By Wendy Anders

Amidst flight delays due to ashfall in Costa Rica in recent days, Air Canada took the cake early this week for disrupting hundreds of passengers’ plans due to a problem with the head count on board.

Ken Joy posted on Facebook from Toronto, Canada at 11:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9 that he had finally made it home.

He managed to have some good cheer left after facing over a day’s delay returning from Costa Rica on Air Canada along with some 272 other passengers. “Made the news! Happy and home now, and certainly enjoyed meeting fun people on our ‘bonus’ night at the Hampton!” said Joy.

According to CityNews.ca, “Pamela Machado, a Milton, Ont.-based lawyer, said passengers boarded the flight at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 8, and were told of a headcount problem. She said they were permitted to deplane at 2 p.m. to get food, and were asked to reboard at 3:30 p.m. But at 7:15 p.m., the crew announced the flight had been cancelled, she said.”

Air Canada spokesman, Peter Fitzpatrick, spoke with Canadian news sources about the delay saying, ”It was technically a ‘reconciliation error’ between [the] computer count and the physical passenger count on board which revealed one person was missing. For safety and security reasons, aircraft cannot depart in such situations.”

Passengers tweeted complaints about conditions during the hours sitting on the runway, such as poor air circulation and lack of access to food and water, which particularly affected families traveling with some children, said news reports.

After a promised rebooking the following day at 3:00 p.m., Machado said some passengers were provided with accommodation, but that communication was sporadic, according to CityNews.ca.

Monday, Jan. 9, passengers heading to Canada from San José’s international airport finally took off shortly after 6:00 p.m., for a delay of about 32 hours, and a hectic ending to travelers’ vacations.

Some tourists complained of the added expenses they were forced to take on due to the delay, and others of lost work time, according to news reports.

Meanwhile, Canadian media reported that Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau late last year promised new passenger rights protections for Canadian air travellers who lag behind on such measures.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau said last November that the proposed guidelines would set compensation standards for passengers who are bumped from flights as well as rules for lost luggage, said CityNews.ca. Fitzpatrick said the cost of the return portion of the trip will be refunded and passengers will also be offered a goodwill gesture, reported CityNews.ca.

“We are very sorry about the impact on our customers and we fully recognize the inconvenience it causes when flights are delayed,” he said to media.

Machado said at least 100 travelers aboard the Air Canada flight from San José are planning to jointly sign a complaint letter to request full compensation for the flight, according to CityNews.ca.