Winnipeg woman gives birth weeks early in Florida after WestJet cancellation
· Toronto Sun
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A pregnant Winnipeg woman was unable to get home to deliver her baby after her and her husband’s WestJet flight was cancelled.
Julia Henry, who was 31 weeks along, and husband Jordan were in Jamaica visiting family when they learned their Aug. 3 flight was cancelled due to crew members walking off the job earlier this month.
An initial email resulted in nothing from the airline before the expectant mother persisted and eventually got through to an agent — who informed them they would be stranded in Jamaica longer than expected, CTV News reported.
No earlier fights
“They were offering us either, I believe it was Friday (Aug. 7) and we wouldn’t get back to Winnipeg until almost Sunday (Aug. 9), and then another flight was we wouldn’t get home until the following Tuesday,” she told the outlet.
She was repeatedly told by WestJet that there were no flights available on any earlier dates, even on other carriers, including Air Canada, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines — but Henry said she was able to hunt down flights herself.
To leave and arrive in Winnipeg one day earlier, the couple spent more than $4,500 booking their own flights, flying from Kingston, Jamaica, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, then a separate connecting flight that would get them home on Aug. 8.
‘Our baby is coming now’
But after landing in Florida, and one day before their rebooked flight home, Julia wasn’t feeling well so she went to a hospital there — where she went into premature labour.
“It just escalated from one thing to the next and just so, so quickly, and it was like, nope, this is go time … our baby is coming now and she’s not going to wait,” she told the outlet.
The couple remains in Florida as baby Keziah is in a NICU in Fort Lauderdale.
‘Bills are piling up’
“Medical bills are piling up, and it’s not just the medical bills,” Julia’s mother, Krista Fidler, said. “There’s bills for everything. There’s accommodation, there’s transportation, there’s the rental car, there’s food. There’s the stress of just being away from home.”
Fidler also plans to travel to Fort Lauderdale to meet her granddaughter and support her daughter and son-in-law, so that’s another extra cost.
“I believe in my heart of hearts that Julia would still be pregnant if she was home, and they would have got their flight home on Monday,” the concerned mother said. “She’d still be pregnant, and things would just be normal right now, but right now we’re in a bit of a chaotic situation, with so much unknown.”
WestJet has not responded to the situation, but Henry won’t stop until she gets answers from the airline about why the couple couldn’t get home sooner.
“We’re in a situation where we’re not going home as of yet and it’s caused a lot of stress,” she said. “As of right now, WestJet has really disappointed us in how they’ve handled the situation.”