An Advocate Is Urging Passengers To Sue After Being Stuck On The Tarmac At Vancouver Airport
Some people were waiting up to 12 hours.
Snow at Vancouver Airport. Right: People waiting at Vancouver Airport.
An advocate is urging passengers that were stuck on board aircraft for hours at Vancouver Airport this week to sue the airlines.
A snowstorm which hit the city on Tuesday caused chaos at Vancouver Airport with tons of flights cancelled and delayed, leaving travellers that had planned on heading away for the holidays sleeping in terminals and having a lot of baggage issues.
@jona.tolosa Vancouver Airport (YVR) @chaos and @flairairline delaying the flights for almost 24 hrs in the end canceling our flights after waiting for the whole night. This gives a lot of stressed to passengers where we cannot able to talk any of flair airlines customer service. #flairairlines #yvr #yvrairport #yvrchaos
Airport crew have been busy over the last few days clearing snow from runways and taxiways, and de-icing planes.
On Tuesday, YVR Airport also announced it was limiting international flights for 48 hours following the storm, but some passengers still found themselves stuck on planes on the tarmac for hours due to congestion in the airport.
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According to CTV News Vancouver, some passengers were waiting for up to 12 hours for their planes to be taxied.
A passenger who was due to be flying to Toronto on a WestJet flight told CTV that passengers were waiting on board the plane while they waited for the snowstorm to subside for hours before eventually being told it was unsafe to fly.
However, Gabor Lukacs, an advocate for Air Passenger Rights, told Narcity that passengers who were stuck on the tarmac for more than three hours could actually be able to sue airlines, per the .
@mrs.watster Feliz Navidad to us 🌴 #fyp #foryoupage #vancouversnowstorm #yvr #yvrairport #vancouverairport #vancouvertok #yvrsnowstorm #westjet #westjetfail
Lukacs said under those regulations, airlines are required to let people off the plane after a maximum of three hours, and to provide them with "adequate food and beverages" while they're stuck on board.
"Passengers could and should sue the airlines for holding them on the tarmac for many hours. The airlines will have to explain why they have done so," he said.
As of Thursday morning, YVR Airport said the situation is improving with flight arrivals and departures continuing.
In a statement, it added that "increased snow and frozen rain conditions" are expected in the city over the coming days which will continue to impact flights, and the bad news is there will probably be more cancellations to come.
"We are actively working with airline partners to provide a clear picture of the schedule for the next 24 hours," it added.
On Twitter, WestJet has also warned passengers with flights over the next few days that flights could continue to be impacted and said there is "limited availability to reaccommodate" passengers with cancelled flights.
\u201cUnfortunately, weather challenges are expected to continue and there is limited availability to reaccommodate due to the demand. If your flight is cancelled, any available reaccomodation options will be communicated to you through email.\u201d— WestJet (@WestJet) 1671585820
On Thursday, December 22, YVR announced that WestJet had proactively cancelled flights arriving and departing from YVR until the late afternoon of Friday, December 23, "dependent on weather conditions."
Flights out of Abbotsford, Victoria, Nanaimo and Comox have also been impacted.
Air Canada has introduced a policy to allow passengers that were due to be travelling between December 20 and 25 to change their booking to another date up to December 31, 2022.
Narcity has reached out to WestJet and Air Canada for comment but neither airline had responded at the time of publication.