Ongoing Crisis in Canadian air travel

[The Familia]

I am currently in Italy and we flew Westjet Calgary to Rome direct on July 2. We arrived three hours early and had a great experience! Check in at YYC was about 20 mins and security about 20mins. Our flight was delayed only 20mins and for a 9 1/2 hour flight, found the new Dreamliner very nice. We are travelling with a 1 year old and have lots of luggage (2 suitcases, 2 carry-on, 2 backpacks, stroller, car seat, pack and play. Everything arrived in Rome and in one piece. Huge shout out to Westjet!

[Raekwon]

My wife and kid left this morning on AC heading to Fredericton with a layover in Toronto. a 10 hour layover while hoping its not cancelled. She said the security line in YYC was about 400 people long but someone directed her to another security checkpoint and it wasn't bad at all. Made the first flight with no issues, brought carry on only as there is no point taking chances. Can't wait to hear from her when she gets to Pearson.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

Middle of vacation and dealing with Virtigo (which has become very mild overnight) so adding my personal experience. Booked in November, to fly to DC to visit family July 1- July 9. originally planned for 2021 and postponed till this year. When we booked months ago never thought there’d be any problems. Yyc- yyz, YYZ- DCA. With 4 hour lay over in Toronto. Didn’t think much more until stories hit the news about a month ago. Left YyC at 6am on the first, got to YYZ fine. Fire up the phone when landed and got message that YYZ- Dca was cancelled “due to weather” and we’d get a follow up notification. Follow up booked us to fly out Sunday, 52hr layover. Went to AC connections counter, line was about an hour long and got flight switched to Dulles and our luggage would be switched there as well…..

Started off towards the the gate and US Customs. Passed through security fairly quickly and then to customs. US Customs was a complete joke. Three agents open for all US connections. We got into a short line, which just grew and grew grew. Made it through in about an hour and a half but the line had to be twice as long by then. Head to gates where EVERY US bound flight has been delayed, many passengers stuck in customs.

Boarded and landed in Dulles, TBC.

Well picking this up as I'm back home. Ariived in Dulles with no luggage which was not a surprised and we essentials in our carryons. Nobody from AC at Dulles to assist except one fellow who was reteiving luggage which had missed other flights. About 12 of us who didn't get our bags and the lone man working was polite, pleasant, gave us the paperwork to fill out and we left it all in a pile on the desk, he said we would get an email with REF number, and gave us a number to call, but give them 48 hours.... Anyways we Uber'd from Dulles to the DCA area where we had hotel booked. Got up in the morning and went to DCA to talk to someone and investigate getting us our REF # for tracking system. The folks at the AC desk were very nice and helpful and got us our tracking number and confirmed the "case" had been created and also said our bags would be sent to Dulles as that is where we flew to and the bags always follow the passengers. Well got back to the hotel room around 9:00pm that night after a busy day around DC including the Nationals game. AC phoned about 5 minutes after we got back to the room and that they had our bags had arrived, I asked which airport? Luckily the went to DCA, the man phoning was open and honest and said the best thing would be if we could go there and pick them up as the delivery service they use could take a day or two. I caught the airport shuttle and was there within 10 mins to pick them up. All was fine.

Travelled home yesterday DCA- Dallas, Dallas- YYC via American Airlines. Everything went like clock work.

All in all we were lucky based on some of the stories we heard, bags arrived 24 hours later and at a different airport but that was minor compared to what others have had to deal with. Spent 4 hours at Pearson and 3 1/2 of those were spent standing in line AC counter, Security (again for some reason) and US Customs which by far the longest and a total joke. Every US bound flight on the board was delayed because of the lines at US Customs.

[chemgear]

That would be frustrating as hell. Just don't let them check it in.

https://www.businessinsider.com/air-...aiports-2022-7

An Air Canada passenger who recently lost luggage said she deliberately packed a carry-on bag to avoid the travel disruption consuming the airline industry, but was later made to check the bag which was then misplaced.

Emily Maitino — who travelled with her partner from LAX to Barcelona via Air Canada on June 29 — told Insider that she was made to check the bag in in LA after being told there was no more room for carry-ons.

