Air Canada experienced a network outage caused by inclement weather in British Columbia that delayed flights across the province.
The national carrier said flights at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) were impacted by “airport facilities constraints,” according to an update on its website Monday.
Flights in the cities of Castlegar, Kelowna and Penticton were affected by reduced visibility and rain.
A third-party telecom provider in B.C. had some issues with its network which affected some functions at airports in the province, Peter Fitzpatrick, Air Canada spokesperson, told Global News in an emailed statement.
“Our network provider’s issues have now been resolved. Our B.C. flights continue to arrive and depart,” he said.
On Monday, heavy rain, flooding, mudslides and rockslides wreaked havoc in southern B.C. , prompting widespread evacuations and leaving motorists stranded.
On Twitter, several passengers in Vancouver said their flights had been delayed, expressing concern about rebooking connecting flights and hotel arrangements.
Ottawa resident Alison Milan was supposed to fly back home from Vancouver via Montreal at 11.30 P.S.T (2.30 E.T).
Her flight was delayed multiple times before the airline staff did “manual boarding”, calling in each number, because the computer system at the gate was unable to scan boarding passes, the 30-year-old policy analyst said.
“I’ve already missed my connecting flight,” she told Global News in a phone interview.
“I’m not sure whether they’ll have the technology to be able to get me into a hotel or anything.”
Fitzpatrick said Air Canada has a flexible rebooking policy in place in the event passengers wish to rebook their travel due to the outage or weather issues in B.C.
Those who have missed connecting flights as a result of the delays will be able to go on next available flights, he added.
According to Air Canada, if your flight is affected you can make a change free of charge.
“Air Canada has revised its ticketing policy to make it easier for customers travelling on an affected flight to make changes to their booking without penalty, space permitting,” the airline says on its website.
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