Tim Collyer barely escaped the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert with his life, only to go through another nightmare trying to leave Las Vegas.
“The first thing I heard was two loud pops,” said Collyer, as he relived Sunday night.
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He remembers turning to his right when country music artist Jason Aldean stopped playing.
“A bullet went right through a young lady’s head and she collapsed to the ground,” he said. “And that’s when I knew I had to get out.”
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He says pure survival instinct took over as he ran when the gunfire stopped briefly. He said he dropped to the ground with others around him when it started up again.
“We ended up jumping in a pile of people, sort of lying in a pile with our hands over our heads, and people were jumping on top of us.”
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He says he eventually got off the concert site and hid in a parkade until it was safe to go back to his hotel.
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Monday morning, he called Air Canada to switch his return flight from Tuesday to Monday. He said he was told since he booked his trip with Air Canada Vacations, he had to contact their office.
“I proceeded to get bounced around from, this isn’t our ticket, this is a Vacations ticket and Vacations would bounce me back and then I somehow got bounced to car rental. I was bounced around for almost 50 minutes,” Collyer said.
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Frustrated, he then tried to buy a ticket online on his own, but said after the time he spent on the phone, the price for seats went from $500 to $800.
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He eventually booked a seat on a Westjet flight Monday and got home at 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Air Canada says as a goodwill policy after the shooting, it waived flight change penalties for all passengers flying to or from Las Vegas, but Collyer said no one told him that or even offered that option.
“All I wanted was compassion and understanding of the situation.”
Air Canada is now investigating his case.
Transport Canada says air carriers are not required to waive fees for passengers with extraordinary circumstances, but they often do.
“Should the passenger not be satisfied with the carrier’s response, he is able to file a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency,” Transport Canada said.
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