She later realised the bag was missing after waiting at the luggage carousel in Barcelona for two hours.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

Well picking this up as I'm back home. Ariived in Dulles with no luggage which was not a surprised and we essentials in our carryons. Nobody from AC at Dulles to assist except one fellow who was reteiving luggage which had missed other flights. About 12 of us who didn't get our bags and the lone man working was polite, pleasant, gave us the paperwork to fill out and we left it all in a pile on the desk, he said we would get an email with REF number, and gave us a number to call, but give them 48 hours.... Anyways we Uber'd from Dulles to the DCA area where we had hotel booked. Got up in the morning and went to DCA to talk to someone and investigate getting us our REF # for tracking system. The folks at the AC desk were very nice and helpful and got us our tracking number and confirmed the "case" had been created and also said our bags would be sent to Dulles as that is where we flew to and the bags always follow the passengers. Well got back to the hotel room around 9:00pm that night after a busy day around DC including the Nationals game. AC phoned about 5 minutes after we got back to the room and that they had our bags had arrived, I asked which airport? Luckily the went to DCA, the man phoning was open and honest and said the best thing would be if we could go there and pick them up as the delivery service they use could take a day or two. I caught the airport shuttle and was there within 10 mins to pick them up. All was fine.

Travelled home yesterday DCA- Dallas, Dallas- YYC via American Airlines. Everything went like clock work.

All in all we were lucky based on some of the stories we heard, bags arrived 24 hours later and at a different airport but that was minor compared to what others have had to deal with. Spent 4 hours at Pearson and 3 1/2 of those were spent standing in line AC counter, Security (again for some reason) and US Customs which by far the longest and a total joke. Every US bound flight on the board was delayed because of the lines at US Customs.

What time were you going through US Customs at Pearson? Our flight in a few weeks has us getting to Pearson at 6:40am and departing at 10:30am.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

What time were you going through US Customs at Pearson? Our flight in a few weeks has us getting to Pearson at 6:40am and departing at 10:30am.

We were in the Customs line from about 13:30- 15:00, but by the time we got to the front of the line, it was, I would say twice as long as it was when we got in it, so two hours. I would think you should be fine, especially that early in the day. We were an hour at the AC connections desk, 1/2 hour for security and 1 1/2 hours at customs, three hours in lines.

[icarus]

I've traveled a fair bit in Europe and Asia in the past week or so (not with AC) and I would say airports and airlines (both top-rated and budget) seem pretty on-par with usual here. Pretty good actually, no real complaints, things have been smooth. So this seem to be a real Air Canada (and Canadian airport?) issue.

[craigwd]

8am flight on Wednesday to the USA. Not checking a bag.

Was planning on arriving at 6am like I normally do. Will I be okay?

[Firebot]

Flew from YYC to the US through westjet, flight got delayed 4 hours, baggage got lost (didn't make the plane apparently as well as a few others), got my bag about 24 hours later. Submitted a reimbursement claim through WJ with zero response back. Thanks for the reminder of credit card travel insurance, for whatever reason I forgot about it, made a claim. Flight back to YYC another 4 hour delay.

Did a domestic flight shortly after, first flight no issues outside of a small delay, flight back to YYC however another 4 hour delay. We learned our lesson though and made sure not to have any checked baggage.

Security and customs was quick everytime.

Not every fight will be impacted, not every time will security be grossly backed up. But looking at the arrival and departures board it's pretty clear that delays and cancellations are much more of the norm then the exception.

To those who made it without issues with their own flights, or calling the problems 'overblown', great you rolled the dice and got lucky.

[Firebot]

Originally Posted by craigwd

8am flight on Wednesday to the USA. Not checking a bag.

Was planning on arriving at 6am like I normally do. Will I be okay?

YYC international is generally very quick each time I went including recently.

https://www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca/en/air...tional-airport

Check here for wait times, you'd likely be ok but 2 hours before flight on an 8am flight could be hit or miss on a bad day.

[Firebot]

Oh, and I forgot the biggest PSA outside of not having a checked luggage.

Absolutely, and I mean absolutely make sure to check in online and fix any potential issues with your boarding pass prior to the airport.

I always check online and never had to use check in assistance...until recently the one flight and could not check in as normal due to an error. Lineup was about 100 people at the WJ desk cluttering the departure hall and easily 2 hours long there alone with staffing available. Luckily since we had our vaccine codes and papers our check in issue got fixed at the baggage drop, but it still delayed us a good 30 min before security.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Firebot

Oh, and I forgot the biggest PSA outside of not having a checked luggage.

