Sask. airports, travel agencies playing catch up during extreme cold

Extreme cold warnings across the prairies have left travellers facing a chaotic storm of flight cancellations and delays.

According to CJ Dushinski with the Saskatoon Airport Authority, the airport has seen significant delays and cancellations, particularly with WestJet flights to and from Calgary, the airport’s largest connecting hub. Late last week only 26 per cent of all airport flights were leaving as scheduled, but that number has improved to 64 per cent as of Monday, with no expected cancellations.

Although the situation is improving, Dushinski said airlines are now catching up after the domino effect created by the backlog of flights.

While airlines connecting to Saskatoon are no strangers to operating in the cold, Dushinski said extremely cold weather can cause equipment to stop working properly and make de-icing fluid less effective.

She said the weather can also cause safety concerns for workers on the tarmac, who need to take frequent breaks to warm up.

Terry Kaszas, general manager of travel services for CAA Saskatchewan, said the calls have been constant as travellers deal with flight cancellations all across the province.

Not only have there been flight cancellations from travellers trying to come home from hot destinations such as Mexico, but many travellers have been left grounded at the Saskatoon and Regina airports as well.

“It’s caused great pain for everybody at this time,” he said, “We’re doing our best to look for different connections (and) different options for them to get to their warm destination.”

In Regina, he noted, a Sunwing flight to Puerto Vallarta has been cancelled for two days in a row. According to the YQR Airport Authority’s website, the rescheduled flight has been delayed from Monday morning to Monday evening.

When extremely cold weather hits, Kaszas said it’s common for travellers to face delays and cancellations, which can leave individuals looking for compensation when they end up stuck in a different city.

If a cancellation is due to a flight crew issue instead of weather, he said airlines can assist with compensation.

Kaszas said his advice for travellers about to take off is to be patient and get travel insurance

Dushinski advised travellers to stay close to their airline and check on the most recent flight status updates when heading to the airport.

“Don’t put yourself into the position where you’re going to be stuck at the airport for 15 hours because you didn’t confirm that your flight was delayed in advance,” she said.