Air Canada passengers recount 'hellish journey' to Toronto after 10 delays, 1 cancelled flight
CTV
Ten delays, one cancellation, and about 27 hours later, Air Canada travellers trying to jet out of Fort Lauderdale finally made what one of them is calling a 'hellish journey' back to Toronto.
Ten delays, one cancellation, and about 27 hours later, Air Canada travellers trying to jet out of Fort Lauderdale finally made what one of them is calling a “hellish journey” back to Toronto.
“I was actually supposed to go to the funeral of a close family friend,” Shama Ansari told CTV News Toronto on Thursday morning. “Which was very, very sad and heartbreaking because that was something we had planned to be there and help with as well.”
On Sunday evening flight AC1029 out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was initially scheduled to depart for Toronto at 9:15 p.m.
But an hour before departure, passengers received their first delay notice of the evening saying the flight would now depart at 10:30 p.m., citing “airport limitations.” While the notice provides examples of what that means – including various technical issues – it does not explain outright why this particular flight was delayed.
Then, a second delay notice rolled in shortly after 9 p.m., with the flight pushed back to 11 p.m. Minutes before 10 p.m., the flight was delayed to 11:50 p.m. Shortly after 11 p.m., the flight was further delayed to 12:30 a.m.
Just after 12:15 a.m., Air Canada cancelled the flight outright.
“We’re very sorry, this flight is cancelled because of weather conditions at the departure airport, destination airport, or en route,” the cancellation email, reviewed by CTV News Toronto, reads.