Absolutely, and I mean absolutely make sure to check in online and fix any potential issues with your boarding pass prior to the airport.

I always check online and never had to use check in assistance...until recently the one flight and could not check in as normal due to an error. Lineup was about 100 people at the WJ desk cluttering the departure hall and easily 2 hours long there alone with staffing available. Luckily since we had our vaccine codes and papers our check in issue got fixed at the baggage drop, but it still delayed us a good 30 min before security.

We were unable to do this for our return flight home from the US. American Airlines uses VeriFLY as their Coivd travel document host but it is not recognized in Canada, so we could not check in online. Knowing this we arrived at the airport about 2 1/2 hours early and all passengers on international flights departing the US (as far as I could tell) needed to be checked in by an agent, who would visually check vaccine documents.

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

We were unable to do this for our return flight home from the US. American Airlines uses VeriFLY as their Coivd travel document host but it is not recognized in Canada, so we could not check in online. Knowing this we arrived at the airport about 2 1/2 hours early and all passengers on international flights departing the US (as far as I could tell) needed to be checked in by an agent, who would visually check vaccine documents.

Going with Delta and already uploaded my vax documents to their system for approval.
Good thing too because I originally tried to upload the QR code and that was rejected. So I did it again with the actual vaccine records and it was approved.

[Cheese]

Dropped my wife at YYZ on a trip to Portugal to visit family yesterday. Went early due to the panic reports. She was through security in 30 minutes, no issues at all. Same on the Portuguese side, rumors of 5 hour waits coming in, took her 45 minutes.

[Johnny199r]

I would imagine that a considerable amount of people trying to bring carry on are being told them must check it these days. The word is out that you have to be nuts to check luggage.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by craigwd

8am flight on Wednesday to the USA. Not checking a bag.



Was planning on arriving at 6am like I normally do. Will I be okay?

Do you have priority boarding? Because it sounds like overhead space for carry on bags are getting full every flight.

[Amethyst]

Flew YYC-YYZ-LIS on July 8. Security should have been fine, as there were only a couple people in line ahead. Unfortunately the front of the line was an older couple who hadn’t travelled since 1990? and apparently had no idea you couldn’t take liquids and gels in carry-ons. They could have opened a liquids and gels store with everything that got pulled out of their bags.

Flights were delayed a bit due to incoming aircrafts being late and then delayed even more because people are all bringing carry-on only and there isn’t room. So people are sneaking on first, being pushy and threatening to staff. I thought the police would need to be called on one guy but he settled down after they found a spot for his bags. And people are trying to take 2-3 big carry-ons plus a personal item. Those are the ones who should be forced to get check everything.

On the flight back I will probably check luggage even though it’s carry-on size, just to avoid the stress. It will (hopefully) get back to me eventually. And going home, it’s not a big deal.

Customs in Portugal was 5 minutes for me. The non-Canadian,non-US line looked long though. Taxi queue was the worst part!

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

Flew YYC-YYZ-LIS on July 8. Security should have been fine, as there were only a couple people in line ahead. Unfortunately the front of the line was an older couple who hadn’t travelled since 1990? and apparently had no idea you couldn’t take liquids and gels in carry-ons. They could have opened a liquids and gels store with everything that got pulled out of their bags.

Flights were delayed a bit due to incoming aircrafts being late and then delayed even more because people are all bringing carry-on only and there isn’t room. So people are sneaking on first, being pushy and threatening to staff. I thought the police would need to be called on one guy but he settled down after they found a spot for his bags. And people are trying to take 2-3 big carry-ons plus a personal item. Those are the ones who should be forced to get check everything.

On the flight back I will probably check luggage even though it’s carry-on size, just to avoid the stress. It will (hopefully) get back to me eventually. And going home, it’s not a big deal.

Customs in Portugal was 5 minutes for me. The non-Canadian,non-US line looked long though. Taxi queue was the worst part!

Are you Cheese's Wife?

[activeStick]

Ugh I can't stand the selfishness of some people. As long as they get their 2-3 bags in the overhead space, right? Screw everyone else.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by Locke

Are you Cheese's Wife?

Haha, no, but I figured I would put that detail in, since he had just mentioned Portugal.