Cancelled flights leaving Kamloops travellers looking for another way home

KAMLOOPS – Mother Nature is playing havoc with Christmas travel plans for anyone flying in and out of the Kamloops airport.

Margaux Casefont has been waiting at the Kamloops Airport since 4 a.m. for a 6 a.m. flight to Calgary, where she planned to take a connecting flight home to France. “I’m frustrated, I’m disappointed,” Casefont told CFJC News.

Casefont’s flight is one of many Kamloops Airport flights cancelled in the last few days.

“The weather is not unexpected. So we had a couple of cancellations to Vancouver, due to the weather in Vancouver, current conditions at the airport are actually quite good, the runways are in good shape,” said YKA managing director Ed Ratuski.

While most of the province is affected by weather warnings, snow, extreme cold and arctic winds forced the suspension of all flights at Vancouver International Airport and is wreaking havoc with transportation across the south coast.

“I’ve seen that Vancouver has a lot of cancellations, I mean the weather here is a little bit iffy this morning, but I’m hoping that we can make it through to Calgary,” said Emily Paddock, who is travelling to Halifax to see her family.

According to YKA, Tuesday morning’s WestJet flight to Calgary was cancelled due to staffing issues on the plane and not because of the weather.

“Thank goodness we’re not going to Vancouver because everything is shut down there, headed to Calgary, I think they are a little more ready for snow than Vancouver is,” said passenger Deanna Webster.

Calgary, too, has seen numerous delays and cancellations this week. It’s Paddock’s second attempt to fly to Calgary this week after the first flight on Sunday was cancelled. “I’m a little worried about cancellations because if they cancel today, I don’t know when they will be able to get us out again,” Paddock said.

For Margaux Casefont, she just wants to get home to see her family in time for Christmas. “It’s been like six months, that I didn’t see them and I was excited to get home now,” she said.

Best case scenario is Margaux gets home by December 22nd.