A woman is “livid” after her mother’s remains, which were being transported to the Island of St. Vincent from Toronto, never made her connecting flight.
Dion De Freitas told CTV News Toronto that her mother was visiting her new grandchild in Canada when the 63-year-old passed away in her sleep.
Nancy Patricia Samuel's body was sent home in a casket on an Air Canada flight Monday morning. It was scheduled to be put on a connecting Amerijet flight from Miami to St. Vincent on Tuesday morning. De Freitas said she was later notified that the casket never made the connection.
“I was told by the Amerijet agent that Air Canada did not hand over my mother’s body to them until 3:52 p.m. Tuesday,” De Freitas said. “At that time, the Amerijet flight would have already landed in St. Vincent.
De Freitas claims that her mother’s body was then stored in an unrefrigerated warehouse for three days, but Air Canada maintains the remains are being cared for in an “appropriate facility.”
In a statement to CTV News Toronto, Air Canada confirmed that the casket missed its connecting flight to St. Vincent. It also said the flight only operates once a week and the airline offered to make alternative arrangements with a charter aircraft.
“We immediately made arrangements to transport the remains via a charter aircraft for which we would cover the cost. However, Ms. De Freitas then instructed us to hold until the next direct flight (Tuesday,) which we honoured.”
“We transport thousands of human remains annually. Our employees take this responsibility very seriously as we understand the importance and sensitivities around these special flights.”
But De Freitas said that Air Canada only offered to fly the casket back through New York last night. The body then would have to be transferred to Miami and another connecting flight to St. Vincent.
“This is just not a bag you are leaving behind,” De Freitas said. “This is somebody’s mother, grandmother, auntie. This is a person. Even though she has passed on, you treat these people with respect.”
De Freitas said her mother’s funeral and burial, which was supposed to take place on Saturday, will have to be postponed by a week.
-With files from CTV News Toronto's Austin Delaney
