Nerve-racking, but we got home to Canada

The gut-wrenching word “cancelled” appeared on the departures board next to our flight, and the Air Canada agent confirmed it with an announcement. Our fears had come true. We might not get home to Canada after all.

Pandemonium erupted amongst the hundreds of passengers hungering for that March 22 flight to take them out of Argentina and home to Canada. Social distancing due to COVID-19 flew out the window – the only thing flying that day – as everyone crowded around the Air Canada officials, trying to hear what would happen next.

The Argentine government had denied our inbound plane permission to land in Buenos Aires. No one knew why, since the government had said earlier in the week that flights could continue until March 28. Air Canada officials couldn’t tell us what would happen next: whether our flights would be rebooked or where we would stay that night, since Air Canada would not pay for meals, hotels or transportation to a hotel. All the airline did was take our email address and say they would notify us.

We were ushered back through immigration, and my heart sank when the official stamped “ANULADO” over our exit stamp. We retrieved our luggage and exited into the main airport departure hall – on our own and unsure what to do next, where to stay or what to expect. In fairness to airline and airport staff, they didn’t know either and they are in extremely stressful jobs right now as the world reacts to COVID-19, aka coronavirus.

But our stress levels were also skyrocketing.

After taking several deep breaths, we decided to look after ourselves rather than hope Air Canada might rebook our flights. We messaged our friend Andrea, who works for Air Canada, to see if she could help us find any other flight out that night. Unfortunately, every possibility she found – with Delta, Emirates, Aerolineas, and LATAM, through Santiago, Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo – was showing up on the departures board as either ‘cancelled’ or ‘delayed’ and we knew that ‘delayed’ would ultimately mean ‘canceled.’

We stood in a LATAM (Chile’s national airline) line to buy a ticket anywhere, hoping to then get a flight home to Canada from there. But the LATAM agent did not recommend buying any ticket that night, since he doubted any flights would leave. And he also did not recommend flying through Santiago, Chile, since the transportation network there was “collapsing.”

We re-booked into the Sheraton in downtown Buenos Aires, where we’d been waiting days for our flight. We felt safe there. And if we ended up stranded for a lengthy time in Argentina, we might be able to travel back to Larroque, three hours away by bus, to stay again with our Argentine HelpX host Estela.

After exhausting all possibilities at the airport, we returned to the Sheraton, had a fitful night’s sleep, and woke to the nerve-racking challenge of finding a way home to Canada. We tried unsuccessfully to call the Canadian Embassy. Many deep breaths. Our emotions were on edge. We emailed or messaged everyone we could think of who might help or offer information: the Canadian Embassy, Air Canada booking in Argentina, Global Affairs Canada, Estela (to help interpret Spanish-language news reports), Andrea again, and our friend Bob, who travels so much he has his own Air Canada concierge.

We followed up every lead we could find. Bob had a flight to Sao Paulo on hold. Meanwhile, we fielded countless messages from friends and family who had been tracking our flight and knew we were stuck. We came very close to taking several friends up on offers to call government officials in Ottawa. But then, the Canadian Embassy replied to my email, saying the Air Canada flight that day might be okay. Andrea couldn’t see that flight at her end, and Bob was told it was booked, but somehow, through his Air Canada concierge, Bob was finally able to book us!

“Flight is in 3 hours…start packing,” said Bob over Skype. He finalized the booking as we scrambled to pack wet laundry, check out, get police permission to leave the hotel, get a taxi and drive “muy rapido, por favor” to the airport – 45 minutes and two police checkpoints away.

My heart pounded as we stood in line to check in for our flight, because we still didn’t have the flight confirmations from Bob. But just as we got to the desk, the confirmations came through.

I did not feel hopeful as we hurried through security and to the boarding lounge. I was sure today’s flight would be cancelled too, since the Argentine government still hadn’t explained what had happened yesterday. But as we neared the lounge, I looked out the window, then grabbed Bill’s arm in disbelief.

“Look!” I exclaimed. An Air Canada plane was arriving at the gate! Our plane! I swallowed around a lump in my throat. I have never been so happy and relieved to see an Air Canada plane. Clapping erupted amongst all the waiting passengers. My hopes rose that we might get home to Canada after all.

We did indeed make it home. After more delays, we flew to Santiago, Chile, where we had to get off the plane for two hours while staff got it ready for the 10-hour overnight flight to Toronto. I worried the whole time that our flight wouldn’t be allowed to leave Santiago. But finally, we got back on the plane and took off! As we rose over the Andes again and headed north, I finally allowed myself to relax and believe that we were going home to Canada.

After some rebooking challenges in Toronto due to our late arrival, we flew back to Ottawa where our friend Arthur was waiting to drive us to our 14-day isolation house in the village of Galetta, near Arnprior. Our 30-hour day finally ended.

In retrospect, it was just a 24-hour delay, but it was an anxiety-filled tense 24 hours that came after a week of uncertainty, so it seemed much longer. We had been through an emotional wringer.

Air Canada still has not contacted us about rebooking our cancelled flight, and all flights after March 27 have been suspended until April 30. If Bob had not made a new booking for us, we might have been stranded in Argentina until at least April 30. 

We are once again counting our blessings:

• We got home, even if it did cost a lot of money.
• We have a cozy house to use for our 14-day isolation.  
• Our daughter Rachel and her partner, Coburn, got home to Canada from New Zealand. That journey included transit through Australia, and they managed to hit the 72-hour window that the Australian government allowed for transit flights. 
• We are two of the one million Canadians who were able to return home last week.

As Robbie Burns wrote, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” What lessons did we learn from our flight that went awry?

• Be proactive. You can’t sit around waiting for airlines or the government or the embassy to take care of you.
• Reach out to everyone you can think of and accept all offers of help.
• Figure out what you know for sure, versus speculation, and base your plans on that.
• Even when you think you’re flexible, you can still take it to a whole new level.
• We were right to have an emergency fund of $5,000, but we should probably double it to deal with situations like this.
• I must work very hard to stay positive.
• It’s impossible to adequately thank all those who help you.

What’s next? Once we’ve recovered from the immense fatigue we still feel, we’ll start thinking about the future. For now, like so many others, we have no plans. We will just be thankful every day for health, family, friends, food and the signs of spring around us.