A frustrating end to a Hawaiian getaway for a couple that bought a last minute flight deal to Maui.

“They (the tickets) were $402 round trip, all taxes included and so we said kay got to do it,” said Air Canada Rouge passenger, Scott Lobban.

Lobban and his wife were on an Air Canada Rouge trip that left Winnipeg on Dec. 8.

A severe storm hit Hawaii just hours before the Sunday flight home.

The couple, like many others, drove through torrential rain to get to the airport on time.

They arrived three hours before departure time.

“We just said you know what, no we’re not stopping, we’re just going to get straight to the airport, because they're not going to wait for us, so we need to make every effort that we can to get to our flight,” Lobban said.

Before boarding was set to start, passengers were told the flight was delayed.

Two hours later, passengers who already went through security learned their flight was cancelled.

“What we didn’t know on the inside of security is that people on the outside of security had already been told the flight was cancelled,” Lobban said.

In a statement to CTV News, Air Canada said, “torrential rains in Hawaii this past weekend unfortunately resulted in the closure of the road to the airport, preventing several passengers as well as our crews from reaching the airport in Maui.”

An explanation passenger rights advocate, Gabor Lukacs said doesn't suffice.

“As a general rule, every airline including Air Canada is responsible to have sufficient number of crew members at the airport for a departure of the flight, including contingency,” Lukacs said.

Passengers displaced by delays filled hotels near the airport.

Lobban said some people on his flight even booked hotels when the airport turned them away.

However, the hundreds of passengers who first made it through security were kicked out, stranded at the airport in the middle of the night.

Lobban said Air Canada Rouge provided no help.

“Air Canada had the ability to organize transportation for us to get to a hotel maybe a bit further away, but that wasn't even made available to us,” he said.

Air Canada said “when flights are cancelled due to weather reasons such as this, which are outside our control, we do our very best to assist passengers and we regretfully are not always able to provide accommodation.”

"For Air Canada to call this an act of god, it seems more like a logistical issue than an act of god. If the crew had just stayed in town, this issue never would have happened,” Lobban said.

“What should happen and it's not happening is a crackdown on airlines blaming weather for every possibly delay. And we would need an air passenger bill of rights which is enforced by small claims courts not by the Canadian Transportation Agency,” Lukacs said.

Lobban said he emailed Air Canada looking for answers, and hasn't heard back.

"To me it appears that this is their reaction, or this is how they treat a discount airline"

A return flight eventually left at about 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 12.