‘We are very, very sorry’: Canada’s airlines, airports apologize for holiday travel mess
Posted January 12, 2023 3:13 pm.
Last Updated January 12, 2023 3:16 pm.
Canada’s travel sector is apologizing and vowing to do better, just weeks after flights were grounded and airports were sent into chaos due to winter weather across the country.
MPs heard from airlines, airport authorities, and the transport minister Thursday as they were grilled by a federal committee investigating the widespread disruptions that plagued passengers over the busy holiday period.
Opposition MPs targeted Transport Minister Omar Alghabra for the travel mess, accusing him of not better protecting passenger rights and not doing enough to force airlines to follow the rules.
“Between Christmas and New Year’s, we needed to see action from you, and we didn’t see it,” said Conservative MP Chuck Strahl.
However, Alghabra says his office was constantly in contact with airports and airlines, and he has vowed to beef up passenger rights this spring.
“Our government is not hiding. We are going to assume our responsibilities and the industry must assume theirs,” he said Thursday.
He says the travel mayhem was completely unacceptable.
Luggage bags are amassed in the bag claim area at Toronto Pearson International Airport, as a major winter storm disrupts flights in and out of the airport, in Toronto, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022. From endless hours waiting on hold and spending sleepless nights on airport floors, to scrambling to rebook flights and find missing bags — it was the holiday travel season no one wanted, but thousands received. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
MPs also took shots at airlines for failing passengers as flights were delayed or cancelled, leaving many sleeping in airports or stranded in a foreign country.
Airlines say they are making improvements, especially around staffing and communicating with passengers.
“We had some failures in execution, for which we are very, very sorry,” Len Corrado, the president of Sunwing, said.
“When even one customer is let down by their experience with our airline, I consider that a failure.”
NDP MP Taylor Bachrach put Corrado on the spot, reading a letter written to him by a mother whose son was stranded in Mexico by the airline.
“No communication from Sunwing representatives. He cannot afford to book a return flight with another airline,” Bachrach said.
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Corrado accepted responsibility for his company stranding passengers in Mexico for days and cancelling service in Saskatchewan, adding those disruptions led to 7,000 complaints against Sunwing.
Other airlines also pointed to winter storms as the spark for the turmoil creating a domino effect of delays and cancellations. However, MPs took aim at the companies’ handling of customer service through the mess.
Tamara Vrooman, president and CEO of Vancouver International Airport (YVR), which was among the airports hard hit by the weather, says significant changes are coming.
“These measures include greater communication and coordination with airlines around gating, towing, and most vitally, as many have noted, communication with passengers,” she said. She says the changes are necessary because of the realities the industry is facing post-pandemic, along with increasing climate-related weather events.
Westjet and Air India aircraft sit idle at Vancouver International Airport after a snowstorm shut down operations leading to cancellations and major delays, in Richmond, B.C., on Tuesday, December 20, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
She notes the airport remained fully operational during previous weather events — like the catastrophic 2021 atmospheric river and other snow and ice storms.
While Vrooman says YVR is prepared for extreme weather events, she notes the impact to passengers in Vancouver was worsened by weather in other parts of the country, as well as the U.S.
“We were prepared for these weather systems in advance. We co-ordinated with air carriers and their ground handlers. Our deicing facility and snow removal equipment were fully…operational throughout, and we published a departure management plan, or a DMP, that would ensure efficient airport operations,” she explained. “However, into the evening of Dec. 19, the rate of snowfall increased significantly from a forecast of 10 to 12 centimetres, to an actual accumulation of up to 30 centimetres — three times what was forecast.”
The situation resulted in a domino effect on operations at the airport, Vrooman explained.
The storm wreaked havoc on the airport, leading to extreme delays and cancellations, with some passengers also forced to wait on planes for hours due to equipment malfunctions.
“I also believe that passengers spent an absolutely unacceptable amount of time on YVR’s tarmac, particularly overnight on Dec. 20. As a result, we have implemented initial measures to help ensure a similar situation does not occur within our airport ecosystem,” Vrooman added.
There were also baggage issues, with shocking images showing thousands of pieces of luggage filling up areas in the airport. Disruptions nationwide resulted in many lost bags for passengers, a problem Vrooman says the airport worked to resolve.
Unclaimed checked bags are shown at the Vancouver International Airport on Tuesday Jan. 3, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Brenna Owen
YVR has announced a thorough review is set to begin next week, to understand what exactly happened the week of Dec. 19.
Meanwhile, other airports are asking the federal government for more investments to modernize their systems.
The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) also says it is looking to streamline its complaint process to make it easier for passengers. Currently, the CTA has a backlog of 33,000 complaints.
