On August 6, 2026, Porter Airlines flight PD444, scheduled to fly from Victoria International Airport, British Columbia, to Toronto Pearson International Airport, Ontario, was cancelled after a toddler passenger repeatedly refused to remain seated and fasten their seatbelt during taxiing. The aircraft had already left the gate and was taxiing for takeoff when cabin crew noticed the child standing on their seat instead of seated with a fastened seatbelt as required.
Crew and the child’s parent made repeated attempts to have the toddler comply with safety regulations, but these efforts were unsuccessful. For safety reasons, the captain decided to return
the plane to the gate at Victoria International Airport to allow the child and parent to disembark. The process of disembarking, along with administrative procedures, pushed the flight’s timing past the airport’s overnight curfew.
Victoria International Airport enforces a curfew starting at 12:30 a.m. local time to minimize noise disturbances. Because the delay extended beyond this cutoff, Porter Airlines was forced to cancel the flight for the night, leaving passengers stranded overnight in Victoria.
The cancelled flight was rescheduled to depart the next day at approximately 1 p.m., about twelve hours later than initially planned. Porter Airlines operates six weekly
flights on the Victoria to Toronto route, excluding Saturdays, making this delay a significant interruption for travelers expecting same-day arrival in Toronto.
Porter Airlines described the cancellation as a necessary safety precaution consistent with established standard protocols. A spokesperson, Brad Cicero, explained: “The aircraft could not take off in this unsafe condition, so the crew elected to return to the terminal and have the passengers disembark.” The airline apologized for the disruption and confirmed that passengers seated in the PorterReserve section—the first four rows of the aircraft—received meal vouchers due to the complimentary meal service included with those fares. Cicero
added, “Due to the delay, regular catering was unavailable and the voucher was offered as a replacement.”
Passenger Hillary Hertzberg criticized Porter Airlines’ communication after the cancellation, stating passengers received limited information and had to arrange overnight accommodations independently. Passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs, president of Air Passenger Rights, commented the incident was outside the airline’s control. He said, “I don’t think the public hears me very frequently defending the airline, but it’s one of the cases where I have to say it’s absolutely out of the carrier’s control.” Lukacs also noted that under current Canadian regulations, no compensation or
accommodations are owed to passengers when disruptions result from safety compliance issues.
Cases involving young children refusing to remain buckled seat passengers are a recognized safety challenge in aviation. Transport Canada regulations require all passengers to be seated and buckled before takeoff. This incident was compounded by Victoria International Airport’s strict overnight curfew, which limits late-night flight activity. Such curfews mean that delays caused by in-flight safety hold-ups can escalate into cancellations if departure cannot occur before the noise restriction starts.
