Ontario actor, mother forced to drive from Vancouver to Toronto after vaccine medical exemption denied at airport
An Ontario mother and son say they will have to drive from Vancouver to Toronto after the 18-year-old's COVID-19 vaccine medical exemption was denied at the airport following the implementation of new travel rules—leaving them stranded and confused.
Stephanie Giordano, who is fully vaccinated, and her son Dorian were set to fly back home on Saturday. Dorian has an auto-immune disorder and travels with a written note from his doctor exempting him from getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
He is an actor and was able to get to Vancouver with the letter, along with a negative PCR test taken 72 hours before his flight, but when the family arrived at the airport on Dec. 4 to fly to Toronto, his exemption was rejected.
"They told me there was a new rule, that I had to fill out paperwork to approve his medical exemption and it could take up to 21 days to get an approval for it," Stephanie said. "I said we haven't even been gone 21 days."
As of Nov. 30, travellers who cannot get vaccinated for medical reasons must fill out a form through their airline and have a licensed Canadian doctor sign it.
"If you’re travelling with multiple airlines, you’ll need to contact each airline," the government's website says.
Stephanie said that she called the Med Desk with Air Canada and spoke with numerous people before being told they had just been informed of the new policy on Dec. 1, three days prior to their flight.
Flying with Air Canada? Here's what you need to know about check-in times. (Flickr / Trevor Carl)
"She really apologized," Stephanie said. "So we just came back to our hotel. Thank goodness they're giving us a really discounted rate, and I reached out to so many new sources and actually went online and kind of asked for help if anybody knew anybody that was driving back, because I don't see that well for my driving."
Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said the airline was only able to communicate the new travel requirements as of Nov. 30.
"We are asking our customers to submit such requests 21 days prior to travel to ensure they are processed by the flight date and so that customers have ample time to supply any missing or supplementary information," he said in a statement. "That said, we will process and review these forms sooner than that under exceptional or urgent situations."
"But, for their own peace of mind and certainty, customers really should submit the forms early because there can be back and forth and also third parties, like doctors, involved."
- MORE: Toronto area family questions COVID-19 travel rules after spending days in quarantine facility
Air Canada eventually reached out to the family and helped guide them through the application process. However, they found out on Wednesday that the medical exemption was rejected for a second time.
It is not clear why the application was denied, but it could be because Dorian's specialist lives in the United States.
Stephanie's husband is now flying to Vancouver with their daughter so they can celebrate her birthday, and then the whole family will rent a car and drive back to Toronto.
"We're driving back to Toronto in the middle of winter," Stephanie said, while her son added that they will have to navigate closed roads due to the flooding in British Columbia. "My husband has to miss a week of work."
The family said that they weren’t clear that the changing regulations would impact those who were medically exempt as well as people who choose not to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
"If we knew that changes would be affecting the medically exempt, then we would have made choices and decisions ahead of time," she said.
Stephanie has said that Air Canada has committed to reimbursing them for their flights.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.