The issues with air travel and delays at airports are widespread and pretty much everyone has a share of the blame.
Transport Canada messed up when Covid hit and everyone got laid off, because once you surrender your airport pass, your clearance gets revoked and you have to apply for it all over again. People coming back to work were coming back with temp passes and could not work in the bag room, etc without an escort.
The Pass Office at Pearson has long been a gong show, and somehow they find ways to make their operation even more inefficient. They want you to use their online system, but it takes hours of refreshing to get an appointment three or four weeks away.
Of course, this encourages companies to book block appointments, which they have to pay for, and that further takes away from the pass office having appointments free for everyone else.
As well, most companies, at least at Pearson, are having trouble because of how they operate. New employees have to come in, work all the crappy hours, and in the case of ground-handling companies, actually do all the work while the senior guys watch. Why work your butt off when you can get another job that maybe pays a bit less but is a lot easier.
Pearson also started charging companies to have employees get their driving license to go airside, which is just added costs for companies when some can't really afford it.
But the airlines needed to cut their schedules long before they did, because none of them have the manpower to bring in, unload,, and load all those flights. Menzies, in particular, which does baggage for West Jet (and also does refueling) is having massive issues.
CATSA knew about their issues last year already, but didn't do anything about it until ti was too late. Now they're offering people two hundred bucks a week if they don't book off, and 500 more in a month. The unions are saying that if they can afford that, they can afford to pay them more hourly, and then maybe they wouldn't have such a problem.
And the government is going around dropping the wrong regulations. Opening up air travel to the rest of Canadians when you already can't handle those that were able to fly? Terrible idea, but at least dropping the vaccine mandates opens up the employee pool again.
Customs is pretty desperate for people, and the problem with Customs is you can't tell them anything or even throw them broad hints; they do what they want how they want it, and no one tells them differently.
And airlines definitely need to do a better job of being honest with people. Several years ago now, the Emirates A380 at Pearson had a catering truck come down on the wing.
They called me, as at the time I supervised the guard company they hired, to tell me the flight was cancelled and they needed a guard over night. I went to the gate, and saw the truck, and as I was leaving, I heard them announce the flight was delayed.
I went back to the counter, and asked them if it was delayed or cancelled, and they insisted it was delayed. But when I asked them why they just said delayed, they said they couldn't tell the passengers that yet.
As I was leaving, a passenger walked up and asked them why they couldn't just cancel the flight, and the agent told him that hadn't been decided yet. The guy pointed out the window and said "We can all see the truck hanging off the plane! We know it's not going anywhere!"
Just sheer madness, incompetence, and apathy.
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