These are the faces of weary travellers essentially imprisoned aboard a Sunwing Vacations jet which sat on the tarmac at Toronto airport for some 13 and a half hours today before they were released back into the terminal for a short break. They later re-boarded and departed for Panama City tonight. It was a scenario very much in the cards as technology, human expectation and immutable weather collided to make victims out of airline passengers. There was precious little food and even less water. In the end, passengers were given consolation food vouchers for use in the terminal and a small “travel voucher”. Hundreds of flights were cancelled through the day. A Sunwing spokesman sounded a little sensitive when interviewed by CP24 as he tried to explain the company was doing its best. The spokesperson, Daryl McWiliams, blamed problems related to de-icing. That would have been an essential process for any plane taking off today and it was not explained why Sunwing seemed to be out in the de-icing cold. Finally, at about 8 p.m. the jet was able to obtain a gate to disembark passengers into the same terminal from which they had boarded the plane at 7 a.m. The Sunwing saga was the most dramatic of the countless inconveniences experienced at the airport.
