The route for Dale Blair and his wife was supposed to be Salt Lake City to Frankfurt, Germany.

The Kaysville couple had a connecting flight to Copenhagen before flying onto Bergen, Norway. That’s where they caught their European river cruise. But something happened on that first leg from Salt Lake City.

The plane stopped – in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It wasn’t for the usual reasons – a mechanical problem or a sick passenger.

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Bill McGee, a licensed air dispatcher who advocates for fliers at the American Economic Liberties Project, said Eurowings Discover shouldn’t be surprised to learn Salt Lake City gets hot in July, and that the airline is capable of factoring that into its weight and fuel equations.

“Most of [the airlines] don’t want to bump passengers or not [make] more money carrying cargo,” McGee said. He said if enough air travelers complain to the U.S. Department of Transportation, it could take action.

“They have the power,” McGee said, “to step in and say, ‘Well, you’re advertising a flight, but you’re not operating it the way you’re advertising it.’”

Blair says his luggage arrived on the boat 3 1/2 days after he and his wife did.

“I’ll never fly Lufthansa or Eurowings,” he said.