Getting home for the holidays continues to be a challenge at Calgary International Airport and elsewhere

Flight cancellations continued to pile up in Calgary, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Ontario and Quebec on Thursday night.

As of 7 p.m., WestJet said it had cancelled 243 flights on Thursday due to severe winter weather.

And all WestJet flights to and from Vancouver were cancelled through late Friday afternoon.

Adding Friday's cancelled WestJet flights from Abbotsford, Victoria, Nanaimo and Comox, the total is 126.

CTV News learned WestJet is bringing in bigger planes, including its Dreamliner, to essentially serve as "rescue flights" for people who have been stuck in Calgary and B.C. for days.

One person had been stuck at Calgary International Airport, trying to get home to Vancouver, for days.

Another family was having troubles of their own heading west.

"We were actually supposed to land in Vancouver last night. And then WestJet cancelled our flight," one member of the family said.

"So we stood in line, waited on hold and everything. And they eventually said, 'We can't help anyone. You're going to have to figure out your own plans.' So we booked our own flights to Vancouver that are leaving tonight with a different airline."

WestJet said the prolonged and extreme weather events across Canada happening all at once are unlike anything it's experienced in its history.

The airline is allowing people to change or cancel their flights for free, as long as it's done before Boxing Day.