‘There’s been tears:’ Ottawa woman stranded for days in London, U.K.

An Ottawa woman travelling to Stockholm with her family has been stranded in London, U.K. for several days, caught up in the massive struggles plaguing the airline industry.

Monika Knowles and her family were supposed to arrive in Stockholm early Wednesday morning to visit her sister. Instead, she won’t arrive until Sunday at noon.

“It’s a series of unfortunate events,” Knowles told CTV News from her hotel room in London.

Knowles, her husband, their son and nieces left Ottawa on Tuesday. They were supposed to fly from Toronto to Stockholm, but that flight was cancelled because Scandinavian Airlines pilots are on strike.

They were booked on an Air Canada flight connecting through London. But that flight left more than three hours late, so they missed their connection.

When they arrived in London, Heathrow Airport had instituted a cap of 100,000 departing passengers a day.

As a result, the party was split up into two groups of three. Knowles’s husband and two of the children are flying to Stockholm on Friday, arriving at midnight. But Knowles and the other two kids are flying on Sunday.

“There's been tears, I’m not going to lie,” Knowles said. “More from frustration. Luckily, we’re in London, we can get around, we can do something. But it definitely cuts our whole trip short.”

The point of the trip, which had been planned since 2020, was to visit her sister and spend some time in Sweden.

Knowles said the airline has been doing everything they can to help find solutions. She was even looking at taking the 26-hour train ride to Stockholm, but determined it wouldn’t get them there much sooner.

The family has been getting the chance to tour London and see the sights.

“You kind of just have to go with the flow and make the best out of the whole situation,” she said.