Hundreds of Porter Airlines passengers are in limbo at Billy Bishop Airport due to a telecom outage in the United States.
Brad Cicero with Porter Airlines says the issue is impacting all areas of the company’s website, passenger processing, and reservation systems. This has led to numerous flight delays and cancellations.
“It’s been a crappy response,” said one passenger, whose flight to New York was cancelled.
“We arrived at 4:30 p.m. for our five o’clock flight. They knew the system was down, but made no announcement... People were still showing up to the airport unaware of the problem. At least send passengers a message.”
The main departure area is full of passengers waiting for a flight update. Shelly Piche and her family are trying to get home to Sault Ste. Marie, but haven’t been told anything about their flight.
“It’s a little frustrating. My daughter isn’t feeling well. There should be more updates. A lot of people are confused about what to do.”
Porter Airlines says it’s in direct contact with the telecom providers and reassures passengers they’ll be transported as quickly as possible.
Porter later added that the issue has been isolated. About 20 Porter flights have been cancelled this evening. Brad Cicero adds that “compensation will be provided to passengers based on their particular situation, including refunds for anyone who cancels their reservation based on the circumstances.”
