Kirstin Hanson said she boarded an Air Canada flight to her home in Regina, Sask., On June 14 in Toronto after a long delay.  As soon as he sat down, he said that all the passengers were asked to finally get off the flight as it was suddenly canceled.
“It simply came to our notice then.  “It was a struggle for all of us to try to get our luggage,” Hanson told CTV News Toronto on Wednesday.  “I felt so victorious when you finally got on this plane, on the way home, and then suddenly they unloaded you and now you are trapped.”
Passengers have been complaining about delays and cancellations at Toronto Pearson International Airport for weeks.  Air Canada canceled almost 10 percent of its flights at the airport in the first week of June.
Hanson said that when their flight was canceled, she and the other passengers waited a few more hours to get their luggage back.  He said he could not contact Air Canada to book accommodation or a new flight.
“Air Canada did not help and was very inadequate,” he said.  “They left us all prisoners.”
Hanson said she and her friend sat on a bench outside the airport trying to find a hotel, but all had a reservation or more than $ 1,000 a night.
It was then that another woman approached them, he said, and asked them who they were waiting for.  After telling her what happened, the woman asked if he could take them home with her for the night.
“So she called her husband and said we were going to take these two caged Saskatchewan girls home, so we ended up at their house,” she said.
“This couple was nothing but a family for us.  “My friend and I went to Niagara Falls for a quick tour and now they are taking us to Brampton so we can take a flight to Regina tomorrow.”
Hanson said she was very scared of what would happen on Thursday.  She rescheduled her flight through the Air Canada app, but has no certainty if she will actually be able to return home. 
“We are very nervous and anxious.  “My girlfriend has to find someone to cover her shift for work tomorrow because of that,” he said.
“We hope to be able to return home tomorrow, but I would say it is probably 50/50.  “It’s so victorious not to know.”
An Air Canada spokesman told CTV News Toronto that Hanson’s flight was canceled due to a situation related to COVID-19.
“The initial flight was canceled due to the impact of COVID, which resulted in the crew exceeding their service day, a situation beyond our control,” said a spokesman.
“In these cases we automatically re-book customers for the next available flight and for this flight some were even placed on other airlines.  “Unfortunately, given the high demand for travel and the lack of capacity, the next flight we could offer was unfortunately on June 16.”