Canadian airline cancels flight after child refuses to wear seatbelt

A Canadian airline, Porter Airlines, had to cancel a flight from Victoria to Toronto after a child refused to wear a seatbelt. On August 6th, the child was standing in their chair as the aircraft taxied towards the runway. The accompanying parent and crew members tried several times to secure the child in their seat, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

As a result, the crew decided it was unsafe for the plane to take off, and the aircraft returned to the terminal. According to Porter Airlines spokesperson Brad Cicero, all passengers, including the child and their parent, had to disembark as the time needed to remove only the child and refile paperwork extended the plane's inability to depart before the airport closed at 12:30am.

The airline apologized to other passengers who were able to depart the following day. Passenger Aryeh Kozuch stated that the child was not being unruly, but that others online were not empathetically capturing the situation. He explained that the child was hiding under the seat, unable to withstand being strapped in. Another passenger, Hillary Hertzberg, said the airline could have acted faster, as the child was eventually removed from the plane at 11:30pm, and the passengers had been on the flight for nearly an hour by that point. Porter Airlines rebooked the passengers on a different flight the following day.