Air Canada says it’s sorry for the “regrettable situation” that left 34 teens and their chaperones stuck in Bay Roberts
Air Canada is sorry that nearly 30 teens from Conception Bay North and their five adult chaperones were stuck in Montreal for three days, ruining their plans to go to New York City.
The travel company that set up the tour, on the other hand, isn’t saying anything.
Even though it was a bad experience, the students are still set on going to the city that is known for its arts scene and famous landmarks.
In a statement to CBC News, an unnamed spokesperson for Air Canada said that bad weather and a lack of flight crew were to blame for what the airline called a “regrettable situation.”
And since summer is a popular time to travel, most flights are already full, so the airline said it is hard to rebook customers after a flight is canceled, especially for large groups.
“Because of this, we were unable to transport these customers as planned, and we apologized for not providing our usual level of customer service,” the statement says.
Stress and confusio
On Saturday, an Air Canada flight left St. John’s airport with 34 14- and 15-year-old students from Amalgamated Academy in Bay Roberts and Holy Redeemer in Spaniard’s Bay. There were five teachers from their schools who went with them.
Brightspark by WorldStrides was the company that set up the educational tour. The trip took a year to plan, and each student had to pay nearly $4,000 for it.
New York City is one of the most famous cities in the world, and the four-day plan included everything from a Broadway show and shopping to trips to famous places like the Statue of Liberty and the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center.
The plan was to fly to Montreal and then switch to another flight that would take them to New York.
One of the students, Emma Gifford from Port de Grave, said that what started out as a dream adventure at the end of the school year turned into three days and two nights of stress, confusion, and discomfort.
“It was very hard because none of us had our parents with us. “It was the first time a lot of us went on a trip without our parents,” she said.
A cascade of problem
The tour group had to wait on the plane for two hours after landing in Montreal before they found out that their flight to New York had been canceled.
That started a series of problems, including long waits at the airport terminal, late-night and early-morning taxi rides to and from a nearby hotel, eating food from vending machines, and getting more tired and frustrated as delays piled up.
Students like Kairah March of Bareneed found it hard to learn how to fly at first.
“It was kind of a bummer that when I left Newfoundland for the first time, I spent most of the time in an airport. On the floor of an airport. March said, “It was pretty bad.”
On Sunday, it was announced that the trip to New York would not be happening. It was very sad for the students who had used the trip as motivation as they studied for and took their end-of-year exams.
‘We just wanted to go home
But that wasn’t the end of the trouble they had on their trip. Before they finally got back to St. John’s International Airport on Monday night, the students had to deal with a few more delays and hours of uncertainty.
“I felt helpless, and I think many of us did, too.It was frightening. Sarah Holmes, a student, said, “We just wanted to go home.”
While the students sweated it out in the humid, smoke-filled air of Montreal, where wildfires in northern Quebec had drastically lowered the air quality, parents back home in Newfoundland were scrambling to find answers.
“Brightspark told you that you should call Air Canada. When we called Air Canada, they told us we needed to talk to Brightspark. So, both companies gave the liabilities to someone else,” said Emma’s mother, Stephanie Gifford.
“From the time she left on Saturday until Monday night, I had no idea how she was getting home, where she was sleeping at night, or what she was eating.”
She said that some parents were getting ready to get on a plane and fly to Montreal.
“(Emma) was in a lot of pain. She was getting nosebleeds. She didn’t feel well. I’m sure it’s embarrassing for her right now. But all she wanted was her mother. She wanted to be with them. She just wanted to be at home, not on an airport floor.”
Brightspark says that Air Canada is ‘not much help
CBC News got a message from Brightspark to parents that said “unforeseen circumstances” were to blame for the rough travel. But the company singled out Air Canada for criticism, saying that the airline “didn’t do much to help the group make other plans.”
The message said, “Brightspark did the best it could on short notice, with a provincial holiday (Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day) on the weekend getting in the way, to make sure that the students’ safety came first.”
Air Canada and Brightspark paid for the hotel rooms, and Air Canada also gave the group vouchers for food every day. Brightspark also hired a bus on Monday to take the group from the hotel to a morning meal, a shopping mall, and then the airport.
Stephanie Gifford said that the breakfast was the first warm meal the students had since Saturday morning.
The students say that their chaperones helped make the situation bearable, and they also say that the hard times helped them grow closer as a group.
Ally Bennett of North River said, “I’m much closer to each of them because we spent so much time together.”
Many of the students take part in their schools’ drama programs, which is a big reason why they were so interested in Broadway’s famous theaters.
The travelers were also covered by insurance, but it is not yet clear how much of their costs will be paid back.
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