A dream New York tour turns into a Montreal airport nightmare for N.L. teens

Air Canada is apologizing for a situation that saw nearly three dozen teenagers from Conception Bay North, along with their five adult chaperones, stranded for three days in Montreal, dashing their hopes of visiting New York City.

The travel company that arranged the tour, meanwhile, is not commenting.

But despite the unpleasant experience, the students remain determined to one day visit the city that's famous for its arts scene and iconic landmarks.

In a statement to CBC News, an unnamed Air Canada spokesperson blamed unfavourable weather conditions and a shortage of air crew for what the airline described as a regrettable situation.

And since most flights are booked because of the busy summer travel season, the airline said it's ability to rebook customers following a flight cancellation is limited, especially for large groups.

"As a result, we were unable to transport these customers as planned and we have apologized for not providing our normal levels of customer service," the statement reads.

The 34 students — all 14 and 15 years old — from Amalgamated Academy in Bay Roberts and Holy Redeemer in Spaniard's Bay departed St. John's airport on an Air Canada flight on Saturday. They were accompanied by five teacher chaperones from their schools.

The educational tour was organized by a company called Brightspark by WorldStrides. The trip was a year in the making, and came with a price tag of nearly $4,000 per student.

New York City is one of the most famous cities in the world, and the four-day itinerary included everything from a Broadway musical and shopping to visits to landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center.

The plan was the fly to Montreal, and connect with another flight to New York.

But a dream end-of-school-year adventure turned into three days and two nights of stress, confusion and discomfort, said Emma Gifford of Port de Grave, one of the students on the trip.

"It was very challenging because we were all there without our parents. For a lot of us it was our first time travelling without our parents," she said.

After landing in Montreal, the tour group was forced to wait on the plane for two hours before learning their connecting flight to New York was cancelled.

That began a series of problems that included long waits at the airport terminal, late-night and early morning taxi rides to and from a nearby hotel, eating food from vending machines and growing increasingly fatigued and frustrated as delays piled on top of each other.