From a mother with two children spending the night on the floor at Toronto Pearson Airport to two siblings forced to say goodbye to their dying father over the phone, canceled flights and delays continue to cause future passengers across the country.
Airports are also reporting increasing claims for lost or missing luggage, holding passengers for hours.
“I was here for four and a half hours yesterday, only to be told that my luggage was somewhere at the airport, but they have no idea where,” a passenger told CTV News at Pearson Airport in Toronto on Wednesday.
Toronto airport management attributes baggage chaos to flight delays, cancellations, staff shortages and temporary mechanical disruptions to the baggage system. They say a working group on baggage recovery has already been set up to investigate and address system failures.
As demand for travel continues to grow globally as COVID-19 restrictions ease, airports around the world will continue to deal with the “hot mess” of lost luggage and passenger frustrations, aviation consultant Robert Coconis told “Your Morning” on CTV on Thursday.
“It’s all about a cascading series of events in which a plane shows up, can’t reach the exit and has to wait for the letters for several hours,” he said.
“(This will cause) passenger delays, incorrect connections and luggage that do not reach the passengers’ next flight. You will have this plane, which is then postponed to its next destination.
Dozens of people spoke on social media about the loss of their luggage at Pearson Airport in Toronto, including a woman who said her bag had been lost twice during her trip, leading to a frustrating “suitcase hunt” that in the end it proved fruitless.
#Pearson Airport today. Some suitcases have been here for 6 days. I lost my luggage to the destination and on the way back. At 2 o’clock in the morning we were all sent home and told to send an email. #aircanada pic.twitter.com/26TILoGYE6
— Ara (@happybug13) June 27, 2022
Canadian Transport Minister Omar Algabra called airport problems at passengers “unacceptable” in an unrelated statement Wednesday.
“(Airports) know that they need to add more resources and are working on that, and we offer our support to address these issues. But these are unacceptable issues, “he said.
Coconis says the main reason luggage has shifted or missed connecting flights is the continuing shortage of airport staff.
Air Canada currently has 32,000 employees, up from approximately 33,000 before the pandemic, while operating about 80% of its June 2019 schedule, according to the company in June.
The company announced on Wednesday that it plans to reduce its flights in July and August as the airline continues to deal with “customer service shortages”.
According to Coconis, reducing the volume of passengers is necessary to offer short-term relief until the airport’s operations return to track.
“The announced reduction of Air Canada’s schedule by about 15 percent will alleviate some of this stress (for workers) and make sure that these bags will be combined with passengers to the final destination,” Coconis said.
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