A family of four missed a much-anticipated Disney cruise after Air Canada delayed and canceled their flights over Independence Day weekend. They were among hundreds who have seen their vacation plans dashed by the unfortunate travel chaos this summer.
Distraught dad Nathan Morris told the Insider that their kids are devastated. He said they had planned the trip many months ago and had talked about it almost every day since. The $5,500 week-long cruise to the state of Alaska was a birthday gift for the family's ten and six-year-old kids, who spent the holiday weekend in multiple airports instead.
The family's first flight from the American city of Baltimore to the Canadian city of Toronto took off two hours later than scheduled. According to Morris, the plane sat on the tarmac for over one hour as they waited for baggage personnel. This caused the family to miss its connecting flight to Vancouver, where the Disney cruise was docked.
Family misses Disney cruise after flight delays and cancellations
According to flight documents, Air Canada then rebooked the Morris family's flights for early the next morning with an additional layover in Montreal. Morris said that one person at customer service even told them that had they been watching the news, they would have known this was going to happen.
To make matters worse for them, Morris said the airline did not offer them hotel accommodations. The couple and their two young kids had to sleep on benches underneath escalators in the Toronto airport.
According to Morris, the nightmare did not end there, as the flight from Toronto to Montreal was delayed the next morning. According to documents, the connecting flight from Montreal to Vancouver was then delayed three and a half hours due to an unforeseen aircraft maintenance issue. The flight to Vancouver was canceled entirely by noon.
The next available flight would not leave until the next day, meaning the Morris family would be unable to reach the port in Vancouver before the Disney cruise departed. Much to their disappointment, the couple decided to book the next flight home after two full days of traveling with their children.
Morris blasts Air Canada for the poor treatment they received
Morris said that throughout the rebooking process, they were herded around like cattle from one customer service desk to another without so much an apology from the airline. The family then got more bad news as they got a notification stating they were exposed to someone with COVID on their return flight.
Sure enough, their daughter tested positive a couple of days after visiting the emergency room due to a high fever that they could not control and constant vomiting. A spokesperson for Air Canada said last week that the industry is currently challenged due to issues with airports and third-party providers of such services as customs, air navigation, and passenger screening.
