Most flights in and out of Edmonton International Airport on Tuesday between 9 a.m. and noon were delayed due to low fog and “continued low visibility.”
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Travelers were asked to check their flight status online at flyeia.com and with their airline before leaving.
“Safety and security are our top priorities, and continued low visibility at YEG due to low fog is affecting arriving and departing flights,” airport spokeswoman Megan Hall told Global News Tuesday noon.
“We will continue to monitor the situation, work with our airlines and aviation partners, and resume flight activities as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Derek Thompson was on his way to Palm Springs for an international pinball tournament.
His WestJet flight on Tuesday was delayed due to fog, then passengers waited on the plane for about an hour and a half, then disembarked and waited in the terminal for about an hour until the flight was ready. ultimately canceled, he said.
“I’m leaving for Vancouver tonight because I’m afraid the fog will come back tomorrow and my flight will be cancelled. So we’re leaving for Vancouver tonight. We’re going to spend the night there and then we’re going to take a flight from Vancouver to Palm Springs.
Thompson thinks WestJet will partially compensate him.
“We think there’s supposed to be cancellation insurance for that, so hopefully WestJet can go ahead and provide us with a hotel and a meal when we get to Vancouver, but nothing’s guaranteed until ’til we talk to them in Vancouver.”
The trip has been planned for a long time, but he takes all the changes head on. Thompson booked his trip with a one-day buffer before the tournament started.
“You take a chance when you walk in… They try their best. There are just a lot of problems all over the network right now. There is work to be done to fix it. »
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According to the EIA website, at 12:10 p.m. only about two of the 20 scheduled departures actually left the airport on time — the others were delayed. In terms of Tuesday morning arrivalsall 10 scheduled flights were delayed or cancelled.
Hall said the airport had 14 departing flights Tuesday morning before the impact of the fog began.
“We have just learned that it looks like the fog will lift, so we expect operations to return to normal and flights to start arriving and departing again shortly,” she said. at 12:30 p.m.
In a Twitter post around 1 p.m., the airport said operations had returned to normal, “and flights are departing and arriving regularly again.”
By 3 p.m., around 60 flights had been delayed due to weather conditions and 16 flights had been cancelled, “with a few more currently scheduled throughout the evening”.
Edmonton Airport did not register any arrivals until 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, Hall said.
There were no other operational impacts at the airport, she added.
Taylor Lemieux drove from Saskatchewan to Edmonton, spent the night in Edmonton, expecting to fly to Mazatlan Tuesday morning with Swoop.
‘Cancelled at the last minute with no rebooking of hotels, no rebooking of vehicles or accommodation or anything,’ he said.
“They told us to get your luggage and get lost, basically.
“Other flights are leaving. There were other flights to Mexico that also left.
Since he’s coming from out of town, the delay will cost him dearly.
“It will cost us at least $1,000 in hotel rooms, the tours we booked, our Airbnb we booked for the night — too expensive,” Lemieux said.
Kelly McCabe was also scheduled to fly to Mazatlán on Tuesday morning on Swoop.
“It’s really foggy…and all the planes have been fogging up for the past three, four hours.
“It got delayed and delayed, and we saw other flights leaving and then suddenly Swoop said, ‘No, we’re going to cancel.
“They’re offering us a rescue flight that takes off tomorrow morning instead of today at 11 a.m. They’re doing their best,” McCabe said. “No one created the fog so everyone should relax and hopefully have a good flight tomorrow.”
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Silvio Pino was also scheduled on this flight to Mexico.
“For me, I live in Edmonton, so it’s not a big deal. What about people who don’t live in Edmonton or are on a connecting flight? It will cost them dearly. »
Pino said the airline didn’t tell them much.
“Just: ‘Go home, come back tomorrow. You are alone.'”
Although he understands this is just an inconvenience, Pino is frustrated that he spent six hours at the airport and essentially lost the day.
“I’m paying for the condo starting today… We have friends waiting for us in Mazatlán, family.”
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