Stranded for days at Vancouver airport, frustrated travellers 'just want to go home'
Some have had several flights cancelled and spent hours on the tarmac in planes that never took off
Some passengers have now spent days stranded at Vancouver International Airport after their flights were grounded by snowy weather, rebooking again and again on flights that are repeatedly delayed before they're cancelled as well.
In many cases, travellers who spoke with CBC on Wednesday said they've made it as far as boarding a plane but then get stuck on the tarmac for hours before they're sent back to the gate, and their hopes are dashed once again.
Mira Villegas said she was originally planning to spend the Christmas break in Los Angeles, but after four straight days at the Vancouver airport, she just wants to go back to Winnipeg.
"I'm frustrated, and I just want to go home. We've gotten on the plane multiple times, and then we've sat on the tarmac for six to eight hours, and then we're redirected back to the gate, and then we have to do it all again the next day."
She said she's experienced a lot of miscommunication and unclear answers when she asks why the flights are cancelled or delayed.
"Sometimes it's crew. Sometimes it's weather. Sometimes we just have to guess for ourselves," she said.
WATCH | Stuck passengers talk about how they're passing the time:
Sisters Angie Ostojic and Charlie Mananquil spoke to CBC as Ostojic's 20-year-old daughter slept on the floor beside them.
They arrived in Vancouver from Calgary at 2 a.m. Wednesday, after multiple delays, only to learn their connecting flight to Taipei was cancelled. The women had booked a trip to the Philippines, where they hoped to see their 76-year-old father for the first time in four years.
"It's painful, it's sad — makes me mad — but unfortunately, this is the situation that we're in. We just have to deal with it," Ostojic said.
Her father had already made the 10-hour drive from his home province to pick up his daughters at the airport in Manila by the time he learned the bad news.
Ostojic said she planned the two-week trip as a charity mission as well as a family visit and was set to distribute food and gifts to hundreds of people.
"Unfortunately, I won't be there."
As of Wednesday morning, there was no option but to stay at the airport and wait.
"There's no plan B because we cannot move. We cannot go anywhere. They cannot send us back," Ostojic said.
Travellers 'just bawling their eyes out'
Many passengers who've been stranded for days say they're trying to keep their hopes up that the next flight they book will be the one that finally gets them out of Vancouver.
Others are having a harder time coping.
"I've seen multiple people with their heads in their hands, just bawling their eyes out," Steven Da Silva said.
His original flight home to Toronto was supposed to leave on Sunday, and another two replacement flights have been cancelled since then.
He said he spent 13 hours sitting in a plane on the tarmac before his most recent flight was cancelled and watched as a fellow passenger had a panic attack.
"I'm just trying to get back home to my family," Da Silva said.
When he spoke to CBC, he had paid for a new ticket home on Wednesday evening. As of 3:30 p.m. PT, it still looked set to leave on time.
With files from Jon Hernandez and Benoit Ferradini