No traveler is thrilled to be met with missed connections and extensive delays, but for one teen flying Air Canada from Denver to Thunder Bay, Canada, an airline mishap translated into a harrowing night alone in Toronto's Pearson Airport.
According to Canada's CBC News, 15-year-old Derrin Espinola missed his connecting flight in Toronto due to delays. When he landed at Pearson at 8 p.m., Air Canada reportedly rebooked Espinola on a flight departing for Thunder Bay the next day at 6 p.m., but the teen wasn't offered any food vouchers or accommodations in the interim.
"I was trapped in the airport, and there was nowhere I could go. I could not leave. I could not get a hotel, because I am a minor," Espinola told CBC News. "It was like being held prisoner."
Espinola said he spent much of the night visiting various Air Canada customer service desks asking for help and trying to stay awake and alert for fear of being robbed of his belongings. Meanwhile, Espinola's mother, Karin Patock, who said she booked her son's flights on Air Canada specifically because of their policies on youths traveling alone, spent 10 hours trying to get through to an Air Canada representative by phone after her messages came back with the "unacceptable" response that essentially said, "the airport is under construction and we cannot accommodate anyone right now, so call back later." Patock said the airline "rebooked him like any other person, into the next day with no thought what's going to happen to him when he lands in Toronto in one of the biggest airports in Canada, all by himself."
"I was very hungry, very tired, very scared," Espinola said. "I didn't know really what was going to happen to me."
To make matters worse, Espinola's connecting flight was eventually canceled, and Air Canada rebooked the passenger yet again on a flight departing the following day. In order to avoid his having to spend another night alone in the Toronto airport, Espinola's family booked him a flight on a different airline at their own expense. They've since filed a complaint with Air Canada and the Canadian Transportation Agency.
For their part, Air Canada has said it will be "reaching out to the family" and blamed ongoing airport construction and bad weather for the delays.
"It has been a challenge with the ongoing runway construction at Toronto Pearson, which was also compounded by severe weather conditions last week in the Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa and surrounding areas, including recent adverse conditions in Thunder Bay," an Air Canada spokesperson wrote in an email to CBC News.