Passengers Stuck on Hamilton Runway for Eight Goddamn Hours Until Some Hero Called 911

As if we needed more proof that travelling during the holidays is a special kind of hell, passengers on a Sunwing flight from the Dominican Republic to Calgary were stuck on a runway at an Ontario airport for eight hours going into Tuesday morning. Passengers were only let off at 5 AM after someone called 911.

Pauline Lamoureaux, one of the passengers, was on her way home to Calgary with her husband and kid after a vacation in Punta Cana. "We were on the tarmac for eight hours; we were told they're de-icing, they're doing this, they're doing that," Lamoureaux told VICE. "Five minutes went to an hour, went to two—it just propelled."

The flight had stopped for refueling and a crew change amidst a winter storm in Ontario late Monday night.

Lamoureaux confirmed that some passengers were having panic attacks, while others were simply getting angry or frustrated. Though she said the dynamic remained pretty civil, some people did "raise their voices." According to her, there was no ventilation in the main area of the plane where passengers were, making the situation even worse. Some people were heading to the front of the cabin where the air was a little better to try to get some relief. "You can understand how people react: they're not getting answers, they're getting postponement after postponement, they're exhausted—it's the middle of the night."

Once let off from the plane in Hamilton, Ontario, Sunwing accommodated passengers by getting them hotel rooms. But as Lamoureaux said, they only needed the rooms for a couple of hours since they were able to board another flight to Calgary later in the morning.

Sunwing has apologized and stated that it will be giving passengers on the flight $150 travel vouchers, but at least one passenger won't be using it.

"Absolutely not, no we won't use them, and I don't even know if we'll see them; they weren't promised to us, they were promised after the fact," Lamoureaux said.

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