“It was a great experience until it was time to go home,” Karina Vega, the mother of one of the scout members, told CTV News Toronto Saturday afternoon. Her 14-year-old son, Marcus Roy, embarked on a 10-day trip to Switzerland with his 12- to 14-year-old scout group from Bancroft, Ont. The main event of the trip was the World Scouts Jamboree, a gathering of the global scouting community. But on their way home, Bancroft’s body ran into challenges with the ArriveCan app. The captains had entered the group’s information into the app, but when they arrived at the airport, they discovered that only the information for the two adults had been recorded. They also couldn’t get Wi-Fi at the airport because they didn’t have a local phone number. “Until they get everything sorted out, check-in is closed,” Vega said. “They literally saw their flight take off.” According to Air Canada, 15 of the 21 people in the group returned home on July 15, while another six – including two adults – were not on the flight due to long security lines. As a group, Vega said, they paid for travel insurance. “Air Canada will not honor travel insurance, which was purchased at additional cost and includes missing flights,” he said. He added that it would cost $1,800 per child to fly home. “All of our children are Canadian citizens, they’re scared, they’re tired and they’re very stressed,” Vega said. The mother says the parents enlisted Scouts Canada, the group that organized the trip, for help getting their children home. “We just got a call saying the embassy is involved,” Vega said. CTV News Toronto has reached out to the Canadian embassy for comment and is awaiting a response. Meanwhile, Air Canada confirmed that some members of the group missed their flight, but did not comment on whether or not the airline would honor the group’s travel insurance. “Once booked through a travel agent, someone has already contacted their travel agent for assistance,” an airline spokesman said. Vega said her son, along with the other five members of the group, is now in a hotel and in “better spirits” since the embassy became involved. “At first, everyone was very stressed, crying, upset, but now their mood has changed because the Canadian embassy contacted them directly,” he said. Now, she hopes her son will soon be on a flight home.
