It was an extended vacation in Mexico — the kind no one asked for.
Instead of extra hours on the beach, hundreds of WestJet passengers spent the better part of two days in the Cancun airport, after facing repeated delays beginning with their scheduled flight home on Thursday, Jan. 31.
Some 55 hours later, they arrived in Calgary. Then, a weeks-long battle for compensation began.
“The time on the beach… that’s so distant,” explained Calgary resident Michael Bindman.
“To me the entire trip was sitting in the Cancun airport.”
Passengers were shuttled back and forth to the airport and an area hotel twice — but only after spending hours on end in the terminal, with few answers as to the reason for the delay.
“All they had to do was say, ‘Listen, we’ve ordered the buses (back to the resort), we know you’re going there and you can sit by the beach for a few hours,” said James Faulkner, another passenger.
“Did that happen? No. Did we get to sit at the airport longer? Yes. Did we know we weren’t going to get on a flight that day? Pretty much.”
Hundreds of passengers wait in line at Cancun International Airport on Friday, Jan. 31.
Alim Kara / Submitted
Now, six weeks removed from the ordeal, several passengers who spoke to Motorcycle accident toronto today say their compensation claims have been denied — with the airline citing a mechanical issue and safety concerns with the aircraft.
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“The decision then comes from the flight crew, who make the decision that it’s not an aircraft they can take,” explained former Air Canada chief operating officer Duncan Dee.
“We’re talking about anything from the landing gear to issues with the engine.
“In this particular case, WestJet hasn’t been forthcoming with what the actual issue was.”
Roughly four dozen passengers are in a group chat, keeping each other up to date on their compensation claims.
But beyond that, passengers are also hoping for an explanation as to what really happened.
“I think it was a big shock to everybody to be denied, and everyone would send a message saying ‘I got this response…’” said Penny Lamont, who travelled to Cancun for a 45th anniversary trip with her husband, Glen.
“One young girl was starting a new job the next day, people had jobs to go to, farms to run… I think it was really the way WestJet handled their correspondence with us.”
“While WestJet may believe the travellers weren’t entitled to compensation, surely they should agree the passengers are at least entitled to an explanation as to what exactly happened,” Dee said.
WestJet apologized to passengers at the time of the incident, which the airline said was due to “unscheduled maintenance,” but hasn’t responded to a recent request for context on the incident or the compensation process.
But some passengers say they’ll continue to advocate for themselves in the meantime.
“I would like to get a hold of the logs, indicating what issues there were,” Bindman says.
“If I have to go to freedom of information, I will. If I have to go to small claims court, I will — because I think their action is reprehensible.”
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