Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry MacDougal
December 30, 2015 - 9:30 AM
CALGARY - A lot of angry passengers have finally arrived home in Calgary after spending eight hours sitting on a Sunwing flight on the runway at the airport in Hamilton, Ont.
The flight from the Dominican Republic to Calgary stopped for a crew change and to refuel in Hamilton on Monday night as the area was being hit by a massive storm.
Sunwing says the poor weather conditions made it problematic to attach the ramp to the plane.
But passengers say it was a nightmare, with people demanding to get off and some having panic attacks.
Pauline Lamoureaux says the conditions were inhumane because there was no ventilation and few services on the plane.
She says they were only allowed to deplane around 5 a.m. Tuesday morning after someone called 911 for help.
"It wasn't a good scene at all," she says.
"We knew that Hamilton seemed like a crazy place to stop, because we were leaving Punta Cana and going to Calgary, we heard there's an ice storm in Ontario," says Jessica Kowalski. "Why are we stopping there? It didn't make any sense."
Passengers were eventually taken to a hotel paid for by Sunwing, where they got an hour or two of sleep before being placed on another flight home to Calgary.
The company apologized for the inconvenience and is offering passengers a $150 travel voucher.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2015