Canceled flight sparks new friendship for stranded travelers

A group of travelers made the best of a bad situation when they suffered one of many flight cancellations over the weekend, spending eight hours in a car together on Christmas Day to get home in time to celebrate with their families.

One of the travellers, Jessica Myers, was in Toronto for the day Thursday and was scheduled to fly to Sault Ste. Marie from Billy Bishop Airport to get home in time for Christmas. As her flight continued to be delayed, she encountered two other travellers, Errin Walls and Carter Santa Maria, who were also returning to Sault Ste. Married.

When the group, who have mutual friends, realized their flight had finally been cancelled, panic set in.

“It was all fun and games until the flight was actually cancelled. And then I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do,' » Myers said.

It was then that Walls suggested that Myers stay with her, although Myers was able to secure a hotel room through work. But she realized she would still be stuck in the city until Tuesday, potentially missing Christmas at home with her family.

« They invited me and the rest is history, » Myers said.

Walls’ fiancé, David Piazza, who is from Brampton, usually spends Christmas Day with his family and then planned to travel to Sault Ste. Marie to be with Walls on Boxing Day.

“With my fiancée not being able to fly and Jess and Carter both being stuck, I thought to myself, well, I have to bring them home for Christmas,” Piazza said. He offered to move his plans to hit the roads earlier than planned so the group could be with their families on Sunday.

Piazza’s family moved their Christmas dinner to Saturday to make sure he didn’t miss it. But he didn’t want their new friends to spend Christmas Eve alone either.

« We said, ‘I have two new friends coming over for Christmas dinner,’ and of course they were more than happy to stay, » Piazza said.

« No one should spend the last two days before Christmas alone. »

Myers said Piazza’s aunt even lent her a winter jacket to take home because she didn’t have one.

The four also went out on the town Thursday night and spent Friday eating sushi together at the Walls and Piazza condo.

« It was just super fun, actually — probably the best Christmas I’ve had, » Piazza said.

Myers said it would have been a fun story anyway, but the fact that the band got along so well is « the icing on the cake. »

Myers documented the unique experience on TikTok, garnering over 28,000 likes on one of his videos.

Speaking to the star on the final leg of their journey home, the group joked that they plan to reunite every year from now on.

« It’s nice to have this memory together, but it’s also nice to have some new friends, » Piazza said.

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