For Sharon and her husband, traveling from Seattle to Saskatoon via Vancouver to be with her parents over the holidays, the whole trip was a “nightmare before Christmas”.
The couple, who reside in the Seattle area, arrived at Vancouver International Airport Monday around 6:40 p.m. PT. As they approached the gate for their next trip to Saskatoon, their WestJet flight was repeatedly delayed and finally canceled around midnight. Travelers on this flight were asked to go to baggage claim claiming their baggage.
They told us the airport was closed, it’s not just your flight [that is] cancelled, everything is closed,” she said. Yahoo Canada Thursday afternoon.
Sharon and her husband were finally able to collect their bags around 2am on Tuesday, describing the process of doing so as “chaos”.
“We were told they wouldn’t be able to cover hotel costs, no vouchers because it was weather related and we were on our own,” Sharon said.
After being asked to queue at the WestJet counter at the airport to book a new flight, Sharon and her husband were greeted by a line ‘about a quarter of a mile long’ and there was no waiting. staff to process new reservations.
They literally left, so there was no one there. For me that was the most devastating because none of us knew what to do and there was no one to talk to.Sharon, traveler stranded at YVR airport
After spending the night awake at the airport, WestJet’s check-in counter reopened around 6 a.m. Tuesday. About two hours later, Sharon recalls a WestJet staff member coming to the queue to say “sorry, we don’t do new bookings at the check-in counter”, indicating that they don’t didn’t have the staff to do it.
Sharon and her husband then went online to try and find a hotel for the night, but nothing in the area was available and the weather conditions were too bad to travel downtown. The couple were told Uber was not working and booking a room further away could risk missing a potential flight.
The couple ended up booking another flight with Air Canada, through Travelocity, the site they used to book their original WestJet flight. The plane was scheduled to depart Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. Tickets were about $900 per person, one-way from Vancouver to Saskatoon.
This flight was canceled late morning and they received an automatic rebooking for a flight Thursday at 8:30 p.m.
After spending a second night at the airport, this time trying to sleep, the couple secured a hotel room near the airport on Wednesday. They waited together for three hours for their luggage, before Sharon left to get the shuttle to the hotel, leaving her husband to wait even longer.
“He was told at baggage claim that they thought the baggage had been sent to the gate for our new flight with Air Canada, but they had no records, no scans,” Sharon explained. “He personally went to the check-in counter to make sure, as they suggested.”
Sharon’s husband was told the bags were “probably” in the queue for the new flight, but on Thursday afternoon they were unsure.
As a precaution, they also “begged” the hotel to allow them to book an extra night, in case they needed it, and were told that they had to book two extra nights, at a minimum.
On Thursday night, Air Canada canceled the couple’s flight to Saskatoon and was told there were no flights until December 21. 26. The reason for the cancellation of the flight was due to “crew constraints”.
“We will be among the countless other people who will not be with our families for Christmas,” Sharon wrote in an email to Yahoo Canada Thursday night. “Turns out there aren’t even rental cars available right now, so we’ll see if some of our colleagues can get us back to Seattle after the next storm subsides.”
“We can’t even get our luggage right now. While I stood in line to see what Air Canada could do for us, my husband was in line at baggage claim. He said he was told no one could pick up our luggage. baggage that was in the waiting area due to understaffing…I asked the Air Canada reservation agent for a refund of flight and hotel and he gave me a card with Air Canada claims phone number. Something for another day.
“It was just like a huge abandonment”
Overall, Sharon described the whole experience, for herself and for other travelers, as completely “devastating”.
“I don’t consider myself an extrovert by any means, but I was so drawn to people and what they’re going through, and their stories, and it’s really heartbreaking,” she said. “I’ve spoken to airline pilots, they’re just shaking their heads.”
“There seem to be several issues that are creating a domino effect. Travelers I spoke to said, hands down, that airline communication was abysmal and they felt misled.”
Sharon also acknowledges that de-icing procedures have been a “bottleneck issue” and that staffing amid the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be an issue, but she pointed out that the increase in travel during the holidays is a predictable trend and that weather experts also predicted it. passing storm.
“Hundreds, thousands of people are not with their loved ones,” Sharon said. People [were] says they won’t leave again until December. 26,…several of them said they would be [spending Christmas at the airport.]”
Although it’s been an incredibly long, emotional and exhausting week for the couple, the travelers have also really come together to support each other during this difficult time.
“I’ve seen incredible things, I’ve heard incredible things,” Sharon said. “There was a gentleman who had extreme back pain, standing leaning on his luggage cart because there was nowhere to go, and I went to talk to him, just to help him feel better.”
“A couple who arrived from Mexico, hoping to pass through here,…hadn’t had a bite to eat since leaving Mexico. I gave them a couple bars for breakfast. We’re all trying to help each other . But it’s because of this vacuum of no help. Stories of people trying to call the airlines or trying to reach someone, and nothing.”
For the couple and other travelers they spoke to, the airlines’ lack of communication left them feeling abandoned.
It’s]devastating because it’s one thing to be stuck, but it’s a whole other level to have no one to go to, or anything to find out what could be done, what which is possible. I get that they were overwhelmed, but to leave us there was just like a huge abandonment.Sharon, traveler stranded in YVR for days
I hear it over and over again, I see it in people’s faces, I hear it in their voice.
In an update Thursday, WestJet warned travelers that “There is very limited availability of re-accommodation due to the high demand for travel at this time of year and the significant impact on the whole industry.”
Air Canada invites travelers to check the daily travel insights For more information on delays and cancellations at their destination. The airline is offering a flight change, free of charge, for the affected flights.
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