Flight cancellations throughout Saskatchewan put passengers in limbo

Flight cancellations impacting most airports across Canada are now being felt right here in Saskatchewan.

As of 9 a.m. Thursday, the Regina and Saskatoon airports had to cancel four flights each.

Staffing issues with WestJet and weather delays are believed to be the reason why some planes have been halted.

Laureen McWilliams was set to travel from Regina to Calgary, where she was to transfer to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. She’s flying with WestJet and says she didn’t get any notification about the cancellation until she was on her way to the airport at 4 a.m.

“We didn’t get the notification in the email until the way here, so now we’re standing in line because the Calgary portion has been cancelled, so we will not be making our connecting flight,” she explained.

McWilliams says she has an Airbnb rented for two weeks in Mexico. She’s now scared she’s going to be out of money because she can’t use her Airbnb.

“Obviously, if I’m not going to go down there, I’m going to have to pay for the Airbnb,” she said. “Who is going to accommodate me for that?”

Akash Parmr is supposed to fly from Regina to India and will make his first connection in Toronto. While he still has time to get a later connecting flight, he says he’s stressed.

“This is horrible. I’m so stressed out because I can’t miss that connecting flight,” he said. “Thankfully, my connecting flight is not until 10 p.m. tonight, so hopefully they will fix something.”

He said he didn’t learn about his flight to Toronto being cancelled until he showed up at the airport Thursday morning.

“I was unable to check in online, so I came inside to check in,” he explained. “Nobody even bothered to let me know it was cancelled. They should send me an email or something to let me know it was cancelled.”

Nathan Okoh says he was supposed to fly home to Fort McMurray on Wednesday, but his flight got cancelled. When he showed up at the airport Thursday for his new flight, that also got cancelled.

As someone who doesn’t fly very much, he says it’s frustrating.

“I haven’t been on a plane in 10 years,” Okoh said. “That, on top of flight anxiety, is kind of pissing me off, but what can you do? Things happen.”

Most of the flights cancelled at Regina’s airport Thursday were WestJet. Saskatoon had a split of flights cancelled for Sunwing and WestJet.

Earlier this week, WestJet posted on its social media feeds where it discussed the current flight situation.

We sincerely apologize to those who have been impacted by cancellations/delays due to winter weather. We understand your frustration, especially at this time of year. Our teams are working to reaccommodate you as quickly as possible, where possible.

— WestJet (@WestJet) December 21, 2022