Hundreds of people travelling to and from Whitehorse via Air Canada this week suffered traumatic reroutes and cancelled flights thanks to an onslaught of weather-based cancellations.

The airline cancelled five flights between Vancouver and Whitehorse on Tuesday and today.

Eighty-eight people scheduled to land in Whitehorse on Monday were still in limbo late this morning after their original flight rerouted to Anchorage.

Passengers stayed the night in Anchorage and boarded a second flight to Whitehorse on Tuesday – only to be rerouted to Vancouver again.

As of this morning, passengers were scrambling to find a flight from Vancouver that would bring them to the Yukon.

A spokesperson from Air Canada told the Star via email that the flight was “diverted due to weather limitations for landing in Whitehorse.”

It called Anchorage the “optimal diversion location” for operational reasons, and noted that special arrangements were made with American authorities to clear all passengers at customs.

“Air Canada operates more than 1,600 flights every day, and diversions are extremely rare, and diversions that result in an overnight are even rarer,” the email said.

Jenifer Harrison, a passenger aboard Monday evening’s Air Canada flight, spoke with the Star this morning from the Vancouver airport, and said the experience has been challenging. A solidarity has formed among the 88 passengers in the past two days, she said.

Harrison is travelling from the United Kingdom to visit family in the Yukon for Christmas.

When her flight approached Whitehorse on Monday night, she said, she could tell “visibility was poor” when the pilot abruptly redirected.

Passengers waited for several minutes before the pilot informed them they were headed to Anchorage – without apology nor explanation, Harrison said.

She recalled the plane erupting in groans: many passengers did not have passports and were not prepared to land in the United States.

“We didn’t know what was going to happen. People were concerned about medication, baby clothes, access to our luggage,” Harrison said.

“There was not a single piece of information until we were just about to land.”

She said passengers were handed French-language boarding cards in preparation for landing “which didn’t help English-speaking members of the plane.” They were advised that customs was aware some passengers might not have passports.

“They let us off (the plane), the crew disappeared, they didn’t tell us what to do when we got off or what was going to happen.”

Shuttles eventually arrived at around 2 a.m. and took the passengers to a nearby hotel – where food vouchers were not provided by the airline.

Harrison noted that the hotel staff worked hard to be helpful and the hotel itself was beautiful.

“We didn’t have any food, we didn’t have any American money,” she said. “Every Yukoner on that plane looked after every other person.”

Without their luggage, Harrison said, a father in the travel group used the hotel’s shuttle bus to buy diapers for the families with young children, while they waited for their next flight at 3:45 Tuesday afternoon.

When they arrived for the second flight, Harrison said, customs agents discovered that Air Canada had provided the incorrect manifest of passengers – further delaying boarding.

Harrison said they were unsure of their gate number, so they worked as a team to find the correct route – and were met by unapologetic Air Canada staff.

Harrison said her troupe was warned before boarding that the plane might not make it to the planned destination of Whitehorse.

“We flew into nearly Whitehorse, I was on the left-hand side of the plane by the emergency door and I watched Whitehorse fly by,” Harrison said.

Upon landing back in Vancouver, the travellers felt they were once again “abandoned” by Air Canada staff, who instructed them to go to international customs. They were told hotel and food vouchers “may be available,” Harrison said.

In the U.S. departure zone of the Vancouver airport, Harrison said, passengers were provided with a $15 voucher for dinner and a $7 voucher for breakfast. They were told they would receive a confirmation email that evening with information for a flight to Whitehorse this morning.

At the hotel in Vancouver, Harrison said, a $14 breakfast (a bowl of oatmeal) was the cheapest available – twice the cost their vouchers accounted for.

Only a couple of passengers received the confirmation email promised the night before, and the airport this morning was a flurry of confusion and frustration, Harrison said.

“Everyone has come this morning to try to book themselves in,” she told the Star from the airport this morning. “Air Canada staff here have been good, but no one really knows what’s going on.”

As of this morning, Harrison said, many passengers were trying to book seats on an Air North flight for this afternoon, absorbing the extra cost of purchasing a new flight.

“We’re nervous Air Canada won’t land, because they haven’t landed five flights in two days,” she said. “Air Canada won’t tell us anything.”

Harrison said she has been disappointed by Air Canada’s management of the situation from start to finish.

“They haven’t been rude, but they haven’t done anything positive, proactive of helpful,” she said.

“They have some systems they need to work on – they need to work on their communication at all levels.”

Anne Hargreaves was on the flight with Harrison, and said the passengers worked together to get through the travel difficulties.

“(Jenifer) has been so good at figuring things out for us,” Hargreaves told the Star this morning.

“We’re trying to get to Air North, and we’re all praying.”

Though the diversions were complicated, she said, she was relieved to be reunited with her luggage and a fresh set of clothes the previous night.

“I feel really good, now, as long as we get up north,” she said.

Another passenger, Juneau resident Nate Vallier, said he travels in and out of the North often enough that he knows these diversions happen in the winter months.

“When you live in the Yukon and southeast Alaska, you’re prepared,” Vallier said. “Last night was definitely one of the more challenging flights.”

Vallier said while he was prepared to “go with the flow” he heard passengers around him concerned that they wouldn’t have access to medications and other necessities while diverted in Anchorage.