A Calgary woman vacationing in the crosshairs of Hurricane Irma is voicing her frustrations with Air Canada after she says it took the airline days to notify passengers of its plan to fly them out of harm’s way.
The Category 5 storm, which is considered to be the most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane in recorded history, slammed the small islands of Antigua and Barbuda Wednesday morning and is now carving a path toward Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and possibly Florida.
Zeidler is staying in the Puerto Plata area of the Dominican Republic.
LISTEN: Krista Zeidler on her frustrations with Air Canada’s response to Hurricane Irma
“The fear isn’t that I’m going to die in the hurricane,” she said early Wednesday at about 10:45 MT. “The fear is that I’m going to be stuck out here in a zone where no flights are going to be able to come in and out.”
WATCH BELOW: Amateur video shows Hurricane Irma hitting Virgin Islands
There was some relief for Zeidler Wednesday afternoon: she said that after hours of waiting for information from Air Canada, the airline finally notified passengers at the Be Live Collection Marien Resort that two buses would be shuttling them to the airport.
Zeidler said a flight to Montreal is scheduled to leave at 7 p.m. and another flight to Toronto is scheduled to leave at 9 p.m.
Zeidler said it was another Canadian traveller that notified her Air Canada would be providing details about its plan to evacuate passengers.
“If it hadn’t been for another Canadian telling us that, we wouldn’t have even known there was a chance for us to get out today,” she said.
“I just hope to God there’s no other passengers of Air Canada that are sitting here waiting to hear from Air Canada.”
In a statement, Air Canada said it has sent extra flights to immediately affected areas like Antigua and Providenciales and that it plans to “operate additional flights” out of the Dominican Republic and Florida. It has larger airplanes with more seats planned for flights out of Cuba.
“Our number one goal is to ensure all our customers get home safely,” the statement reads. “We are working hard to assure a smooth journey home for those in the path of Irma. We are in continual contact with Air Canada Vacations, who are in contact with their customer service teams at all destinations and we expect to have sufficient space to fly out all customers.”
But Zeidler told Global News she’s been trying to confirm her flight with Air Canada – which was listed as “cancelled” on the Air Canada website earlier Wednesday morning – for days.
WATCH BELOW: Images from space show size of massive Hurricane Irma
“I’ve been since Monday trying to find out…and I’ve gotten nowhere with Air Canada and/or Air Canada vacations,” she said prior to the afternoon update from the airline.
Zeidler said she was told by an Air Canada rep earlier in the week that 20 airplanes would be needed to fly all of its customers in the Dominican off of the island and that the airline “doesn’t do anything until the day of the actual departure.”
“I said to her, ‘The hurricane is supposed to hit the day of our departure; that will be too late.’ She just shrugged her shoulders and said, ‘Oh, well then you’ll probably be stranded.’”
She said she does not know what will happen to passengers at other resorts in the Dominican Republic.
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