Yellowknife teacher among those with holiday plans sunk by winter weather, cancelled flights

Sam Paquet was planning to travel from Yellowknife to Ottawa to spend Christmas with friends and family. 

While south, he planned a drive to New Brunswick, to visit his parents, and back before flying home to Yellowknife on Jan. 2. 

But now, he will be spending Christmas and New Years in Yellowknife after his WestJet flight was cancelled on Wednesday. Paquet is one of many Canadians whose Christmas plans are up in the air after numerous cancellations due to extreme winter weather. 

"It was a bit of a disappointment because I was hoping to spend Christmas in Ottawa with family and obviously that's not going to happen," he said.

The flight had a connection at the Calgary airport where dozens of flights were cancelled because of frigid temperatures. 

A spokesperson for WestJet said in an email that de-icing fluid reaches limitations at –29 C. 

For Paquet, that means he won't be able see his parents' reaction to the sweaters he bought in Yellowknife for them as a Christmas gift.

Paquet said the earliest he could even talk to a WestJet representative about rescheduling his flight would be on Dec. 26, and he feared more delays could be in store if he tried rebooking.

Paquet, who is a teacher, said this isn't the first airline cancellation to affect a trip for him this year. 

Now he's making new holiday plans.

"I have a pair of snowshoes and I will probably ... wait for the temperature to go down a bit before I venture on the lake with the snowshoes. I might like to go and visit the caves," he said, referring to a well-known icefall near Great Slave Lake. 

"I'll probably find out if anybody else is in the same situation as me, and I'll put on a little Christmas dinner and have ourselves some cheer."

Hundreds of flights cancelled

Paquet may not have much trouble finding people in the similar situation. WestJet said in a media release 86 flights were cancelled across the country on Wednesday and 240 flights were cancelled on Tuesday. 

The flight issues have been driven by a cold front that hit Alberta and a winter storm in B.C. that has Vancouver's airport backlogged with cancelled flights.

Air Canada didn't respond to a request from CBC News for the number of cancellations it has experienced in recent days. But it did tweet the weather in Vancouver has been affecting flights. 

The cancellations are expected to get worse with a major winter storm predicted to hit southern Ontario and Southern Quebec just before Christmas weekend.

WestJet and Air Canada are giving customers who have flights scheduled up until Dec. 26 the opportunity to pre-emptively cancel and receive a full refund.

James Ross, a spokesperson for the N.W.T. Department of Infrastructure, said in an email the extreme winter weather is not a new challenge for northerners travelling south, but the situation is different this year.

"Typically carriers make alternate arrangements by moving passengers to other carriers, adding extra sections, or increasing the capacity through larger aircraft to accommodate their displaced/delayed passengers," Ross said. 

Air Canada stopped flying direct Yellowknife to Edmonton and Calgary this past fall, meaning there are fewer seats available.