You’re not always going to get perfect weather when you vacation.

I’d rather sit out a flight delay than risk death from wind shear or something equally sinister.

Bad weather happens. Bad weather delays/cancels flights. Airlines cannot prevent bad weather.

There’s no point hurling abuse at flight attendants because a flight has been delayed.

This is what happened on a WestJet flight last August between Puerto Vallarta and Vancouver.

PV gets rain and lightning storms this time of year. Usually in the evening. This is why travel to this region is heavily discounted. It’s called ‘off season’.

This particular flight was in the evening. A storm rolled in as we boarded. Meant no departure until the storm passed. On this night, it didn’t.

(After three hours, the flight was cancelled. The airline put us up for the night in a lovely hotel, fed us and flew us home the next day. Also issued a 20 per cent off voucher for a future flight, which I’m using later this year. Thx WestJet.)

Yes, we were frustrated. But, the plane wasn’t going to fly. Period.

Yet the sunburned, over-fed barbarian with the bulging facial veins sitting behind me, kicking my seat, was having none of it.

He shouted repeatedly at the flight crew, demanding to know why WestJet was apparently the only airline at the airport NOT flying. This may or may not have been true. In any event, we were told Transport Canada regulations are stricter than other nation’s safety rules when it comes to flying in bad weather. (Thank you Transport Canada for caring about safety.)

News story on airline safety …

Then, other passengers joined in. On the rudeness Richter Scale, they rated a ten.

Had I been the pilot, I would have kicked them off the flight.

The “rude gang” stayed at my hotel. Seated together at breakfast, they were still complaining. And the whining kept on, in the van to the airport and in the airport.

If you can’t deal with travel delays:

• Don’t travel;
• Or drive to your destination when you can guarantee the weather will be perfect;
• Or find out which countries have lax safety regulations and fly their airlines. (Some Russian airlines may fit the bill).

Anyone who flies needs to be prepared for delays, plan accordingly….and grow up.