A lot of Canadians are likely to travel because they haven’t been able to
Remember the pictures of travel from last summer and the most recent winter holidays? The lost bags, long waits on the tarmac, and piles of luggage at arrivals? Some airports in Canada are telling travelers that these scenes won’t be typical this summer.
“We have heard our customers,” Greater Toronto Airports Authority President and CEO Deborah Flint said Monday at Pearson International. “The fear, uncertainty, frustration, and feeling of not being in charge that passengers felt last year is something we will never forget.”
With almost all travel restrictions lifted because of COVID-19, it’s likely that Canadians will travel by air even more in the coming months to satisfy their need to get away.
“Demand is really, really strong,” said Calgary travel agent Ken Stewart, who owns Crowfoot Travel Solutions. “Last year, everyone began to travel again. And those who didn’t get away last year are adding to the number of people who are getting away this year.”
Stewart says that demand is high for all kinds of flights as summer approaches, including flights within the U.S., to Europe, and even to sun destinations.
What’s going on at Toronto’s YYZ airport
Last summer, Pearson, Canada’s biggest airport, had a lot of problems with crowded baggage halls, passengers who got stuck, and flight delays and cancellations.But Flint says that this year will be different.
She said that only 35% of trains were on time last summer. “Right now, our airlines are leaving 70 percent of the time on time,” she said.
Pearson has added 10,000 new employees in the past year, which is an increase of almost 22%. They now have a total of 50,000 employees, which is about the same as in 2019. That includes the 130 new workers who were hired last week to help with important things at Pearson like busing, handling bags, and running the terminal.
WATCH | What went wrong with traveling last summer?
The airport expects about 80% of the traffic it had during the summer before the pandemic, which is about 10% more than last year. Flint also says that employees now have more experience.
“We saw a lot of hiring last year,” she said, referring to the time when many travel restrictions were lifted and there was a big increase in air travel. She said that inexperience was to blame for some of the delays in certain parts of the airport.
“This is a very hard job for someone just starting out,” Flint said. “There are a lot of rules and it’s hard to understand, so it’s hard to learn on the first day, second day, or second week on the job.”
Also, key systems have been improved. Through a new partnership with the Canada Border Services Agency to install biometric e-gates and speed up customs clearance for travelers, the airport has made it easier for people to check in and board without having to talk to anyone.
The airport is also using AI to make it easier to handle the checked bags of passengers.
What’s going on in Montreal (YUL)
The Montréal–Trudeau International Airport says it has also been working to hire more people. In June, it will finish making changes to its systems for handling bags and connecting passengers. It thinks that the number of summer travelers will be back to what it was in 2019, when the airport saw six million people from June to August.
In an email to CBC News, Aéroports de Montréal communications adviser Eric Forest said, “Given the high number of passengers expected this summer, it is possible that there will be a little more waiting than usual during peak hours, especially in the early morning and late afternoon and evening.”
The airport wants people to use all the technology they can to make the process go more smoothly. Among other things,YUL Express, which lets people book their way through security checkpoints ahead of time, andMobile Passport Control, which lets people send their passport information and customs declaration before leaving the U.S.
What’s going on at Vancouver’s YVR airport
Vancouver’s YVR airport says it thinks August will be its busiest summer month, but it expects an average of 81,000 passengers to pass through its doors each day, which is about the same as the number of people who used the airport before COVID.
In order to get ready, we worked with airlines as they planned their summer schedules to make sure we were ready to get people where they wanted to go in a safe and efficient way, a YVR spokesperson told CBC News in an email.
The airport says it is looking at all of its operations and services to make sure they are ready for the summer. This is a response to the problems with service last winter.
What’s going on at Calgary (YYC)
Even though Calgary’s airport didn’t have the same kinds of delays as other hubs last year, Calgary’s president and CEO, Bob Sartor, says that when demand is high across the country, there’s always a chance that it will affect other airports.
“I think there will be some bumps along the way. “The federal government can only give agencies so many employees,” he said last week in Calgary.
“It will come down to how we handle the flow of flights. “You know, airlines like to work during busy times, but we have to make sure those busy times aren’t so busy that they can’t be served well.”
How the airlines plan to do thing
Air Canada says it is taking “a prudent approach” to scheduling this summer and plans to run 90% of its summer 2019 schedule from before the pandemic.”Even though we’re flying less, we have more people on staff than we did in the summer of 2019, which should help us be more flexible,” an airline spokesperson said in an email.
“We’ve added more resources and taken other steps, like changing our schedule to give customers more time to make connections and to even out the busiest times of the day so that more customers can get where they need to go.”
Some travelers are worried about a possible strike at WestJet, Canada’s other major airline.
About 1,850 WestJet pilots who are members of the Air Line Pilots Association are planning to go on strike on May 16. This could mean anything from not working overtime to a full-blown strike.
It’s not clear what that could mean for people who already have flights booked with WestJet, but Sylvie De Bellefeuille, a lawyer with Option Consommateurs, a non-profit group that works to protect consumer rights, says it could be bad news.Last week, she told CBC News that she thinks refunds should be given..
How people who travel and travel agents pla
Sarah Pew, a frequent traveler, says that after waiting on the tarmac for hours on an Air Canada flight in January with no compensation, she and her husband decided to fly to the Dominican Republic with WestJet’s discount subsidiary Swoop in June.
She is a little worried about it, but with inflation making airline tickets more expensive, it was all about the bottom line.
She said, “We were like, let’s just try it.” “Worst case, we’ll be late again by four hours or a day, but at least this is only half the price.”
Stewart, a travel agent from Calgary, agrees that prices are much higher than people may be used to because of inflation, higher jet fuel costs, and high demand. However, he says that in recent months, waiting times and delays have gotten better at airports.
He says to book early to get the best deals and to buy travel insurance every time.
Pew says that she and her husband just take a fatalistic view of travel, meaning that they expect something to go wrong on every day of travel.
“Expect one thing to go wrong, whether we get bumped from our seats, our flight is late, or we get pulled into secondary search, so we’re not so frustrated and angry when it does.”
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