Airport authority providing free access to hotels, meal vouchers amid wicked holiday weather as families like the Cabagers wait
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A Filipino family coming to Canada in search of a better life are eager to embrace all it has to offer.
Nearly a week in, they’re still waiting at Vancouver International Airport, but have experienced something unique to them — plenty of snow — to show for it.
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The Cabagers got their first glimpse of it this week, camped out on the floor at YVR. And with this week’s extreme weather, came news that their connecting flight to their new home in Calgary was cancelled.
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In the five days since, Rowendel Cabager, her husband Dale and their teenage daughter, Shykiel, have slept on a blanket on the floor of the domestic arrivals area and used tap water from a public washroom sink to bathe.
“I am really sad,” said the 43-year-old mother, who came to Canada to study business on a student visa.
The airport got walloped overnight and was expecting another eight to 14 centimetres of precipitation through the day. Rising temperatures meant that precipitation would likely change from snow and ice pellets into freezing rain.
YVR said in a statement it is providing access to over 400 hotel rooms at local hotels for up to four nights, free of charge, as well as restaurant gift cards for meals to passengers facing overnight delays.
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“Our primary focus is to safely get passengers on their journey,” said Vancouver Airport Authority president and CEO Tamara Vrooman. “We’d like to thank our local hotel operators and restaurants for working with us to book these rooms and meals so quickly.”
The hotel rooms and meal vouchers will be available from Friday through Tuesday, Dec. 27.
A majority of the airport’s flights, 323, were cancelled out of precaution during the first half of the day Friday, including all WestJet arrivals and departures and most of Air Canada’s.
While the international airport was quiet in the early morning on Friday, by midday there were long lines filled with people trying to rebook cancelled flights.
Just 22 domestic and international flights were able to safely leave the tarmac. Thirty-two arrived.
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Rowendel Cabager was using her family’s carts of luggage to barricade corner privacy for them while they rested. Her husband was asleep while she sat up to speak with Postmedia News.
“Christmas for us is usually filled with time with family, at home, with lots of food. Right now, it’s just stress,” said Cabager.
She said she waited more than 11 hours in line Monday for rebooking at the Air Canada kiosk. The family was eventually put on a Thursday night flight, but that, too, was cancelled.
Their flights are now scheduled for Saturday morning.
“We don’t want to be stranded anymore,” said Cabager, who is among the many passengers who remain stranded at YVR since extreme weather bottlenecked airport operations this week.
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More than 1,000 flights have been cancelled, affecting 100,000 passengers’ holiday plans during the airport’s busiest time of the year. A two-day cancellation order restricted international flight arrivals until Friday morning.
Passengers stuck waiting are being offered water, food and blankets, but they have no guarantee when they will make it home.
As the airport scrambled to catch up on the backlog of cancelled flights Friday, a rise in temperatures brought about new weather complications with freezing rain.
“It’s one thing to have snow and snow removed, de-icing on freezing rain is very very difficult,” Vrooman told media Thursday.
“Really on the ground is what now has our focus, those icy conditions that the province has warned about.”
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The airport is opting to use a de-icing product that “isn’t the best for the environment,” Voorman said, to keep the tarmac clear for takeoff. The environmental impacts of its use will be monitored.
Alexander Salesse sat overlooking the runway Friday morning, with hopes the next Air Canada flight he was scheduled to take that afternoon would be the one to bring him home to his family in Montreal.
“At first I was angry,” said the 35-year-old, who experienced a series of cancellations on his return from a business trip in Australia.
“I was stuck in Brisbane for a day, unable to reach anyone at Air Canada because of the 13-hour time difference.”
After arriving at the Vancouver airport early Friday, Salesse — who was wrapped in a fleece blanket — said a smile had begun to return to his face.
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“Even if I miss Christmas Day, I know I’ll be home eventually. My family and friends are waiting for me.”
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