific day. Dylan was able to let us know what the specific entry requirements were for each country travelling, as well as ensuring that if a flight was cancelled (which many were), we were able to jump on to the next best flight, still arriving on the day that we needed
Harry Cootes, Sports Co-ordinator, International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS)
A continuous partnership
Our team’s hard work has cemented an on-going partnership between IWAS and Corporate Traveller. Result!
“We hope to be busier with more sporting events and conferences around the world to give opportunities to many athletes in disability sport. As we head into 2022, we can see ourselves using Corporate Traveller for the foreseeable future after how excellent they were for helping ensure wheelchair fencing at the Paralympics was able to go ahead this year,” said Harry.
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