On Thursday, a Porter Airlines flight PD444 from Victoria to Toronto was forced to cancel after a young child refused to fasten his seatbelt, leaving more than 100 passengers stranded in the city until the following day.
The flight had closed its doors and departed Victoria International Airport terminal, taxiing to the runway for takeoff. At this point, the crew noticed a young child standing in their seat, refusing to sit down and fasten their seatbelt. According to the airline statement, parents and crew members made several unsuccessful attempts to fasten the child’s seatbelt.
Porter Airlines stated that the aircraft could not take off under unsafe conditions, and the crew ultimately decided to return to the terminal and disembark all passengers. Because removing the young child and their parents along with their luggage, resubmitting the flight plan, and completing related formalities took a considerable amount of time, the entire process was delayed until after 12:30 AM the following day, by which time Victoria International Airport’s runways had already entered their nighttime closure period.
As a result, passengers on flight PD444 were unable to travel that evening and had to spend the night in Victoria. Porter Airlines apologized for the inconvenience caused to other passengers and confirmed that all passengers had departed on another flight on Friday.