Sask. family stranded in Toronto after flight delayed by 2 days

A Warman, Sask. man is blaming Transport Canada's COVID-19 travel restrictions for a disastrous end to his family's Disney holiday.

Kelvin Ooms' family had their flight home delayed by two days.

"I'm just looking for compensation on the probably $1,200, $1,500 extra that I didn't plan on spending that somebody needs to be accountable for. You just can't do this to travellers," Kelvin Ooms said.

Ooms and his wife took their kids on a surprise trip to Disney World last week. Their flight home to Saskatoon on Sunday had connections in Halifax and Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

Their flight from Halifax was delayed by an hour due to a lack of flight control personnel at Pearson, Ooms said.

Scenes of endless security and customs queues at large Canadian airports — and Pearson in particular — have played out all spring, with peak travel season still weeks away.

The Ooms family knew that would make it tight to make the connecting flight — but when they landed they learned the trip to Saskatoon was delayed till Tuesday.

"My son, who had just turned eight, was devastated. He wasn't understanding, he didn't think he was ever getting home. He started crying, it just wasn't the way to end a family vacation by any means," Ooms said.

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In addition, the family had already spent about $10,000 on the vacation and was now looking at four days of lost income between Ooms and his wife and additional costs for transportation and meals.

He said he got conflicting reasons for the delay from WestJet and Pearson, but an airport manager eventually told him the delay was due to the federal government's COVID-19 rules.

Ooms is critical of the apparent rules in the airport, noting that while masks are mandatory in most of the airport, masking and distancing requirements weren't in place in crowded airport restaurants.

"It doesn't make any sense. Where is the consistency in this? If it's Transport Canada, they need to get their acts together. These airlines, these airports, they need to talk to each other. They need to start giving proper information to the travellers. Because what we got as a family of four and everybody that was around us at Pearson, everybody was getting conflicting stories."

Ooms said the family made the best of the situation by visiting Niagara Falls and taking in a Toronto Blue Jays game.

Sandi Levinton, owner of Marlin Travel in Saskatoon, advised people to avoid Pearson, or at least allow an extra couple of hours to get through security.

She said Pearson is facing a staffing issue with more people travelling again. For those heading to Europe and other destinations, she advises clients to head through Montreal and Ottawa.

According to Levinton, many airports are facing a similar issue but it’s exacerbated at Pearson due to it being a major hub.

“It's unfortunate but they're doing the best that they can to deal with it.”

Duncan Dee, former chief operating officer for Air Canada, told CTV News last week that many delays at Pearson stem from customs and immigration desks inadequately equipped to deal with the surge in passenger traffic and COVID-19 border measures, creating a domino effect of delays.

"Each and every one of the travellers is screened. And it's now taking four times longer than it did before the pandemic," he said.

The federal government has announced that it will be suspending mandatory random COVID-19 testing at all airports for vaccinated travellers starting June 11.

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which operates Pearson, had been urging the feds to temporarily pause on-site testing at airports as it expects international passenger numbers to jump by 50 per cent as the summer travel season ramps up.

With files from Tyler Barrow, CTVNews.ca and the Canadian Press