One St. Albert family is working around the clock to get their senior parents out of a country that has gone in a lockdown because of COVID-19.
Lisa Hillas and her siblings are trying to get their 75-year-old parents, Angus and Mary Wilbur, back from Malaga, Spain but there are no direct flights available to Canada and most other countries aren’t currently accepting flights from Spain.
“It’s frustrating. I don’t like waiting. I don’t like not knowing,” Hillas said.
“We can’t get them out of Malaga ... because there is no direct flight from Malaga into Canada. They are all layovers somewhere.”
The couple goes to Spain for a couple of months every winter, and left St. Albert in the middle of January, before the pandemic broke out. The family continued to monitor the news as COVID-19 spread but the duo had flights booked to leave the country at the end of March.
As the pandemic progressed, the family started to worry their parents needed to get out of the country more quickly. On Sunday, the family decided they needed to come home.
RELATED: Okotoks couples caught abroad
As of March 19, the World Health Organization reported more than 13,700 cases of COVID-19 and nearly 600 related deaths in Spain.
“On Sunday, when Spain said they were going into Italy-style lockdown, they packed up their apartment ... took a cab to the airport and they sat on the floor at the airport waiting for the kiosk to open to try and switch their fight,” Hillas said.
The couple were told they weren’t able to fly and they needed to leave the airport and go back to their rented apartment.
While the senior couple was parked on an airport floor waiting for information, their children in St. Albert were scrambling to try to find any flights that would get them home. Hillas was able to find flights with layovers available online, but once she went to pay for them, the sites wouldn’t allow her to complete the booking.
As the week went on, Hillas and her family tried to find more ways to get their parents out of Spain, to no avail. They contacted the Canadian embassy, registered the Wilburs with the government as Canadians who are abroad, contacted officials who are tasked with helping Canadians get home and reached out to their local MLA and MP.
While Hillas got helpful advice from most of the organizations they contacted, at press time they were still no closer to getting their parents home, despite working around the clock.
The family found out an Air Transat flight was heading into Malaga to retrieve Canadians and bring them home. Hillas contacted the airline but found out the flight was full and the family was told to not go to the airport. Then Hillas’ father received an email with conflicting information that said their online booking system was overloaded but there may be seats available so the couple will have to go to the airport.
“Now the email from Air Transat is go to the airport, maybe you can get on the plane and they suggest that you arrive well in advance of the flight.”
Hillas said her family has been remaining very calm throughout the whole ordeal and is just focused on getting their parents home, but they are feeling scared having 75-year-old parents trapped in Spain where COVID-19 is spreading rapidly.
“I would feel better if they were here.”
The family even looked into chartering a flight out of the country for their parents, but the cost worked out to $16,000 per person – if they had 15 other people on the flight with them.
Overall, the family is starting to feel very frustrated.
This week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau began asking Canadians abroad to return home, and Hillas said they are trying desperately, but they are constantly hitting dead ends.
“Would he like them to swim?” Hillas asked.
“You can't leave Canadians stranded.”
On Friday afternoon, Hillas found out her parents' regularly scheduled flight home on March 31 had been officially cancelled.
There are six Air Transat flights leaving Malaga between March 22nd and 30th directly to Montreal but they are all full.
Hillas said Air Transat is currently the only airline repatriating people from Spain.
“So now the wait is on our government to send in rescue planes to get people. We've no idea when that will be.”
