Ongoing Crisis in Canadian air travel

[Johnny Makarov]

For all these airline employees that are out sick, is it from Covid? Maybe they need to put back mask mandates in the airports.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

For all these airline employees that are out sick, is it from Covid? Maybe they need to put back mask mandates in the airports.

The airports still have mask mandates. At least they did as of a month ago when I was flying.

[Krovikan]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

For all these airline employees that are out sick, is it from Covid? Maybe they need to put back mask mandates in the airports.

My friend suspects it is COVID but she wouldn't know, just that they all called in sick, and while that one day was the worst, Pearson has been a nightmare for staffing due to employees being sick.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Krovikan

My friend suspects it is COVID but she wouldn't know, just that they all called in sick, and while that one day was the worst, Pearson has been a nightmare for staffing due to employees being sick.

Well, on my trip back from Cuba amidst Omicron that was the general gist of things. They just had flight crews where it went through the crew like #### through a goose.

[Amethyst]

Air Canada's website said if you were connecting through Toronto, you could switch your flights to have a longer connection time at no charge. Great, I'll do that...

The options they gave me:
-exact same flight / connections I already had for $8 more
-a flight with connections in Toronto AND Frankfurt, instead of just Toronto

I guess I'm going with my original plan and crossing my fingers. Fortunately when I booked, I did give myself a bit more time than required, as I don't like rushing for flights.

And I will do carry-on only. Does anyone know, if I have to gate check, will it go all the way to Lisbon, or is that another added thing to take care of in Toronto?

[Locke]

If nothing else is taken away from this...it is either that Toronto/Pearson has to seriously pull it's collective head out of its ass or just avoid Toronto/Pearson at all costs.

[Monahammer]

There seems to be a wave of news starting that this is sick leave related rather than employment related. Probably the beginning of the new COVID wave with BA 6 or whatever variant of Omicron it is now. If that is the case I am not sure the airports can do anything. And it worries me greatly as many of us are set to attend stampede events next week.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

There seems to be a wave of news starting that this is sick leave related rather than employment related. Probably the beginning of the new COVID wave with BA 6 or whatever variant of Omicron it is now. If that is the case I am not sure the airports can do anything. And it worries me greatly as many of us are set to attend stampede events next week.

If it worries you greatly, you can still wear a mask or not go. That's my strategy. The not going part.

[chemgear]

https://calgaryherald.com/pmn/travel...8-f364b27150f8

Air Canada, Pearson again rank No. 1 in delays worldwide

Air Canada and Toronto’s Pearson airport again claimed the top spots for flight delays on Tuesday, marking at least four days in a row where the country’s biggest airline has placed No. 1 of any large carrier worldwide.

Air Canada saw 65 per cent of its flights arrive late, while Jazz Aviation, which provides regional service for the Montreal-based carrier, and Air Canada Rouge took second and third place respectively, according to tracking service FlightAware.

Only one other airline, Virgin Australia, landed more than half of its planes later than scheduled.

[V]

My folks just landed in Sydney with no bags, and the service people aren’t able to find any records of their bags. The tags my folks were given don’t bring anything up. Another win for AC. Now they need a new flight to Perth so super stoked to put them to the test.

What a gong show.

[skudr248]

Originally Posted by V

My folks just landed in Sydney with no bags, and the service people aren’t able to find any records of their bags. The tags my folks were given don’t bring anything up. Another win for AC. Now they need a new flight to Perth so super stoked to put them to the test.

What a gong show.

Not just AC... that's on the airport's ground crew as well. It's a gong show. I flew YYC -> YVR 2 weeks ago and the same thing happened to me, bags showed up 24 hours later.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by V

My folks just landed in Sydney with no bags, and the service people aren’t able to find any records of their bags. The tags my folks were given don’t bring anything up. Another win for AC. Now they need a new flight to Perth so super stoked to put them to the test.

What a gong show.

Lol! Those baggage tags are a hoax.

When they lost my family's bags the only reason we got them back was because they were together and my bag happened to have a physical tag on it with a name, phone number and address.

It was from my very first Europe trip so it was so old it still had my parents' number and address and my dad had to give them my information so they could call me.

Literally...all that crap they put on your bags? Complete BS. Put your name and contact info on your bag if you ever want it back.

[Master Ed]

Maybe someone can provide some insight on my current situation...

I arrived in Maui on Sunday on Air Canada with a family member. The tickets were booked together through his Avion points in December.

He got an email on Monday from Avion stating there was a change in my flights. As it turns out, my flights (not his) have been cancelled for the return trip home. Both flights, one to Vancouver and connecting to Calgary are now showing up as cancelled. When I try to access my booking using the reference number it shows an error. However, his reference still works and both flights seem to be operating. He was even able to upgrade a seat.

Any thoughts on what to do next? There are worse things than being stuck in Maui, but at some point I think I should head home.

