A Winnipeg family celebrated Christmas 48 hours late on Saturday, after their holiday plans were scuttled by flight cancellations and delays out of Vancouver Airport.
Now they are adding their voice to the hundreds of other passengers who filed complaints about the way Air Canada treated them during their travel delays.
Lucille and Doyle Klassen, who live in Abbotsford, B.C., were supposed to fly to Winnipeg on Christmas Eve.
Instead they spent Christmas in a Vancouver hotel, at their own expense, when their flight to Winnipeg was cancelled.
The dinner that they were planning to spend with their children and grandchildren was replaced with a quick meal at a 24-hour diner.
"We discovered that Denny's was open so we went to Denny's for Christmas dinner," Lucille Klassen told CTV News.
Her son Daniel also had trouble with Air Canada. What should have been a five hour flight from Vancouver to Winnipeg Monday ended up taking 24 hours.
"There were so many people that just didn't know where to go," he said.
"They gave us a number to call but the lines were so overloaded that even when we called you couldn't get through for about an hour."
He and his brother have written a letter of complaint to Air Canada
The Consumers Association of Canada says it has received more than 200 calls about the way Air Canada treated its customers who were delayed this week.
Spokesperson Bruce Cran says the company deserves a lump of coal and rating of minus one for its level of customer service.
Barry Prentice at University of Manitoba Transport Institute does not believe the incidents will have any long-term effects on the airline, but he thinks the complaint letters will be read carefully.
"If WestJet continues to always offer better service people will be biased to go that way," he said.
The Klassens ended up flying to Winnipeg on WestJet because they could get a flight two days sooner than Air Canada was offering, but they say will probably fly with Air Canada again.
"It's the first time they disappointed us," Doyle said.
