Vancouverites left stranded in Toronto by Wow Air closure

Vancouverite Petra Petlanova is reconsidering ever booking with a budget airline again, after getting stranded in Toronto amidthe Wow Airclosure.

Petlanova and her husband, Krispin Hogan, were waiting at the Toronto airport Wednesday night for their Wow Air flight to Europe, when things started to go wrong.

She said although they could see a plane parked at their gate, their flight kept being delayed.

"We thought that maybe something's wrong with the craft and they're doing their due diligence," Petlanova said.

For the first few hours, she said spirits were still high among the crowd of waiting passengers.

"People were hopefuland, you know, cracking jokes even, like, lighten up the atmosphere. But as time went by, they got more and more aggravated, angry."

They continued to get periodic updates from staff extending the delays. Finally, a clear indication came that they weren't getting on the flight.

Petlanova said all passengers were asked to leave the secure area and return to check-in

"We were thinking, oh this is actually happening, it's not flying anywhere, and we're not being told anything," she said.

The couple was fortunate to have friends in Toronto to stay with overnight.

They are two people among thousands stranded across Canada and Europe when Wow Air abruptly closed up shop on Thursday.

We did it this way to just save money, basically, which we didn't in the end.- Petra Petlanova

On its website, the company said it has ceased operations, and, as a result, "all WOW Air flights have been cancelled."

The airline had 27 flights scheduled to take off on Thursday. All are grounded, stranding roughly 2,700 people.

Next steps

Petlanova and her husband ended up rebooking on another airline out of their own pocket.

They've also reached out to their credit card company to see whether their cancelled Wow Air flight will be covered.

She said they were directed to a Visa hotline set up especially for Wow customers looking for insurance coverage.

Whetever happens, Petlanova said she would rather spend more money next time she flies than go with a budget airline.

"We did it this way just to save money, basically, which we didn't in the end. So it's kind of a paradox here."

CBC attempted to contact Wow Air without success.