For a flight headed to Los Cabos, WestJet WS2662 delivered more police paperwork than departure glamour last Saturday.
According to Richmond RCMP, officers responded around 7:30 a.m. on April 11 to reports of unruly passengers aboard a departing commercial flight at Vancouver International Airport. Police said the group was allegedly not complying with flight crew instructions, creating safety concerns serious enough to delay the flight. Ten people were arrested, later released on undertakings, and are now scheduled to appear in Richmond Provincial Court. Police say recommended charges include mischief under Canada’s Criminal Code and failing to comply with flight crew instructions under the Aeronautics Act. No injuries were reported.
The flight in question was WestJet WS2662, operating from Vancouver International Airport to Los Cabos International Airport. That last detail matters, because many reports casually say “Cabo San Lucas,” but the commercial airport serving the destination is Los Cabos International Airport in San José del Cabo, code SJD. Flight-tracking data shows the aircraft departed well behind schedule after the disruption and ultimately arrived safely in Los Cabos later that day.
WestJet has not publicly described exactly what the passengers did, and that is probably wise. Airlines tend to get careful once court dates enter the chat. What the carrier has said is that cabin crew identified a safety concern involving several unruly passengers before departure, all guests were asked to deplane, and the RCMP was called in to remove the individuals involved. Only after that did the flight continue to its destination.
That makes this more than an airport tantrum story. It is a reminder that airlines do not need fists flying or a viral scream-fest to shut things down. In Canada, interference with crew instructions is treated as an aviation safety matter, not just bad manners at 30,000 feet. The Aeronautics Act bars behavior that endangers the safety or security of an aircraft or the people on board by interfering with crew duties or with people following crew instructions. Transport Canada also warns that unruly behavior can lead to steep fines and criminal prosecution.
Why does this matter to readers down here in Baja. Because this is not some obscure milk run to nowhere. Vancouver is a meaningful Canadian gateway into Los Cabos. Recent Los Cabos Tourism Observatory data shows Vancouver was the leading Canadian source market in at least one 2025 reporting period, accounting for 39.7% of Canadian arrivals, and Canadian visitation has remained an important slice of the international mix coming through SJD. In other words, this was not a random route. It was a real vacation pipeline into southern Baja.
There is also a practical side. This was not an in-flight diversion. The disruption happened before takeoff, which likely spared everyone a much uglier outcome. Once a plane is airborne, the menu of options gets expensive fast. On the ground, the crew can deplane passengers, call police, reset the cabin, and move on. It is still a mess, just a cheaper mess. In this case, the flight appears to have left roughly three hours late instead of becoming a headline for an emergency landing halfway to paradise.
The bigger takeaway is simple. The trip from Canada to Los Cabos is supposed to end with sunscreen, not court dates in Richmond. Most travelers understand that. Ten apparently did not.
And that is how a Saturday morning flight to Baja turned into a reminder that the fastest way to miss Cabo is to argue with the people in charge of getting you there.
