Cancelled Air Canada flights nearly leave Sudbury couple stranded in Toronto

Nicole Leclair and her husband would have been stranded at Toronto's Pearson International Airport were it not for help from extended family who drove them home to Sudbury.

On June 29 Air Canada announced it would cancel dozens of daily flights during the summer due to a number of challenges, including a shortage of staff.

Those cancellations affected Leclair and her husband Andy, who had just returned to Canada from a European vacation to visit family.

Twice during the trip, Air Canada cancelled their return flights. The couple flew into Toronto's Pearson Airport on Jul 1, stayed a night in a hotel before catching their return flight the next morning.

But a last minute cancellation email came as they were heading back to the airport — with no immediate solution from Air Canada.

"We sat there (in the airport) all this time and I never got an email back from them," Leclair said.

She said Air Canada told them they cancelled the flights because they didn't have enough crew available to operate the plane.

Suitcases all over the place. People scattered all over the place, on the floor, sitting, sleeping.​​​​​​- Nicole Leclair

Leclair said she and her husband were far from the only people left stranded at the airport.

"People were lying down, like taking the whole sitting areas because I guess they must have been there all night," she said.

"Suitcases all over the place. People scattered all over the place, on the floor, sitting, sleeping."

Leclair posted about the ordeal on Facebook and her cousin from Orangeville, Ont., around 60 kilometres from Pearson, saw the post and offered them a ride.

He drove them to Parry Sound, Ont., around 163 kilometres south of Sudbury, and her daughter met them there and drove them the rest of the way.

Leclair said she still hasn't heard from Air Canada since her second flight was cancelled.

"All I want is my money back from Toronto to Sudbury," she said.

Fewer last-minute cancellations

Jean-Mathieu Chénier, the Greater Sudbury Airport's marketing director, said he hopes that by reducing the number of domestic flights ahead of time, Air Canada won't have the same number of last-minute cancellations that affect travellers like Leclair. 

"It's difficult to rebuild passenger confidence in the travel industry if flights are being cancelled," he said.

"Right now, you know, Sudbury is not going to be back into the full swing of things until there's a reliable flight schedule and that business person can count on making that connection and going beyond just Toronto, for example."

Terry Bos, the president and CEO of the Sault Ste Marie Airport Development Corporation, said he expects last-minute cancellations from Air Canada to be "greatly reduced" now that there are fewer flights overall.

He said the cancelled daily flights have not affected the Sault Ste. Marie Airport, which will continue to have three daily flights from Toronto throughout the summer.

The Timmins Victor M. Power Airport, though, will be down to two daily Air Canada flights from Toronto, from the usual three.

"The overnight flight has now been suspended, and I was told that will be probably be into the beginning of September," said Dave Dayment, the airport's manager.

"Just so [Air Canada is] not having bookings of flights of people and then just disappointing them in copious quantities the date their flight is cancelled."

Dayment said a carrier like Air Canada is more likely to cancel domestic flights with 70 passengers to a regional airport than larger international flights.

Bryan Avery, the airport manager at the North Bay Jack Garland Airport Corporation, said North Bay is down to one daily Air Canada flight from Toronto, for the summer.

Avery said in an email to CBC News that cancelled flights are difficult for the industry, at a time when more people are travelling due to fewer COVID-19 restrictions.

"Unfortunately the issues have negatively impacted some people's perception of travel overall; continuing to impact the recovery of the whole aviation industry and associated industries such as tourism," Avery wrote.