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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.