A cancelled flight from Toronto to the Bahamas on Saturday has left many WestJet passengers spending part of Christmas Eve at the airport.
“They delayed our flight about five times,” Jason Bodi, who was supposed to be on the 3:35pm flight on Saturday to Nassau, told CTV Toronto on Sunday. “Our hotel is about $900 a night in Atlantis, so I don’t know who’s going to compensate that.”
Bodi’s family had hoped to be in the Caribbean on Saturday evening, but after a long day of waiting for flight WS 2756, they ended up stuck in an airport hotel instead of lazing on a beach. Bodi’s family, along with the flight’s other passengers, had to depart more than 24 hours later on Christmas Eve.
Fellow passenger Jasmine Bethel who is from the Bahamas was just hoping to be home in time for the holidays.
“My job ended on Friday, so this was the earliest I could get home,” she told CTV Toronto. “So, especially coming home this late, it’s really disappointing I can’t get home when I wanted to get home.”
In a statement, WestJet explained that adverse weather was to blame, and that when the aircraft was delayed on its trip prior to the scheduled Bahamas flight, it created an unfortunate domino effect.
“It was further delayed getting to the gate due to congestion on the ramp,” the company’s statement read. “It was at this point our crew was not able to continue as they had reached their flight duty time limit.”
For passenger Alyssa De La Cruz, who is six months pregnant, this trip was supposed to be a relaxing family getaway that’s now costing her extra time and money.
“For a big corporation like this, you guys should be a lot more organized,” she said of the airline. “You guys should have a backup crew or something. Like, it’s Christmastime so you guys tell us, ‘Oh, it’s going to be busy.’ Well, yes — don’t you guys know it’s going to be busy for yourselves as well?… It’s not your first year having people travelling during holidays, so there’s no excuse.”
In an email to one of the passengers, the company apologized for the inconvenience.
“Please know that it is never our intention to delay our guests in their travels, as we understand what an impact this can have,” the email, which was shared with CTV Toronto, said. “We will follow up by email with a formal apology and an offer of compensation.”
Despite the snowstorm hitting southern Ontario on Sunday, the passengers were all able to depart on their rescheduled flight.
Nearly 2.7 million passengers are expected to travel through Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada’s busiest airport, between Dec. 17 and Jan. 7.
