Group travel checklist: church trips, funerals, weddings and family reunions

Groups are where airfare gets complicated fast. Seats on a single flight are limited, especially on a Sunrise Airways A320 or the one daily American 737 to Cap-Haïtien, and airline group desks have their own rules. Here is the checklist we run through with every church, mission team, wedding party and family reunion that books with Jetvala.

Eight weeks or more before: lock the seats

• Count heads honestly. Ten confirmed travelers beat twenty maybes. Airlines quote groups of ten or more and hold seats against a deposit.
• Decide the airport. For Cap-Haïtien, Miami has the most seats once American starts on November 1, 2026; Fort Lauderdale, Newark and Boston are Sunrise nonstops with limited weekly frequency. A group of 30 may need to split across two days on Sunrise.
• Send us the request through the Groups page with dates, origin, destination and passenger count. We come back with a group fare, the deposit amount and the deadlines.
• Pay the deposit. Typically a fixed amount per seat, non-refundable, that holds the fare and the seats.

Six weeks before: names

• Airlines require full names, dates of birth and genders by a name deadline, usually 30 to 45 days out. Collect passport photo pages from everyone in one shared folder and type names from the photos.
• Check passport validity. Haiti accepts a passport valid for the stay; the Dominican Republic and Jamaica require six months' validity for many nationalities. One expired passport can hold up a whole group's ticketing.
• Flag visas. Haitian passport holders need a visa for the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.
• Minors traveling without both parents need notarized consent letters. Church youth groups: one letter per child, signed by both parents, plus a group leader authorization.

Four weeks before: money and bags

• Final payment is due before ticketing, usually 30 days out. We can invoice one organizer or collect from each traveler individually with staggered payments.
• Decide the baggage plan as a group. Sunrise includes 23 kg per person; extras are $40, $65, then $115 each and nothing over 32 kg. American includes one 50 lb bag on Main Cabin. Mission supplies and donations should be packed as individual checked pieces under the limit and spread across travelers; a group of 20 with one bag each moves 1,000 lb without paying a cent extra.
• Ask about a December embargo if you travel between mid December and mid January.

Two weeks before: logistics

• Confirm ground transport at the destination. At Cap-Haïtien, Jetvala's transfer partners run minibuses for groups; give us the head count and the destination (Milot, Limbé, Cap-Haïtien city, Labadee).
• Seat map. Group seats are assigned together where possible; ask early for wheelchair users and families with small children.
• Print a manifest: name, passport number, phone, emergency contact, medical notes. Give one copy to the leader and one to the airline counter if asked.
• Share a WhatsApp group with the itinerary, meeting point and the Jetvala support number.

Travel day

• Meet at the airport three hours before departure for Haiti flights, three and a half for West Africa. Check in as a group at one counter; the airline processes the manifest faster.
• Assign one adult per five travelers for youth groups.
• Keep passports with each traveler, not in one bag. A lost bag with 20 passports ends the trip.

Coming home

• Reconfirm the return flight 72 hours ahead, especially on Sunrise, where schedules shift.
• Arrive at Cap-Haïtien three hours ahead. Bags are hand-checked; a group of 20 takes time.
• If the group splits (some stay longer), tell us before departure so tickets are changed rather than no-showed. A no-show cancels the return.

Mistakes we see every season

• Collecting names by text message and typing them from memory. One wrong letter means a ticket reissue and, close to departure, a fee.
• Assuming a group of 25 fits on one Sunrise flight in December. It usually does not; ask us early about splitting across days or moving to Miami.
• Paying the deposit late and losing the held fare. Airlines release group space automatically at the deadline.
• Packing donations in a few giant bags. A 90 lb duffel is refused; the same contents in two 45 lb bags fly free on most fares.
• Forgetting the return reconfirmation. A group that no-shows the outbound loses the return too.
• Putting all the money through one personal card. Ask us for an invoice to the church or organization, or individual payment links, so records are clean for everyone.

What Jetvala does for groups

One booking, one invoice or many, staggered payments, a named agent on WhatsApp, and honest advice about which airport and which day. Start on the Groups page, or message us and we will build the plan with you.