'A full gong show': Winter storm upends holiday air travel in Canada, thwarts family reunions and more

Linda Ricker hasn’t spent Christmas with her son since December 2020. That year, she traveled from her home in Florida to visit him in Halifax, where he is attending college. After being quarantined for two weeks, she was able to spend some quality time with her only child.

This year, thought Ricker, it would be different. COVID-19 restrictions are no longer in effect for air travel. It could be a pre-pandemic Christmas again.

But after a giant winter storm hit Canada on Friday, air travel was turned upside down. Hundreds of flights have been delayed or cancelled, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and unable to reunite with loved ones for the holidays.

Ricker’s son was one of thousands affected – his Air Canada flight from Halifax to Fort Myers was cancelled, leaving him unsure of his vacation plans. He was eventually re-booked to fly to Toronto on December 12. On December 26, wait almost 20 hours before flying to New York, then arriving in Florida at midnight on December 1. 27.

“It didn’t make sense because his flight home was Dec. 1. 30, so we would have had two days together for him to be in transit for 26 hours?” Ricker said.

Ricker then tried to cancel the flight on Air Canada’s website, but when she did, he told her to contact a customer service agent. The problem, she says, is that no one picks up.

“You can’t go online to cancel and when they tell you to call someone, you can’t do that either,” she said. “I’m afraid that we end up paying for these flights that we don’t want.”

Many passengers, like Ricker, are being left behind with no communication from the airlines about next steps for rescheduled flights, lost baggage or anything. the compensation to which they may be entitled.

Peter Buchanan said he had been awake for 30 hours, after his Friday flight was rescheduled for Saturday evening. This setback was far from his first disappointment.

He was due to leave on a work trip to Zurich at 9:15 a.m. on December 21. 23, but the flight was continually delayed, until air passengers could board at 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. There, another two hours passed before the doors of the plane were closed and the security video was played.

“At that point we thought the flight was going to leave,” he said. But 15 minutes later, the pilot said that by the time the plane landed in Zurich it would put the crew beyond their designated duty time. Consequently, the flight was cancelled.

At 5 a.m., Buchanan collected her bags, which was “complete play” with bags on the same flights placed on different carousels and dozens of unclaimed bags strewn across the floor. During the two-day delay, Buchanan said no free food or drink was offered to affected passengers.

“At no time was there a word of compensation or an attitude of really trying to help us,” he said. “I’m loyal to Air Canada, but it was a complete gong show.”

For its part, the airline pointed to the extenuating circumstances. “Despite the winter storms that wreaked havoc across North America, Air Canada employees worked very hard in difficult conditions over the past few days and safely transported hundreds of thousands of customers to be with them. loved ones during the holidays,” a spokesperson said Saturday.

Lindsay Sahota’s WestJet flight from Vancouver to Toronto was canceled Thursday. The original reason given in writing by the airline was due to “controllable crew at YYZ”, meaning the reason for the cancellation was within the airline’s control.

But as she was boarding, she overheard customer agents telling passengers the flight had been delayed due to weather issues in Toronto.

Sahota had to wait two hours to collect her luggage, but one of the two items never arrived. He was told at the airport to file a lost baggage claim online. When she returned home and filed the complaint, a pop-up on the website told her she needed to speak to a customer service agent to file the complaint.

“It took three hours on the call, but someone from WestJet eventually filed the claim for me,” she said. “I still don’t know where this luggage is…this flight never left the airport.”

She planned to visit her family in Toronto, the first Christmas with them since the start of the pandemic. Without a rescheduled flight, she is unable to make plans to mark the holidays with loved ones across the country.

“I just wonder, was it really the weather or personnel issues? There was just no communication and that’s frustrating. Even just knowing that we might be able to catch a flight in a few days would be helpful, but they leave us in the dark.

On Saturday, WestJet canceled 60 scheduled flights from Toronto Pearson International Airport, as well as a flight for Sunday that was canceled before Christmas Day; this is in addition to the 300 flights the airline canceled on December 21. 23.

WestJet chief operating officer Diederik Pen said the company apologized for the disruption to holiday travel plans and that its teams were trying to resume ground and air operations.

Friday’s Worst winter storm Seems to have passed in many places, and Environment Canada has lifted the winter storm warning for Toronto and the GTA. But departures delayed by hours were still commonplace at Pearson International Airport. websiteand many worried flights will continue to be impacted through the weekend.

On Thursday, Air Canada said that due to the winter storm, “a goodwill refund policy” will be put in place, allowing customers to request a refund or a travel voucher if the ticket was purchased on or before on December 1. Dec. 21, 2022 for travel between Dec. 21, 2022 and Dec. 22. 26. The flight must also be to or from an airport in Canada.

“If you need to travel during the affected period, you can retrieve your reservation to request a refund up to two hours before departure, free of charge on your Air Canada flight,” said the The Air Canada website states.

But even though refunds or compensation may be offered, many air passengers have missed vacationing with loved ones.

For Ricker, that means his 22-year-old son will spend Christmas alone in Halifax, after two difficult years of the pandemic.

“We were both so frustrated and emotional yesterday,” she said. He is there all alone and has no one. I obviously miss him a lot, we only see each other twice a year.

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