Weary Travellers Endure Delays, Frustration After Toronto Jet Crash

TORONTO (CP) -- Would-be airline passengers at Canada's busiest airport endured a frustrating day of cancellations, delays and long lines Wednesday as the aftermath of a fiery Air France jet crash continued to wreak havoc on travel plans across the country.

Ticket-holders at Toronto's Pearson International Airport dozed fitfully on benches while others grumbled their way through long lineups snaking through the terminals, many of them more than 24 hours after they arrived in anticipation of catching flights home.

Confusion reigned for much of the day as the flood of delays and cancellations left other air carriers scrambling to accommodate stranded passengers.

''Mine is a long, long story,'' sighed a weary Bill Noseworthy, who was trying to get home to Mount Pearl, Nfld., after a slow-pitch tournament in Niagara Falls. His original flight, scheduled to depart shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday, was cancelled about two hours later.

Ten minutes later, Noseworthy, 57, found himself booked on a different flight. That flight was also cancelled. Then his luggage was misplaced.

Noseworthy said CanJet wouldn't let him fly home on another flight until his bags were recovered, apparently due to ''security'' reasons. There was so much misplaced baggage that security was having trouble discerning who owned what and making sure bags were safe.

His luggage was finally recovered at 1 a.m., but Noseworthy can't leave until late Thursday night at the earliest.

''I'll have been here at the airport for three days,'' he snarled, frustrated not with the cause of the delay, but the mixed messages he was getting from his airline.

''I've got no problem if there was crash out there on the runway, I've got no problem if there was bad weather; that stuff happens,'' he said.

''But when you go to supervisor after supervisor and staff member to staff member giving you false and misleading information, it's nothing but frustrating. I'm totally exhausted.''

Carleen Banton of Brampton, Ont., made it to the airport early Wednesday morning to dispatch her three children, aged 10, 12 and 15, on a flight to Orlando, Fla., to see relatives.

Hours later, she sat slumped on a waiting room bench as her kids struggled to stay awake before a flight rescheduled for early Wednesday evening.

''Now we're stuck here all day until quarter to six, I guess,'' Banton groaned, struggling to soothe her agitated kids. ''They're frustrated.''

Banton said she was thankful her carrier, Skyservice, gave her coupons so she could get breakfast for the children, but she wondered what to do about lunch and dinner.

''It's so expensive here to buy food,'' she sighed. ''I can't afford to feed them all day.''

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority said they expected full service to resume and the bulk of the backlog to be cleared by Wednesday evening.

''Obviously we need the co-operation of Mother Nature,'' said Air Canada spokeswoman Laura Cooke. ''We are working flat out to resume as normal an operation as possible today following the closure of the airport for much of (Tuesday).''

The agency was forced to cancel 540 flights between noon and 8 p.m. Tuesday as torrential rains and lightning bore down on the airport. By Wednesday afternoon, three of the airport's five runways had reopened.

Banton said she wished she had received more information about her flight being rescheduled before arriving so early at the airport. She called a hotline number before she left, but to no avail.

''We tried calling, but we couldn't get through,'' she said. ''There were so many people calling.''

Elaine Steele of Winnipeg, who was supposed to fly out late Tuesday night and opted to stay at the airport for fear she'd miss her chance to get home, was wiping sleep from her eyes after spending more than 24 hours in the terminal.

''By the time we leave (Wednesday), it will have been 26 hours that we've been waiting,'' she said. ''I'm frustrated. And very tired.''