How did the situation unfold?

April 17, 2026 Team Contributor

The fresh Cancun vibes soon turned sour for passengers, including families and children, aboard a WestJet flight that reached Toronto late on Thursday.

What was supposed to be a routine flight, a little over 5 hours from Cancún International Airport (CUN) to Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), turned into an unexpected, exhausting 14-hour ordeal.

It might be another classic case of weather diversion exacerbated by a staffing bottleneck at a regional airport. This time, it was Region of Waterloo International Airport (YKF).

How did the situation unfold?

The situation at the Region of Waterloo International Airport (YKF) in the wee hours of Thursday, April 16, looked chaotic, testing the patience of passengers and crews alike.

While CTN cannot confirm the exact passenger count, reports from those on board described a crowded cabin filled with families and groups returning from vacation, suggesting the flight was at or near full capacity.

Around 1:00 AM, as the aircraft approached Toronto Pearson (YYZ), the pilots encountered severe fog and zero visibility. After several “left and right turns” around the airport, the flight was officially diverted to YKF, as CTV reported in a statement received from the airlines.

The Toronto Pearson airport issued a weather advisory on Thursday morning, confirming that foggy conditions had disrupted “start-up operations” and impacted several arrivals.

In the next 15 minutes, the plane was on the tarmac at YKF (Waterloo Region). Because the Waterloo control tower typically closes at 11:00 PM, the landing was executed with assistance from Toronto-based air traffic controllers.

The next 8.5 hours from 1:15 AM were an emotional ordeal for passengers.

Because YKF was not staffed with international customs officers overnight, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) had to dispatch officers from another location. Under the Customs Act, international passengers must be processed by CBSA officers before they enter Canada.

Passengers were finally allowed to disembark, clear customs, and retrieve their luggage by 9:45 AM.

The passengers had a sigh of relief only when they were made to reboard the aircraft at 10:10 AM. The flight made a short 15-minute hop to Toronto Pearson, finally ending a 14-hour journey.

Confusion, chaos and a lack of communication

Trevor Lester, a traveller from Orillia, Ontario, and other passengers described the atmosphere inside the cabin as increasingly chaotic. Patience began to wear thin in the absence of clear information as passengers yelled, “Let us off!”.

The long wait was particularly hard for kids on board who were inconsolable. What made matters worse was that no food was supplied to exhausted passengers. Only water was eventually distributed as the delay stretched past the six-hour mark.

There was a brief moment of panic when passengers were told their duty-free purchases from Mexico could not be brought back onto the plane after customs clearance, though this was later resolved, and they were allowed to keep them.

This incident has sparked a fresh debate among Canadian travel advocates regarding the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR) and whether airlines should be required to have contingency gate-side customs agreements at diversion airports.