Albertans make their way back from Mexico following cartel violence; others remain stranded

Frustration towards airlines is growing for many still stuck in Mexico. Travellers say they have received 'zero' communication since flights were cancelled.

While some Albertans are beginning to return home from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico after widespread violence, others remain stranded there.

High River resident Doug Bellamy says he and his daughters were supposed to fly back to Canada on Sunday, but their flights were cancelled amid ongoing cartel-related violence in Mexico’s Jalisco state.

Bellamy says despite WestJet saying they’d keep the family informed, they’ve yet to receive any further information on when their flights will be rescheduled.

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Bellamy says while he has enough of his prescription medication left, his daughters are both running low – and with no set date for return, they’re feeling uneasy.

“My daughters each have a medication that one has run out,” he said.

Bellamy says the hotel has been gracious enough to allow them to stay in their room for free until Friday when they have new guests coming in.

At that point, Bellamy and his family will have to pay their own way, if they have not returned home.

“Maybe I’m naive, but I just assumed that [WestJet] would have an action plan and they would send the plane down, because obviously there’s lots of planes available because they weren’t coming down here,” Bellamy said.

Bellamy says he looked at one-way flights out of Mexico, costing more than $1,000 with a layover in Vancouver, and nearly $3,000 for a direct flight to Calgary.

“WestJet is willing to make money while we wait here, instead of taking care of somebody who’s already given them money,” he said.

A flight with Calgarians on it from Puerto Vallarta arrived Tuesday evening.

Fred Peterson arrived back on his WestJet flight, but says there were many communication issues with the airline.

“You can’t communicate with them. They don’t put any effort into reorganizing the flights, so it’s disappointing that WestJet didn’t react a little better to the situation,” he said.

“The service arranging the flights was atrocious. WestJet should be ashamed of themselves.”

However, others say they experienced no delays with the airline.

“Everything was perfect, WestJet was on time. It was a busy airport leaving, but it was good,” said another traveler.

There are still more Canadians in Mexico, with some 55,000 people registered with Global Affairs Canada.

Those still in the country are advised to exercise a high degree of caution.

WestJet responds

A statement sent to CTV News from WestJet on Wednesday reads:

“The safety of our guests is our top priority, and as such we have confidently resumed operations to and from Puerto Vallarta, in addition to adding flights to accommodate returning guests. As of today, we have scheduled a total of 12 additional flights and are looking at options to add more depending on demand.

“Guests that booked with WestJet as an air-only traveller were advised on Monday evening via email to use our online Manage Trips tool and follow the step-by-step directions to view alternate flight options, request a refund or contact us via their preferred method.

“Guests seeking reaccommodation on Sunwing Vacations, WestJet Vacations or Vacances WestJet Quebec are also welcome to contact their travel agent or contact WestJet Vacations directly to discuss options.

“WestJet will review all expense submissions incurred as a result of this disruption.

“It may be important to note for your story that we can only communicate with guests with whom we have contact information for. If a guest has not received communications from us at this point, it may be because they made an error in giving us their contact details, or their travel agent did not provide us with an email or phone number.”