THUNDER BAY — A Flair Airlines passenger says he and more than two dozen others were left behind in the terminal when the aircraft departed Thunder Bay for Toronto on Tuesday morning.
It left Christopher DeCorte fuming.
DeCorte said there was already a long lineup for security checks when he arrived for the 9:40 a.m. flight, but he got to security half an hour before the gate was scheduled to close.
"There was a very long lineup. There was only one area open for security. The airline ended up calling people that were on the flight to go through security. I was actually standing right behind the airline pilot going through security myself," DeCorte said in an interview.
He said a Flair gate attendant approached the pilot, without announcing it over the public address system, to inform him that the gate was about to be closed.
"Unfortunately, there was a lot of people behind me, and 28 missed their flight. They were turned down at the gate, out of a flight that had 189 on the manifest. That's not a good thing for an airline to do."
What was even more frustrating, DeCorte said, was that the flight was 15 minutes late taking off, and passengers in the terminal could see it still sitting on the tarmac.
He questioned why some sort of accommodation couldn't be made between security staff and the airline in recognition of how many people were affected.
"When we all got to the gate we were told it's closed, too bad, the paperwork is done, there's nothing we can do. You were removed from the flight, that's it."
According to DeCorte, one woman was left fretting about her children back in Toronto who need her care, but she was unable to find a seat on any airline.
She was in a panic, he said, and was even willing to buy a ticket to Sudbury so a family member could drive from Toronto and get her home Tuesday night.
DeCorte said another woman with four children was also in distress.
She and her family were travelling to Ukraine, needed to catch a connecting flight Tuesday in Toronto, but now had no way to get there.
"I thought, 'this is crazy,' " DeCorte said, "especially during the pandemic time....People need to have some empathy for travellers in this country...Corporations need to answer to their customers."
Speaking with emotion, he added that he's concerned that missing his flight might cost him his job in Toronto.
DeCorte also said the airline's communications with its passengers in the aftermath was non-existent.
"They didn't even acknowledge that anybody needed to call customer service. At no time did they provide a customer service number to any of the people standing there...They didn't have the information to provide to the customers at hand."
Flair Airlines issued a statement Tuesday afternoon expressing regret for what happened, explaining that it resulted from long wait times at the security check-in.
"We apologize sincerely for this inconvenience and we are working to rebook all customers on the next available flights," the statement said.
The airline added that it will compensate any passengers for the cost of if they have already booked a ticket.
Flair advises passengers to arrive at the airport at least two hours prior to scheduled departure, saying that failure to arrive early may result in passengers missing their flight.
