An Edinburgh passenger has been left stranded for three days despite forking out over £2000 on three separate tickets to Canada in a desperate attempt to visit his sister in hospital.
Iyare Ehis has been stuck in Edinburgh since Monday, locked in a fierce dispute with Air Canada, who he says have treated him “awfully”. The 51-year-old has been unable to board a flight across the Atlantic, even though he has paid eye-watering sums of money on three occasions.
On Monday, he says he was refused boarding for his initial flight as he did not have the necessary paperwork to allow him to stop for transit in Washington, as the type of visa passengers need to enter America and Canada are different.
Although he expressed frustration at the lack of clarity on this issue from the airline, he reluctantly accepted that he would have to find a new plan to visit his sister, who is currently seriously ill in hospital in Toronto.
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Iyare told Edinburgh Live: “I cannot believe I need a different visa for a one-hour transit in America. There was no clear sign of this when I booked the ticket last week.
“I’m just so desperate to get to my sister. There is no family there to see her. I haven’t been able to speak to her and she’s not strong enough to come to the phone. I had to book a new flight directly to Canada so I wouldn’t have the problem with the paperwork.”
He was refunded £500 of his £686 ticket, which he put towards a direct flight to Toronto, in order to bypass the visa issues he would have had with an American layover. This new ticket cost £869 but he claims he was told the booking was unsuccessful.
The recruitment consultant then says he received assurances that he would be refunded for this money that came out of his account, and that the best next step would be to buy another ticket for the same flight.
This set Iyare back a further £914, but he says he was just glad that he finally had a route to Canada. However, when he showed up for his flight the next day, he claims he was again denied boarding as Air Canada’s system now showed both tickets on their system, which they suspected to be fraudulent activity.
Iyare said: “How can that be possible? I book one ticket and they tell me it’s unsuccessful. So, I book another ticket, I go back to the hotel, I come back the next day and I’m ready to finally see my sister. Then they say that they suspect fraud because I have two tickets?
“I’m angry. I’m mad, I’m frustrated. The way they have spoken to me is disgusting. No wonder I’m upset when I have tried three times to get to my ill family and every time they tell me no. It’s awful.”
Iyare’s frustration only grew at this stage, leading to conversations with the police. He says the officers took sympathy with him and tried to contact Air Canada themselves to discuss the issue, though they were waiting over an hour before giving up on being connected to a representative.
Air Canada have told Edinburgh Live they are investigating the issue.
