‘Air Canada no longer flies to our destination’: Family of five discovers Costa Rica vacation was cancelled — at airport

"Everyone has been complaining about Pearson Airport lately, and I want to say that I agree," said Raena Banton, a University of Guelph student, on her latest Tik Tok.

Baton's family arrived at the Toronto Pearson International Airport at 4:30 a.m. for a flight scheduled at 8:20 a.m. They were travelling to Costa Rica.

"We go in line to speak to the person at the Air Canada desk, and while in line the manager comes up to us and informs us that Air Canada no longer flies to our destination, and hasn't for about a month, and insists that we must have gotten an email regarding this change. We had not," she told Yahoo News Canada.

According to new data, the Toronto Pearson International Airport has been crowned the worst airport for delays worldwide. This comes after many travellers experienced long delays and lost luggage. One of the main issues is Canada's leading airline, Air Canada.

The same data states that more than 33% of Air Canada's arriving flights last month were late disembarking passengers at Toronto Pearson due to border control, baggage systems, and air traffic control shortages.

When Banton's family was referred to another desk, they were once again told that they should've gotten an email and a refund, which they got either.

After a back and forth, they were told a flight leaving for the same country was available at a different airport at 5 p.m. The family was then directed to the phone centre to call Air Canada support to rebook the flight.

"The phone area was extremely busy with people I can only imagine to be having similar problems to those that my family was experiencing," she said. "There were tons of people in that area. Others, like us, sitting on the floor with all of our luggage trying to rectify Air Canada's mistakes."

After around an hour on the phone, their flight was rebooked. It was now around 7 a.m. When back in line to check their bags, the same attendant at the counter the first time told them they were unable to offer any vouchers or compensation for food or travel away from and back to the airport.

"We had to book our own transportation, including rebooking car rentals for a different city than they were scheduled in," she said.

On the Air Canada website, it says, "you have the option of a refund if your flight is cancelled or if you are otherwise delayed by more than 3 hours in relation to your original departure or arrival time, or if we add a connection to your itinerary."

Yet, to this day, Banton's family never received compensation for their "non-existent" booked flight.

When they eventually boarded the plane, their seats were in the last two rows of the aircraft.

"It seemed incredibly inconsiderate after the flight mishap was not in our control, and this was the flight Air Canada had rebooked us."

Despite the controversies surrounding delays and cut flights, Air Canada posted big revenue last quarter, with flight bookings and volumes increasing. The company ‘deeply regrets’ the disruptions in passenger flights, but has doubled down in hiring and staffing to even out gaps in upcoming months.