One extra detail that might mean something. I was flying from Victoria to Vancouver (he was flying from Calgary to Vancouver) and my flight got delayed by three hours before I arrived at the airport - meaning I was going to miss my connection to Maui. As my family member is elderly I didn't want him to fly alone so I hastily booked a Pacific Coastal flight to Vancouver so I'd make my Maui flight. I informed AC when I arrived in Vancouver so that they wouldn't give my Maui seat away thinking that I was not going to make it. Therefore, I never took my Vic to Van AC flight. Maybe that messed up my reservation?

[jeffporfirio]

Thinking about putting an airtag on a checked bag for an upcoming trip.
Is it worth it? Will it just get stolen?

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by V

My folks just landed in Sydney with no bags, and the service people aren’t able to find any records of their bags. The tags my folks were given don’t bring anything up. Another win for AC. Now they need a new flight to Perth so super stoked to put them to the test.

What a gong show.

Well, W.A does stand for Wait Awhile...

[Azure]

Originally Posted by chemgear

https://calgaryherald.com/pmn/travel...8-f364b27150f8

Air Canada, Pearson again rank No. 1 in delays worldwide

Air Canada and Toronto’s Pearson airport again claimed the top spots for flight delays on Tuesday, marking at least four days in a row where the country’s biggest airline has placed No. 1 of any large carrier worldwide.

Air Canada saw 65 per cent of its flights arrive late, while Jazz Aviation, which provides regional service for the Montreal-based carrier, and Air Canada Rouge took second and third place respectively, according to tracking service FlightAware.

Only one other airline, Virgin Australia, landed more than half of its planes later than scheduled.

Remember, it is like this everywhere else in the world, but somehow a Canadian airline and a Canadian airport keep being the worst at it. Also second worst, also 3rd worst. Did they check who was 4th worst? I'd imagine Air Canada is such a disaster right now that they could probably claim the top 5 spots all by their themselves.

Perhaps someone would in charge somewhere would like to take an attempt at fixing this gong-show sometime soon? Oh right, its nobody's fault, because the whole world is dealing with the same thing!

[Underdog]

Just got back from a trip to T.O. and thought I'd post our experiences.

After everything in the media we made sure to arrive at YYC for our direct flight to Pearson at 1:00pm over 2 hours early. It was unnecessary, we checked our bags and made it through security in no time at all. Barely a lineup. Our flight was delayed by 30min but no other hiccups. We landed at Pearson, made our way to the baggage carousel and grabbed our luggage a few minutes later.
Again for our return flight, also leaving Pearson at 1:00pm, we arrived at 11:00am. No line to print bag tags and drop off. Made our way to security, again no line. Went to our gate and sat around for almost 2 hours. Flight made it back to YYC on time, luggage made it back and grabbed a few minutes at the carousel.
Overall the experience was pretty much the same as every other time we've travelled domestically. I think the issues are slightly overblown or more specific to international travel through Pearson. Hope this info helps.

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by jeffporfirio

Thinking about putting an airtag on a checked bag for an upcoming trip.
Is it worth it? Will it just get stolen?

A great idea. I just saw a tik tok where a flight attendant was giving tips and that was one of them. Obviously, put it in the bag not on the outside.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by V

My folks just landed in Sydney with no bags, and the service people aren’t able to find any records of their bags. The tags my folks were given don’t bring anything up. Another win for AC. Now they need a new flight to Perth so super stoked to put them to the test.

What a gong show.

Silver lining, in times like this, it's better to just use your travel insurance to rebuy everything you need and turn it into a fun shopping spree. Abandon the bag and move on. No need to stress. Buy nicer replacements to the max limit of the coverage.

Seriously. You have the coverage, you are inconvenienced, why try and save a big company money? People are weird about putting in claims at times.

I've been thinking for the next 12 months or so during this revenge travel stuff, I'll use a crappy luggage and abandon my stuff/rebuy if it's going to be remotely a hassle (missed flights etc.).

I'm also often just buying more things at the destination instead of paying for a checked bag ($40-60) and risking dealing with minor annoyances. $20-30 for that stuff on the other side isn't too expensive.

I had a buddy recently abandon his luggage in Europe (works there) to go to a wedding here. He showed up a hour late for the reception but with very nice brand new clothes which would essentially be completely covered by his travel insurance. He was traveling for a week, so his coverage accumulated to like $2K anyways (around $200-300 per day). Shopping spree for a new luggage, new formal wear, some casual clothes.

Each of your parents should probably be covered. Just make sure that you use the correct credit card (if required) to do that shopping spree.

[Ped]

Flew from YYZ to YVR on Friday. Luckily I avoided the busy screening times, AC so flight still delayed about an hour. My colleagues who left the next morning reported that the screening line snaked all the way through the terminal.


Today YYZ had a ground stop of all international departures for a bit because they lost 27 bags and they had no idea where they were.