by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 4:02 PM ET, Wed January 9, 2019
Passengers booked on a WestJet flight from Mexico to Canada are expressing outrage over what amounted to a 33-hour flight delay and less than acceptable accommodations in a local hostel.
CTV reported that Flight 2841 from Cancun to Ottawa was supposed to take off Saturday morning.
However, after sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off for more than four hours, passengers were informed that they would not be flying out that day at all.
Making matters worse, passengers have since complained that they were only offered a small snack and a glass of water during the extended delay.
WestJet has subsequently attributed the lack of food or beverages offered to the fact that the plane was constantly in motion during the four hours on the tarmac, according to CTV. That motion included the plane preparing to take off as well as having a mechanical issued reviewed. And then that process was repeated.
The airline issued a statement noting that it is investigating the incident.
"This certainly was not a shining moment for WestJet, and we are sorry for what did transpire," WestJet vice-president of marketing and communications Richard Bartrem told CTV Ottawa. "Ordinarily we are good at this sort of thing. The unfortunate case this time around was that we weren't."
After the flight was officially canceled, passengers were to be bused to a hotel in Cancun to spend the night. However, that's not what happened for all passengers onboard.
Some passengers were sent to a hostel that they described as "absolutely horrendous," according to Reportur. What's more, the passengers said they did not know where they were going until they arrived.
"I would call it a nightmare," said one of the 150 passengers on the flight, according to Reportur.
"In this particular instance, there was some crossed wires in terms of what we believed were going to be available rooms," WestJet's Bartrem said, according to CTV. "When they got to those hotels, there were not rooms that we expected to be available."
In the end, some passengers made their own arrangements for accommodations.
"We weren't expected to be dumped by WestJet, and that's what happened," passenger Betty Clarke told CTV Ottawa.
WestJet said it plans to cover affected passengers' expenses as well as provide additional reimbursement as a gesture of goodwill.
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