A Kelowna woman trying to come home to her family says she is grateful to finally fly back after days of flight cancellations.

Shyloe Fayad was stuck in Calgary for two days trying to get back home to Kelowna after visiting spending some time with her children in Montreal.

She left Kelowna on Aug. 4 and was scheduled to come back home on Aug. 16. With direct flights now offered between Montreal and Kelowna, Fayad didn乌鸦传媒檛 think much of it.

But on the day she was supposed to fly back, her direct flight back to the Kelowna International Airport (YLW) was cancelled due to the thick wildfire smoke.

So Air Canada put her on a different route: fly out of Montreal to Ottawa, then from there to Calgary and from Calgary to YLW.

But as she was waiting for takeoff to catch to her connecting flight in Calgary, she received a text from Air Canada: her flight home has been cancelled, again because the wildfire smoke was too thick to make a safe landing.

Senior airport development manager at YLW Geoff Ritchie said the fires certainly have had an impact on airport operations.

乌鸦传媒淒ue to the wildfires in the vicinity of the airport, visibility and wind have been contributing factors to some of the flight delays and cancellations over the past week or so,乌鸦传媒� he said.

乌鸦传媒淵LW has been able to stay operational during this time, but each airline has their own procedures as to why and when it would cancel flights based on weather or other local situations.乌鸦传媒�

For her part, Fayad said airport and airline staff have been patient as events continued to unfold.

乌鸦传媒淏ecause it乌鸦传媒檚 not Air Canada乌鸦传媒檚 fault, it乌鸦传媒檚 because of the fires, they乌鸦传媒檙e not liable for anything. They乌鸦传媒檙e not paying for my hotel while I乌鸦传媒檓 stuck here, they乌鸦传媒檙e not paying for the Uber rides I乌鸦传媒檝e taken to and from the airport, they乌鸦传媒檙e not paying for my food.

乌鸦传媒淚 also have a teenager back home (in Kelowna) and she乌鸦传媒檚 all alone. I乌鸦传媒檓 relying on my community, which is fine, but it乌鸦传媒檚 still extremely stressful as a single mom.乌鸦传媒�

Since speaking with Black Press Media, Fayad was scheduled to board a 10:30 a.m. flight from Calgary to Kelowna, which was cancelled, but was immediately put into a noon flight, finally arriving at around 1:30 p.m.

Fayad said she乌鸦传媒檚 not sharing her story to put the blame on YLW or any airline, but rather, to show people that climate change is real and affects more people than realized.

乌鸦传媒淭he fires are getting so much worse and we did this ourselves. Yes, I乌鸦传媒檓 in my privileged bubble going boohoo I乌鸦传媒檓 stuck in Calgary乌鸦传媒� but there are people in Glenrosa, in Westside, in the Peachland area, their lives are burning up right in front of their faces,乌鸦传媒� she said.

乌鸦传媒淎nd what can we do about it? Maybe we should stop burning up fossil fuels, stop doing the things we乌鸦传媒檙e doing to tear up the world.乌鸦传媒�

Air Canada said in a statement that they continue to monitor the situation in the Interior, and that they will operate flights when it is safe to do so.

The airline also said passengers can continue to make changes to their bookings without change fees if they need to.

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twila.amato@blackpress.ca
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