Dozens of flights at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport have been delayed or cancelled because of the weather, but one group of passengers was particularly angry.
Their Swoop flight was from Halifax to Hamilton, but they ended up having a long, anxiety-filled surprise visit to Montreal.
“It’s very frustrating. It’s a feeling of being abandoned and like they didn’t really care,” said Linda Withers, who was on the plane.
The flight left Halifax just after midnight Atlantic time, destined for Hamilton, Ont. before bad weather forced a diversion to Montreal. The plane landed at Trudeau airport just after 2:30 a.m.
“Basically, they gave us a number to call but it didn’t open ’til 8 o’clock Mountain Time when we were getting off the plane at around 3 a.m.,” Withers recounted.
The passengers say they were left guessing just how they’d get to Hamilton.
At about 5:30 a.m., Swoop sent an email to the passengers saying transportation was scheduled for them at 7 a.m. Then, at 6:30 a.m, another email came in saying two buses would arrive to pick them up at 9:30 a.m. to drive them to Hamilton, but there wasn’t going to be enough room for everyone.
“They did the women-and-children-first thing; there was a pregnant lady who got on, which I totally agree with,” said Brad Durant, another passenger who had been visiting the Maritimes for the holidays.
Seeing she likely wouldn’t get on the buses, Withers decided to book another flight to London, Ont.
“It got cancelled. So, my luggage is somewhere here in this airport and it’s probably going to go to London,” she told Global News.
Many of the passengers stood in the same airport hallway for hours while waiting, and some said airport staff were not welcoming to them.
“People were snapping,” said Durant. “There was a woman and a man at the information booth and they were mad that we were standing around, which was kind of insulting because at the point that happened we were there for about six hours.”
“They probably saw us as a bunch of squatters.”
A spokesperson for the airport said passengers were given water bottles by airport staff.
Finally, two more buses left for Hamilton around 12:30 p.m., 10 hours after the flight landed in Montreal.
“Now we have this seven-hour drive to go on and it’s very unpleasant,” said Durant, just before the bus left.
The passengers are demanding a refund.
In a statement, Swoop cited the bad weather and said “travelers were re-accommodated in accordance with our flight interruption policy,” and apologized for the frustration and inconvenience.
Withers says she may cancel her New Year’s Eve plans.
“I was supposed to go to Niagara Falls for the Bryan Adams concert,” she said. “I don’t know if I feel up to that right about now.”