A scheduled Porter Airlines flight from Victoria International Airport (YYJ) to Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) was canceled on Thursday, August 6, after it appears a child failed to wear their seatbelt and stood in the seat. This pushed the flight past its curfew, meaning passengers became stuck until the flight could operate the next day.

Porter, one of Canada’s largest airlines, noted that the airplane had already closed its doors and was preparing for departure when the child was identified as standing on the seat. The cabin crew and the child’s parent attempted to buckle the child in, but were unsuccessful. This meant the flight could not depart in this unsafe condition, and the crew opted to return to the terminal so the child and parent could disembark.

Safety Concerns Lead To Terminal Return

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In a report by CTV News, the young child refused to buckle their seatbelt and remained standing in the seat, meaning that the plane was not safe and secure to prepare for departure. The crew’s decision to turn back to the terminal was made out of an abundance of caution, and the time it took to get the child and their parent off the plane dragged the flight departure past the airport’s curfew.

Victoria Airport has an operating curfew, which limits flight operations after 12:30 AM. On Thursday evening, the Porter flight dragged past due to the child incident, which ultimately forced the entire flight to be delayed until the curfew had passed. This left all the passengers spending an extra night in Victoria.

The airline has apologized to passengers for the incident, and eventually was able to depart safely on Friday morning for its nonstop flight to Toronto.

Porter Airlines Flight PD444 Forced To Remain In Victoria Overnight

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Porter operates six weekly flights from Victoria to Toronto, operating all days of the week except Saturday. On Thursday evening, the flight was initially scheduled to depart from Victoria at 10:30 PM for the four-hour nonstop flight to Toronto. This would have seen PD444 land in Toronto at 6:04 AM the next morning.

According to flight data, on Thursday evening, the flight had been delayed on departure, which saw the plane only being boarded at 11:03 PM; the ongoing delays, including the issue with the child refusing to fasten its seatbelt, ultimately pushed the flight past the airport’s curfew, resulting in the plane and its passengers needing to wait until the next day to operate.

The rescheduled flight was able to depart from Victoria the next day, operating as PD1444, and left Victoria at 1:34 PM and landed in Toronto later that afternoon at 8:24 PM. It remains unclear if the child and parent were on this flight. Details of the aircraft involved in the incident are noted below as per ch-aviation:

Why You Must Always Wear Your Seatbelt

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Wearing a seatbelt for taxi, takeoff, and landing is vital to protect yourself from unexpected turbulence, changes in speed, or emergency landing maneuvers. This will protect you from injuries that could be incurred from unexpected movement of the aircraft. Sudden air pockets or clean air turbulence can be known to make the plane drop faster than you may expect, which can cause passengers or things to turn into projectiles and hit the ceiling or overhead bins on the plane.

In the case of Porter being unable to depart from Victoria due to the aircraft surpassing the airport’s curfew, it protects residents from noise pollution and disruption to sleep in the late-night or early morning hours. This requires the airline to comply with the local government or municipal environmental rules that are in place. Some of the world’s busiest airports have strict curfews, such as Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD).

The unlikely delay for PD444 ultimately saw one child’s behavior and refusal to follow the crew’s instructions force the Porter flight to Toronto to abandon its plans to operate that evening to Toronto, leaving passengers stranded in Victoria overnight until the aircraft could safely depart the next day within the airport’s strict curfew.