Police brought in to deal with unruly crowd of Toronto-bound Air Canada passengers

A chaotic scene unfolded at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport over the Family Day long weekend, when police were called in to quell an unruly and angry crowd of Toronto-bound Air Canada passengers.

Toronto resident Nicolas Bello was returning home from Florida following a cruise getaway, one that almost boiled over into a passenger revolt.

Bello shared photos on X of a sheriff standing amid a crowd of frustrated travellers, explaining, "Air Canada fumbling the ball so badly with Fort Lauderdale flights yesterday/today. Now they brought in cops to try and quell the understandably upset travellers."

@AirCanada fumbling the ball so badly with Fort Lauderdale flights yesterday/today. Now they brought in cops to try and quell the understandably upset travelers. #Tourism #CustomerServiceFail pic.twitter.com/X5wIROf32C

— nicolas bello 🐀 (@nbellotoronto) February 20, 2024

Bello tells blogTO that he was originally scheduled to fly home on AC1029, which was supposed to depart Fort Lauderdale at 12:30 a.m. on Monday. However, this flight was postponed multiple times and ultimately cancelled, forcing Bello to rebook for the following day on a different flight, AC2129.

The misery wouldn't end there, though.

He explained in a follow-up post that "excuses and delays" kept travellers waiting for their flight until 1 a.m. on Sunday morning before the flight was ultimately cancelled. Travellers who rebooked the next day, including Bello, faced similar conditions when their flight was pushed back until after midnight.

"Some people been sleeping at the airport since very early yesterday," shared Bello on Monday.

Excuses and delays yesterday..kept us here until about 1am before cancelled flight. Rebooked flight today pushed back until midnight now. Some people been sleeping at airport since very early yesterday.

— nicolas bello 🐀 (@nbellotoronto) February 20, 2024

Passengers were treated to $20 food vouchers for their inconvenience, which Bello spent on a burger from Shake Shack — a brand soon to land in Toronto.

$20 food vouchers here. At least Shake Shack was tasty pic.twitter.com/k62O99L3Cg

— nicolas bello 🐀 (@nbellotoronto) February 20, 2024

Bello's new flight finally took off just before midnight on Monday, arriving in Toronto at 2:18 a.m. the next day.

Just got back from a cruise. Finally home, ugh. pic.twitter.com/FKa9UKHKzI

— nicolas bello 🐀 (@nbellotoronto) February 20, 2024

Bello says he finally made it home at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday, exhausted and frustrated with his travel experience.