After two long years, we were excited to go on a vacation. On Tuesday, November 29 2022 our daughter dropped us off at the Blue Roof restaurant in Sundridge, Ontario where we took the northern airport shuttle to Terminal 3 Pearson Airport in Toronto. 

It was a grey cloudy day, not too cold, and only a scattering of snow on the ground. The first part of the journey was uneventful. The take-off of our flight Sunwing 410 went smoothly. The sun broke through as we emerged from the clouds. My husband and I were sitting at the front of the plane, by the crew, and a bathroom.  When we were about 2 hours from our destination, Sosua, Puerto Plata Dominican Republic. (A place we had never been before.)

The flight attendant announced to fasten your seatbelts and stay in your seats. I looked into her eyes and she seemed terrified. My husband said the plane is turning, that's strange. Then they announced Sunwing had received a credible threat and would be heading to North Carolina. The indoor lights were turned off and no one could go to the bathroom or get anything from the overhead bins. 

At that moment a horrible thought occurred. One of our sons was watching our flight online and will see it if we blow up. I thought I might never talk to my kids again. Our phone was in the overhead case, but the lady beside us let us text our daughter using her phone. My daughter's number is the only number I know by heart. So we let her know we were okay and went to North Carolina. 

Suddenly another announcement came,” attention, attention everyone stay calm, this is an emergency!”  I prayed and grabbed my husband's hand as they said if you hear.” break, break, break, assume the crash position.” Then the pilot spoke and said Sunwing has received a credible threat and out of an abundance of caution we will be landing in North Carolina.

We landed safely and clapped our hands in gratitude. They told us we are waiting on the Wilmington Sheriff dept to see if we can deplane and everyone must remain seated. Many people begged to use the bathroom but were not allowed. Some passengers had drunk a lot of beer, so this was a big problem. Big spotlights shone in our windows startling us all. We sat there for a very long time.

Then we were told we would be deplaning one at a time and to empty our pockets, no money, no wallets, no passports, no credit cards. Parents could not have baby bottles or diapers.

I was one of the first ones off the plane. I couldn't get my cane which I need for longer walks. Big law enforcement cops and sniffer dogs greeted me. There were a lot of them and they were armed to the teeth. Two dogs sniffed me as I walked up an orange line then I was patted down.

I was directed to a bus and they waited until it was full to depart. I felt like persona non grata because I had no identification of any kind, it was left on the plane and it was disorientating being in a strange place. The pilot was sitting in front of us and said that was the first bomb threat he had in his twenty years of being a pilot and it was scary. 

We were taken to a customs building and pushed into a room with a luggage conveyor belt, at least there was a bathroom we were allowed to use. There were about four rocking chairs and they brought in a couple of other chairs but most stood or leaned or sat on the floor.

It took a long time for everyone to deplane and then the FBI searched the plane, we were treated politely but like prisoners. They gave us water, then finally one slice of pizza, women and children first then men. They ran out of pizza so brought sandwiches for everyone who didn't get pizza, most of us had not eaten in hours.

We were thankful to be alive but exhausted and stiff and some of us in pain. The children were resilient and played and ran around. We were all sent back to the plane to get our belongings then went through customs with our passports and were fingerprinted. The Sunwing people finally gave us some info. We were to collect our luggage. It had been x-rayed again, then they would bus us to hotels. We finally got settled into bed at 3 a.m., in Howard Johnson's in Wilmington. Most people just collapsed on their beds and didn't change or take a shower. The hotel people were kind and gave us a continental breakfast in the morning.

We were told to meet at the lobby at 9 am and we would be shuttled to the airport. We received boarding passes and a 20-dollar food voucher for the airport. It was difficult to get back on a plane after that frightening experience and some talked about renting a car and driving home. We finally landed in the Dominican, and then just as we were about to deplane they said everyone must remain seated as security and police came aboard. We all said oh no, not again! But it was a separate incident and they escorted a man off the plane who had been in the bathroom with someone and made a rude gesture to the flight attendant when she told him off. (The mile-high club lol.)

Finally, we made it to the hotel, my husband and I, and other survivors of Sunwing Flight 410. We had lost a day of our vacation but were thankful to be alive. What I will always remember is the courage and faith I saw on most of my fellow passengers' faces, and the pride I feel that we Canadians shine in adversity.