A fierce winter storm that swept through western Canada is causing travel chaos across the country, including for those flying in and out of Waterloo region.
Debora Reid was stuck on the tarmac in Vancouver overnight after flying from Region of Waterloo International Airport (YKF) on Monday night.
The B.C. resident was visiting family and friends in Ontario. She said she arrived in Vancouver at around 10:30 PST but didn’t get to the terminal until more than ten hours later.
“Surprisingly people had been quite positive with just a couple of little outbursts,” Reid told CTV News, while still on the tarmac. “Two hours in, they gave us all a little glass of water and that is all we’ve had over the last ten hours.”
Flair Airlines confirmed the delay was due to “the unprecedented and difficult weather situation in Vancouver.”
"They were not able to deplane due to the large number of aircraft from a variety of airlines also on the ramp, coupled with Vancouver Airport ground staff not able to report to work," a statement from a spokesperson read. “Throughout, our onboard crew have provided food and water to passengers, and kept them informed of developments.”
Debora Reid said she eventually got into the terminal more than ten hours after landing in Vancouver. (Submitted/Debora Reid)
Those scheduled to fly out of YKF to other destinations also had some setbacks.
Michelle Redfearn was looking forward to her Fort Lauderdale trip but her Tuesday flight was cancelled.
“Our flight was supposed to leave today at 3 p.m. and we got an email this morning at around 8:30 a.m.,” Redfearn said.
Redfearn said she and her partner had no choice but to drive instead.
“We didn’t want to have to spend a day driving 22 hours to get there. So yeah, definitely disappointed,” she admitted.
An arctic chill swept across B.C., prompting several weather warnings and bringing Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to a standstill.
The airport tweeted Tuesday morning that snow and low visibility have prompted flights to be delayed or cancelled altogether and that all arriving flights have been suspended while staff work to deplane passengers and get them back their luggage.
The winter storm has had a major impact on flight operations, according to YVR.
The impact is being felt Canada-wide on one of the busiest travel weeks of the year.
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