3 different airlines turn relaxing Mexico vacation into 36-hour nightmare for Ontario family
CTV
It took 36 hours, three airlines and one layover to bring a Canadian woman and her family home from their relaxing vacation in Mexico.
It took 36 hours, three airlines and one layover to bring Alaa Sakr and her family back home to Canada from their tropical vacation in Mexico.
“I have travelled a lot in Europe and used different airlines – budget airlines, by the way – but I have never had this happen to me,” Sakr told CTV News Toronto Monday. “And then it happens to me now, three times in one day. That’s really not promising.”
Sakr had vacationed in Cancun, Mexico, with her husband, mother, and two-year-old daughter over the holidays. They were scheduled to fly back to Ontario with Flair Airlines to the Region of Waterloo International Airport on New Year’s Day.
Since their flight was scheduled to leave at around noon, Sakr said they checked out of their hotel at 7:30 a.m.
“We took the shuttle bus to the airport [and while we were] waiting in line, I was checking my emails and saw the cancellation email [from Flair], rebooking us on January 15,” she said.
In the email obtained by CTV News Toronto, Flair told passengers the flight was cancelled due to “aircraft damage at the airport within airline’s control” and that they rebooked passengers on the next available flight – a full two weeks later.
“Subsequent Flair Airlines return flights were quite full, and so the option provided to the family was the earliest the airline could seat them on their return,” Mike Arnot, Flair Airlines spokesman, said in an emailed statement.
