Passengers travelling to Toronto were stranded overseas for nearly 40 hours this week after a Transat Air flight experienced an “unusual delay”.”
“My daughter had just graduated from high school and she had always wanted to go to Greece, so we took a nice 12-day family trip,” Tracey Forrest told Ctv Neambs Toronto on Wednesday.
The Forrests were due to return to Toronto from Athens on July 24 on Air Transat flight TS695.
“But our 12-day trip quickly turned into 14 days,” she said.
The first mention of a delay occurred on the runway while the family was on board the plane, Forrest said. At first, she said the airline cited the weather as the reason for the setback.
Stuck on the runway for several hours, Forrest said a persistent heatwave in southwestern Europe had caused the plane to reach hot temperatures.
“It was just getting hotter and hotter and the people in the back of the plane were the hottest,” she said.
The plane nearly took off that afternoon, Forrest said, but returned to the runway in the minutes before take-off, with staff saying there was a problem with an engine. The passengers quickly deplaned and were taken to the airport, where they were given food vouchers and, after a few hours, placed in a nearby hotel.
“We took care, but there was so much disorganization,” Forrest said.
After they arrived at the hotel, roughly eight hours after they were scheduled to leave for the first time, Forrest said there were no Air Transat employees stationed to provide information, and rumors quickly began to spread rampant.
“We thought we had to leave the next morning, but it was all rumours as well,” Forrest said, claiming that when her family arrived in the morning to take the bus back to the airport, they were told their departure had been delayed once again.
“I understand they didn’t want to fly on a plane that wasn’t working, but nobody knew what was going on,” she said.
Passengers were told they would depart at 6 p.m. that day, just under 30 hours after their initial flight.
When it came to 6pm, The Forrest family said they decided to take the last shuttle to the airport, as they were nervous that they would be delayed once again. However, after the last ship arrived, they said that the first buses had already turned back – they were told again that their flight had been delayed.
“All this time I’m trying to communicate with Air Transat on their Facebook messenger,” Forrest said. “But the staff there didn’t even have the most up-to-date information.”
In the end, the Forrests would not be able to leave the country until July 26 at around 12:45 a.m.in total, passengers experienced a 36-hour delay, Air Transat confirmed to CTV Neambs Toronto on Wednesday.
When asked for comment, Air Transat spokesman Bernard Cote said the flight experienced an “unusual delay” due to an unexpected technical problem that required crews to service the aircraft.
“While maintenance took longer than expected due to unforeseen circumstances, all passengers were informed of the situation and either decided to return home or were taken to hotels with meals,” Cote said.
“We sincerely apologize for this delay and invite all passengers to fill out our online form for any compensation claims,” Cote added.
Forrest says she has applied for compensation, but that she has been told it could take up to 30 days for a response.
“The airport and resort staff took care of us, they were lovely, but we couldn’t enjoy it because we never knew what the next rumour would be or when we would get home,” she said.
“It was just very disappointing.”
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