Air Transat flight at Ottawa airport delayed for 6 hours

[Twinlinked]

Transat:
"Unfortunately, this unusual situation beyond our control caused delays of several hours for our passengers," it said. "Ottawa airport staff were unable to provide with loading bridges or stairs that would have enabled the passengers on the Brussels flight to disembark or our ground crews to replenish the aircraft's empty drinking water reservoir."

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If this isn't true and the airport had all the necessary equipment to temporarily deplane, why isn't Air Transat getting called out on an obvious lie?

It seems to me the most likely reason is that if they deplaned the flight crew woudl have been over their hours and would not have been able to fly to Montreal (speculation).. Air Transat would have been better off to deplane and bus everyone to Montreal instead though..

I feel like the Ottawa airport is getting blamed for an airlines poor decision and i don't understand why the airline isn't getting called on it..

[CA$H]

I can personally say that the following is fact - not spin:

Release date: 
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Severe weather in both Toronto and Montreal last evening, resulted in 20 aircraft being diverted to the Ottawa International Airport, beginning at approximately 3:45 pm. Of the 20 flights, 15 were from international destinations, and included nearly 5,000 passengers. The last plane departed at approximately 11:00 pm.
Questions have been raised with respect to one particular flight operated by Air Transat, between Brussels, Belgium and Montreal, Quebec. The aircraft landed in Ottawa at 5:10 pm and departed at 11:00 pm. With respect to this flight, the Airport Authority was in contact with the airline’s local ground handler. We had a gate available and air stairs ready in the event that the airline decided to deplane. We also had buses on the tarmac ready to shuttle passengers to the terminal – buses the Authority purchased specifically for situations such as this. Neither the ground handling service nor the airline requested either of these during the event.
At approximately 9:00 pm, the Authority and the City of Ottawa’s 9-1-1 dispatch centre received several calls from passengers on the aircraft requesting medical assistance. As such, a full emergency response was activated including Airport Emergency Response Service, Ottawa Paramedic Services and Ottawa Police Service. One passenger was treated. Once in the aircraft, Airport Authority personnel realized that the aircraft had no operating air conditioning. We made arrangements for bottled water to be delivered to the aircraft and distributed by Authority personnel. We also offered to bring fans to the aircraft to help cool it. Our staff also suggested to the flight crew that all doors on the aircraft be open to permit fresh air to enter the aircraft. In response to a frantic passenger whose pet was kennelled in the cargo hold of the aircraft, the Airport Authority coordinated with Canada Border Services Agency to provide water to the dog and ensure it was in no danger.
While the responsibility for deciding whether a flight is deplaned and processed through Canada Customs rests entirely with the airline, the Ottawa Airport has a comprehensive Customer Care Program that is ready for deployment as needed. Our team was on standby shortly after the first diversion landed, but our services were not requested. We keep a supply of water, food, diapers and other personal hygiene necessities to support passenger needs in irregular operation scenarios, and were prepared to deploy these supplies. Although our staff tried several times to contact the aircrew through the handlers to provide further assistance, the air crew was non-communicative and did not take us up on our offers to assist further.

Krista Kealey
Vice-President, Communications and Public Affairs


Air Transat chose to refuse help to avoid any fees - simple as that. Other international flights didn't have this issue- just the two TS flights, go figure

[Twinlinked]

Hmm,

I think I grasp all the facts, I think what annoys me is that Air Transat and the news coverage don't seem to mention the facts they just quote Air Transat's statement that it was the airports fault..

A.

[RKelly]

That was a very well written release from the Airport. Rather rare these days.

[Twinlinked]

Agreed, well written,

A.

[Matt Varnish]

And from my end we see zero dips in airline numbers due to things like this The public is too stupid tonrealize that certain airlines are super cheap. Look up "the mexican game" where an air charter was selling non stop routes to customers that were literally impossible for them to run in the aircrsft they were using. So every week.. the return leg would always have to land in louisianna to refuel for technical reasons. They knew full well none of those ppl would have xhosen that flight with a scheduled layover... so they faked it. It gets worse further south.. soccer team gets killed because the charter flight they bookwd was so cheap they jad zero reserve fuel on board. They had to do a few go arounds due to weather and crashed into mountains. I typically fly the big firms. Other ppl.can try the ultra low cost airlines and you get what you pay for. Shit like this air transat fiasco

[Coyote]

You're lucky to have an employer who is willing to cover for your personal mistakes CA$H. We all knew that it was you who cut communications so you'd have more time to plan the Pathfinder game.

[Twinlinked]

Lol,

A.

[lothlann]

When the plane lost power on the tarmac the people should have been taken off the plane as an emergency procedure. That should fall under the same law as leaving children in cars. People with asthma could potentially die in heat like that without fresh air. Just the doors open on a plane isn't enough air flow to support that many people in such a confined space. Kids were puking it was so hot apparently.

[Twinlinked]

It would be interesting to see if anyone tries to press charges against the airline for either a civil or criminal suit..

A.

[lothlann]

You can't really, they didn't do anything wrong.

[Twinlinked]

Well it depends I guess,

If they were in emotional or physical distress that could be a lawsuit, maybe confinement if people asked to get off the plane and were not allowed out,

If it can be proven the reason for doing what they did was to save money, maybe sue for some of the money that was saved, like a class action or something,

I think this is what lawyers live for, isn't it..

A.

[lothlann]

The problem with airlines is they make the rules, government never set laws for them, like cancelled flight reimbursement or if your kicked off the flight if they overbooked it. Now with everyone having video recording devices and the ability to post everything live all the stuff we put up with years ago is now all over the news.

If there was no cell phones we probably wouldn't have heard about that doctor pulled off the plane a while back.

[Twinlinked]

Fair point, about cell phones and social media, hopefully we will start to see some changes,

now if only airports could get thier baggage handling systems in line to support the helpless airlines..

A.

[Twinlinked]

to wrap this up, Phil Defranco covered this issue on his show, it the last story he covers in his video, my favorite line, "and that a big F*ck You in Canadian" lol

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