‘That was awful’: Couple’s Toronto-bound flight repeatedly circles near Antigua due to ‘mechanical issue’ before turning back, forced to sleep in suitcase overnight

On board the Air Canada Rouge flight (left), a woman sleeping on a conveyor belt at the V.C. Bird International Airport in Antigua (right).

An Ontario couple says that they were left to try and sleep in their suitcase at a shuttered airport—without food and water—in Antigua after their Toronto-bound flight with Air Canada was forced to turn back due to a mechanical issue with the aircraft last week.

Leanne and Kirk Paty went to Antigua with a group of friends for a pickleball tournament. They were initially scheduled to return home on Feb. 13 but had received a notice from Air Canada a day prior, informing them the flight would be delayed due to a “mechanical issue on an earlier flight.”

They received three more flight delay notices from the airline, and in the final hour before their plane was finally going to take off, they said the pilot made an announcement at the gate.

“The pilot came on and said there was an issue where one of the vehicles on the tarmac hit the side of the plane and there was some scratched paint, so they were assessing the damage at the airport in Antigua,” Leanne Paty said. They boarded the plane after it was deemed fit and took off but something didn’t feel right to the Patys.

“The whole time we were in the air, it just felt like we weren’t climbing. So, we started to get a little worried,” Leanne recounted.

Soon after, the pilot alerted the passengers on the plane that that the aircraft was “fine,” and that it was a “false alarm,” the Patys said. As the pilot was talking, the couple said they could hear an alarm sounding off in the background.

About 10 minutes later, the couple said the pilot went back on the intercom calling the flight attendants to the flight deck, with the plane continuously going in circles.

“We didn’t really know (what) was going on. The plane was making some weird noises,” Leanne said.

Based on the flight data from FlightAware, the plane circled the ocean southwest of the island 11 times, staying in the air for nearly two hours before touching back down at the V.C. Bird International Airport.

“He landed the plane faster than I’d ever experienced,” Leanne noted.

Air Canada confirmed the AC Rouge flight, carrying 113 fliers, had to return to the island.

“After take-off, the pilots received a landing gear indication and opted to return to Antigua as a precautionary measure,” Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick told CTV News Toronto. “The flight landed normally, but the aircraft was taken out of service for inspection.”

Taking turns sleeping in their suitcase

The Patys said it was about midnight when they were told they would not be provided with any sort of stay ahead of their rescheduled flight.

“We were brought down to the arrivals desk area and then, nothing. Just, ‘Okay, you’re here for the night,” Leanne Paty recounted.

At that point, everything inside of the airport was shuttered, the Patys said. They noted that they only saw two security officers patrolling the site and a janitor mopping the floors. The couple adds there were seniors in wheelchairs and families travelling with babies stuck at the airport, with no water and food – not even a vending machine.

Left without any options, the couple took turns attempting to sleep in their suitcase.

“There (were) people sleeping all over the place,” Kirk Paty said.

“That was awful,” Leanne Paty chimed in.

In photos taken by the Patys, one traveller could be seen asleep on a luggage conveyor belt while two other fliers were sprawled out on the airport’s tiled floor, laying next to a potted plant and using clothes as makeshift pillows.

Fitzpatrick says the airline tried their best to find accommodations for their customers but due to the “unscheduled return,” nothing was available as it is seasonal peak demand.

The Patys were rescheduled for a flight on the afternoon of Feb. 14. At the time of the interview, they were waiting at a nearby beach as their flight was, yet again, delayed.

In the text from Air Canada, reviewed by CTV News Toronto, the airline said their flight was delayed due to “weather conditions” from an earlier flight. Last Friday, Toronto was in the midst of two massive winter storms that blanketed the city with more than 70 centimetres of snow in the span of mere days.

Their initially scheduled 3 p.m. flight was delayed until 8:30 p.m., with the airline later citing an “earlier delay with the inbound scheduled aircraft” as the reason for the continued holdup.

“Around lunchtime they gave some passengers that didn’t leave the airport food vouchers, that could only be used at the few places after you checked your bag and went through security,” Leanne wrote in an email update. “At this point, our flight was at 9:15 (p.m.) so they’d have to stay over there for eight hours. Also, they didn’t have enough vouchers.”

The Patys said they finally landed back at Pearson at around 4 a.m. the following day. While the couple had an incredible vacation with their friends and enjoyed their stay in Antigua, they said they wished Air Canada’s communication with them was better, adding it was “inappropriate” to leave passengers to sleep on an airport floor with no water and food.

“We fully recognize this has been very inconvenient for our customers and we have provided a goodwill gesture and will be following up with them upon their return with respect to expenses incurred and compensation,” Fitzpatrick said.

Have you recently had a vacation turn into a nightmare? CTV News Toronto and CP24 want to hear from you. Share your story by emailing us at [e-mail] with your name, general location, relevant travel info and phone number in case we want to follow up. Your comments may be used in a CTV News Toronto and CP24 story.