Were they waiting for the plane to explode?
Readers of my photoblog are aware that I am no stranger to travel delays (misadventure #1, misadventure #2, misadventure #3). This is why I can really sympathize with the passengers of an Air Canada Boeing 767 that was supposed to leave Trudeau airport for London on Friday night. According to this Cyberpresse report, right after they left the gate at 22h30, the pilot was told that his departure authorization was recinded and that they had to move to a parking area away from the terminal.
And there they waited, and waited, and waited…FOR FIVE FREAKING HOURS!!! At 4h30, as the sun was getting up, they finally allowed the exausted passengers to disembark, go back trough custom (oh joy!), and to move to a nearby hotel until they could reschedule the flight the next later that day. It’s only then that the passengers heard that the RCMP had received a bomb threat. Although the article is making light of the fact that the authorities’ hope for discretion were dashed by the fact that three journalists were aboard, no mention is being made of a much more worrisome fact.
If they thought that the threat was credible enough to delay, evacuate and search the plane, why did they leave the passengers aboard for such an extended period? Five hours is almost long enough for the flight to have reached its destination and it is pretty safe to assume that any timing mechanism would have been set for a much shorter delay than that. On the other hand, if the bomber was in the plane, there would have been more than enought time for him to move on to Plan B.
[update] Kate has a few more links but I have yet to find an extended article in the English press.
Related posts:
I would LOVE to know the logic behind their idiotic decision.
As a frequent traveller, I can guarantee you that I will be following up on their statements very closely.