Passengers stuck for 4-plus hours on tarmac should call police, advocate says

Vancouver’s airport says it's doing everything in its power to prepare for more severe weather Thursday.

Days of heavy snow and extreme cold have severely impaired operations, prompting the airport to limit incoming international arrivals until Friday morning in hopes of clearing congestion on the tarmac.

“Flights are steadily arriving and departing from YVR,” reads an updated posted late Wednesday night. “We continue to keep runways, taxiways and aprons clear of snow and ice, and de-ice aircraft.”

Thursday marks day five of being stranded at the terminal for some travellers.

“Seattle to Saskatoon. Been stuck in Vancouver since Sunday morning. Was trapped in plane on tarmac for five hours. Flight rescheduled to Wednesday night and cancelled again due to crew constraints. Took 5 hours to get luggage with no info on rebooking,” one Twitter user wrote.

Passenger rights advocate Gábor Lukács is advising people to call the police if an airline keeps them seated on the tarmac for longer than three hours and 45 minutes, unless departure is imminent.

“Insist police get you from there. You have a right not to be confined in a space against your will,” said Lukács. “Keeping people locked up that long is inhumane.”

But E-Comm, B.C.’s biggest emergency call centre, stressed that waiting on the airport tarmac due to a flight delay is not an appropriate reason to call police, and particularly not 911.

“General consumer complaints can be detrimental because they divert critical resources from people in real emergencies,” said E-Comm representative Kelly Furey. 

With a major winter storm bearing down on Toronto, impacting operations out east, some people are turning to other travel options.

“It’s going to be another, my guess, a week, so we’re not taking any chances on the plane,” said Prince George resident Mark Videgain. He and his wife are trying to get home after vacationing in Mexico.

”We’ll take a chance driving,” he said.

Meanwhile, Environment Canada is issuing new warnings about dangerous driving conditions ahead of Christmas weekend.

Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley are both under a winter storm watch, as well as an artic outflow advisory as of Thursday morning.

“A Pacific frontal system combined with the cold Arctic air mass over B.C. will bring another round of snow to the South Coast starting Thursday evening,” the federal agency wrote.

Snowfall accumulations ranging from 10 to 20 cm are expected, followed by freezing rain.

“Avoid travel if possible,” Environment Canada wrote. “Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations. Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow. Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become icy and slippery.”

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Regan Hasegawa and The Canadian Press