Houston air travel logjam finally breaks after week
Hurricane Harvey and its flooding forces WestJet cancellations, delays, re-routing
After a week of travel plans blown away by hurricane Harvey, WestJet flights to Houston resumed on Thursday.
But that slow return to normalcy was too late for at least one Calgary family, whose return home following a Gulf of Mexico cruise was delayed three days by the massive storm.
Theirs was among 25 WestJet flights to and from Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport cancelled since last Thursday, affecting 1,400 passengers, said airline spokeswoman Lauren Stewart.
“The airport in Houston is open ... we’re going to try to accommodate those plans by putting a few extra flights down there,” she said, noting the delays were too long for some of those plans to be made up.
The carrier sent one flight from Calgary to Houston on Thursday, with two planned for each of Friday and Saturday, said Stewart.
“It’s a heavily-used route for business travel with the oil and gas industry,” she said.
The airline has also worked to make it easier for travellers to cancel or reschedule flights.
Calgarian Jeff Davies said a trip to spread his late mother’s ashes in the Caribbean off the coast of Mexico turned into a nightmare when Harvey hit their cruise ship’s Texas port of departure and return, Galveston.
Their Carnival Cruise Lines ship was forced to divert to New Orleans on Monday.
And Davies, his mobility-challenged father and two kids had to bypass hurricane-stricken Galveston, and a direct flight back to Calgary, to eventually make their way instead to Los Angeles.
“My cousin in Houston told us ‘you can’t come here, it’s a disaster,’ ” said Davies, who hadn’t been following weather reports.
WestJet’s partner carrier, Delta Air Lines, offered to fly the family to Los Angeles for an exorbitant price of more than $800 a person, which they rejected in favour of Southwest Airlines flights of $135 per seat, he said.
In Los Angeles, Davies said WestJet’s handling of their flight to Calgary on Wednesday night via Vancouver was a frustrating debacle of delays and insensitivity, particularly pertaining to his ailing 73-year-old father.
“It was a boondoggle, it’s just another big airline where profits are first,” he said.
WestJet’s Stewart said the carrier’s customers have generally understood most of the travel disruptions caused by Harvey are beyond their control.
But she said the airline would look into Davies’ complaints, “because care and compassion is what we’re known for.”
Davies said he appreciates his problems pale in comparison to those plaguing hurricane-ravaged southeast Texas.
“I understand there are people far worse off than me ... life is pretty good,” he said.