Family misses flights and Christmas dinner in Newfoundland, says Yellowknife airport needs to improve

A Yellowknife family says delays at the Yellowknife airport ruined their holiday plans to visit relatives in Newfoundland in what was supposed to be their second visit in 20 years.

Jennifer Bond says she, her husband and son were checked in, past security, and standing in the boarding lounge well before their scheduled take-off time on Dec. 20.

But theyended up missing all of their connecting flights, thanks to delays at the Yellowknife airport, says Bond.

"[We] hopped through security, no problem, we were the first ones through," said Bond, a long-time Yellowknifer of 35 years.

But within minutes, Bond says the security line-up became extremely long, creating a bottle-neck. Their WestJet flight, which was supposed to leave at 8 p.m., left about an hour and a half later, Bond said.

When they got to Calgary, they missed their connecting flight to Halifax, and subsequently, their flight to St. John's. Their Calgary layover was supposed to be approximately onehour.

The family was then offered another flight three days later, says Bond.

Bond says that would have meant spending five days travellingfor just a few days in Newfoundland, so they decided to cancel their trip and head back home to Yellowknife.

"It was pretty rotten," said Bond.

"[There] was a big build up and it was really exciting for everybody. It just turned into a really awful chain of events."

Bond says WestJetreimbursed the family in full for their missed trip.

The family is still waiting for all of their Christmas presents, which were shipped to Newfoundland before their trip, to be mailed back to Yellowknife.

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Yellowknife airport's 1 line for security

There's only one line to get through the security checkpoint at the Yellowknife airport.

Bond says the Government of the Northwest Territories, which operates the airport, should look into improvements with security checks and re-organizingflight schedules during peak travel seasons.

"Perhaps they need to seriously look at how this airport functions, especially during the high travel seasons. It was quite evident that one X-ray machine was not adequate to process this many people and it ended up in many, many people having their holidays ruined, or completely altered or shortened," said Bond.

But improvements are underway, says the airport's manager.

A new system called the CATSA plus, introduced by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, will be implemented at the airport by next summer, says Lee Stroman, the regional airport manager with the territorial government.

Larger airports in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal already have this federally-funded technology that aims to make airport security system more efficient, according to CATSA.

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CATSA spokesperson Mathieu Larocque said Yellowknife airport is one of the smaller airports to get an adapted version of the system which will have continuous flow of bins and split lanes for carry-on baggage needing extra screening, so it doesn't slow down passengers with cleared carry-ons.

It'll increase the rate that passengers get screened by 60 to 70 per cent, meaning shorter lines and wait times, says Stroman.

"We're very lucky to be one of the very first airports to get this upgrade."

Stroman said he couldn't specifically comment on Bond's flight delays, but says the responsibility for delays falls on management, airlines as well as passengers to check in early. He added delays can be caused by a number of reasons, not just slow-moving security lines.

Stroman said airlines are at their own liberty to set their departure and arrival times, and airport management doesn't have much say in flight scheduling.

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