Vancouver couple stranded as travel chaos continues at Canadian airports

It was supposed to be a fun week off to celebrate Braden McMillan’s birthday in Washington, D.C., but instead he and his wife are struggling to get out of the country.

Early Sunday morning, the couple began their journey at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) with the goal of arriving in the U.S. capital later in the day. The layover they were supposed to have in Toronto didn’t pan out so the two and everyone else on their flight got re-routed to Montreal.

“I was never supposed to be in Quebec… and when we got to Montreal the flight to D.C. was cancelled and then we waited in a customer service line for over three hours before they closed up for the night and just left us all in the Montreal airport with nothing. We found a hotel last night and then managed to sit on hold for three hours last night/overnight and got our flights changed. So, we have a flight to Boston today and then from Boston, hopefully, we’re going to go to D.C., but our flight has already been delayed again today, so I don’t know if we’ll actually get out of Montreal.”

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What was supposed to be a trip lasting several hours with Air Canada, has quickly become a nightmare.

“We knew it was going to be bad and so we didn’t check a bag on purpose, but just the complete disregard for anyone’s comfort or any basic human services — it’s shocking, to be honest. We didn’t get hotel vouchers, food vouchers, we got nothing. You can’t even talk to a real person. Their shift was over, they went home, and you try and phone the 1-800 number and it said their lines are too full, ‘Call back another time,’ and you go onto the website, and the website was down for a while — all it does is say: ‘phone’ … To be honest, we just felt helpless,” explained McMillan.

He says when they found out their flight was cancelled on Sunday night, they were directed to seek customer service, but that didn’t go well.

“I counted, there were 110 people in front of me and one person working at the customer service desk. It stayed that way for two hours, and then two people came to work and then one person left again, so it was back to one and then after three hours we were literally next in line and they said, ‘We’re done for the day. Go downstairs to the arrivals department and they’ll help you there.’ So, everyone walked down to the arrivals department, and it was empty.

“There was no staff and there were already people sitting there, there are people crying, there are already people finding places to sleep on the floor — it’s shocking to see that in Montreal’s airport. I’ve been here before and it’s chaotic, but it functions, but people are just helpless, and you do want to break down because you’re stranded in your own country but where am I going to go? The feeling of helplessness is unreal.”

McMillan says the entire trip was only supposed to be six days and he’s not due for more vacation time this year.

“We have an Airbnb, which is obviously going to waste, which we booked months ago. It was supposed to be a 6.5-hour trip, including the stop in Toronto and now we’re over 24 hours in and I’m in Quebec. We’re going to have very little time, if we do end up getting there and if even if we don’t, the Airbnb was expensive, and I doubt I’ll ever see that money again.”

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McMillan is planning to push for compensation from Air Canada when they return to Vancouver.

“I certainly want my money back. I want someone to pay for my hotel last night. I just wanted to have a nice birthday trip with my wife and now we’re here and it’s more just shock that it could be this bad and they don’t seem to care. I would be mad but the staff themselves have been very nice, but there’s literally no one. I can’t get mad at the staff, I just have to get mad at the company for thinking they could pull this off and clearly they can’t.”

He says there was a chance they could have left Montreal on Sunday night, but they were denied.

“They had flights out of here last night in business class, but they wouldn’t give us the business class seats because they said they don’t upgrade to business class, even if your flight is cancelled. That was the top for me, because I know there are seats empty leaving here and they wouldn’t put us on it. It’s their policy, like if your flight was cancelled, they’re not going to put you in a business class seat unless you were already business class, even though there’s business class seats available leaving for Toronto last night because at least we could have gotten a little closer. But in this situation, when there are people sleeping everywhere and bags stacked to the roof, they should be putting you in business class, if there’s a seat available.”

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McMillan admits given their tight schedules, if they don’t reach their destination soon, they’ll either spend the rest of their vacation in Montreal or just come home.

“I was close last night, to be honest, when they just left us there and I had no idea what to do. I was almost like, ‘Can I get a flight to Vancouver?’ But also, there are no flights to Vancouver … You either try and find your way — I think we’re looking at maybe Tuesday to get out of here if we wanted to go somewhere else — [or] we can try to go to Boston today and make our way through the States to get to where we wanted to go for at least a few days.”

After multiple cancelled and delayed flights, he’s worried about getting home in time. “A part of it is, will I even get back to work? That’s now my fear, is even if we make it, will I be able to get back to work on the weekend? I don’t know.”

His advice to anyone else who may be considering travelling via air right now — don’t do it. “Don’t go right now and if you have to go don’t take a checked bag, because it’s for sure not going to make it. Even driving would be faster.”

What McMillan is going through isn’t new, it’s the latest in ongoing travel issues at major airports nation-wide. As COVID-19 rules have loosened, there’s been an increase in demand and a staff shortage at multiple levels of airports and airlines is making things worse. And this comes as recent changes announced by Air Canada and WestJet are adding to people’s frustrations. Both airlines say they’re cutting back on flights this summer.