YXE flight diversions and cancellations due to foggy weather

The fog that rolled into Saskatoon overnight has left some airplane passengers in other parts of the Prairies.

Starting around 9:30 p.m. last night, foggy conditions began impacting operations at Saskatoon airport, causing several flights to get cancelled or diverted. Two of those affected were Air Canada’s flight coming in from Toronto and WestJet’s from Phoenix, Arizona.

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While the airport’s business development and service quality vice-president, CJ Dushinski, wrote in a statement that operations returned to normal by 7 a.m. this morning, there’s some who are still dealing with the impacts.

Beverly Blackwell was one of the passengers on that Phoenix flight, which left around 7:35 p.m. But, instead of going Saskatoon, she ended up landing in Regina at 12:35 a.m.

According to Blackwell, the pilot spoke over the intercom roughly an hour and a half before they were supposed to land, saying Saskatoon was fogged in and passengers might want to look into securing car and hotel reservations in Regina.

“So, everybody’s on their WiFi in the middle of the air trying (to book accommodations),” she said, adding how passengers on the almost-full plane were panicking. “I was a little more positive (in) thinking, ‘oh, we’ll land in Saskatoon. It’ll be great.’ But no.”

Once the plane landed, people were still scrambling to get reservations. But, with Agribition going on, she said, “everything is full.”

There weren’t any rental cars left either, meaning a drive back to Saskatoon wasn’t an option for her.

Since it was a weather-related issue that caused the diversion, WestJet said it wouldn’t normally help with accommodations. According to Blackwell, though, rooms were offered at the Double Tree hotel.

“But, it was all booked up by the time everybody was trying to phone,” she said. Eventually, she found a room at the Delta hotel, costing her $300 for the night.

Even with all the inconvenience, Blackwell said the situation could have been worse.

“We were fortunate, because some people from Cancun got diverted to Edmonton,” she said, adding how the pilot shared that another plane was sent to Calgary.

“So, you know, Regina was a bit of a bonus,” Blackwell said.

She said WestJet booked her on a flight from Regina to Saskatoon for Wednesday afternoon, although she’s unsure if it’ll take off, as Blackwell said the fog has rolled in to Regina now.

But, she’s maintaining her positive outlook, saying “I’m sure we’ll get home somehow.”