Chaos continues for travellers trying to fly from B.C. after heavy, pre-Christmas snowfall | CBC News

Hassan Khan, along with his two siblings and parents, was on the plane to begin a Hawaiian holiday on Monday night, but the aircraft never managed to leave the departure gate in Vancouver.

After a couple of hours, he and the other passengers were told to disembark.

Khan’s family waited at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) all night to try to get information from WestJet on how to reschedule the flight. He said fellow passengers were there just trying to locate their checked bags.

But when staff appeared Tuesday morning, it quickly became apparent there would be no other flight, so he and his family drove home to Langley.

“Pretty bummed — everyone was bummed,” said Khan of the scuttled holiday plan.

Travellers trying to fly out of B.C. airports were met with substantial delays beginning Monday night, followed by cancellations and uncertainty as severe winter weather dumped snow across the province.

For Jeff Bryant, who was trying to fly from Vancouver to Toronto, plans were similarly dashed — but not before he and a planeload of passengers were made to wait on the tarmac for about 12 hours, as the pilot informed them there was an issue accessing a gate to unload.

According to Bryant, he and the other passengers took the experience in stride, and remained patient and tolerant of the inconvenience.

But now it’s unclear if he’ll be able to make the trip to Toronto at all.

“I’m just thinking it’s going to be extremely challenging this week to put a bunch of people on other flights, right?” he said.

“The advice that we were given is just go home and stand by for an email.”

Airports, airlines overwhelmed

A spokesperson with YVR declined an interview request, but said in a written statement that the number of cancelled flights due to severe winter weather was unprecedented, and the focus late Tuesday was simply assisting travellers at the terminal.

“Passengers who are expecting to fly today and this week are advised to check with their airline directly on the status of their flight,” said the spokesperson. “We are asking people to please not come to YVR if you do not absolutely need to.”

A spokesperson at Kelowna’s YLW airport, where many flights were also delayed or cancelled due to the weather, also declined an interview request from CBC News, but said disrupted flights would continue to cause compounding issues for travellers.

The spokesperson said it was up to airlines to determine how to prioritize re-bookings, and travellers should check with airlines directly.

CBC News requested an interview with Air Canada, but only received a written statement.

“The magnitude of the impact from numerous overlapping winter storms over several days across the country are affecting many stakeholders across the aviation ecosystem, creating knock-on effects,” the airline’s statement read.

Air Canada said it was waiving re-booking fees and offering vouchers for people scheduled to fly in and out of YVR up until Dec. 25.

“We are working to get aircraft and crew which are out of position, back on track following B.C.’s unprecedented winter storm,” said the airline, referring to Wednesday as a “recovery day.”

In a release, WestJet said there were 210 flight cancellations on Tuesday, mainly due to disruptions in Vancouver and frigid temperatures in Calgary and Edmonton. They also said were 146 flight cancellations on Monday and 104 on Sunday.

The airline declined an interview request, and instead sent a written statement saying “there is very limited re-accommodation availability due to the high demand for travel this time of year and the significant impact across the industry.”

It is also advising people travelling between now and Dec. 26 that they can proactively cancel their booking for a full refund on their website.

‘Just make other plans’: passenger

Bryant is planning to see if he’s able to get a different flight to Toronto, but says the trip wasn’t essential so if it doesn’t happen he’ll be fine. He says the information given at the airport was unclear.

“It was so chaotic there that I think a lot of the advice we were given was just kind of, like, hopeful, aspirational advice, without it really being pulled into focus what the battle plan was, because it was just like putting out so many fires,” said Bryant.

For Khan and his family, the Hawaii vacation is off — they booked through an online company that wasn’t able to re-book the five of them on a flight for at least three days, so they’ve been promised a refund.

His advice for anyone else trying to travel by air in the coming days?

“Get on the phones right away, because that’s the only thing that’s going to help you out,” said Khan.

“Or just make other plans.”