“If you get stuck in some travel hell,” Jen said, “it will all be worth it, because it will make great journalism … and it will amuse people to see you suffer."
I’m old enough to remember when getting on an airplane was as simple as getting on a bus is nowadays. I’m not sure what the answer is, but we sure seem to be willing to surrender more and more of our freedoms for the “convenience” of flying. Frogs in the pot.
Most of the hold up is all about keeping us safe. Shoes are dangerous. Belts are dangerous. Laptops are dangerous. Bottles of liquids are dangerous. People are dangerous.
Yes, I too remember getting on a plane for NYC as a matter of fact, no passport, no fuss. Once I flew to Hawaii and I forgot my wallet at home. It wasn't a problem but I had to promise to not do it again. Times have changed, big time.
Other countries seem to be able to streamline the check-in and Customers review processes much better than does Canada. I'm thinking Australia in particular.
I've flown back and forth between Ottawa and Melbourne probably 40 times and not only is the arrival process into Melbourne just as onerous (you do have to have your "business visa" after all) they also have their departure screening as well. So from my experience yes, flying through Pearson has always been pretty chaotic but Melbourne is no cake walk either.
Not sure how you entered Australia. Canadians need a visa, which can be obtained online. When you land, the automated kiosk checks to see if you have a visa (linked to passport) and if your face matches the passport. If all ok, the gate opens.
Great article. Actual journalism! What a treat! However, in the future when you encounter someone with language difficulties use your phone and google translate. Google has almost every language and can produce either text or speech. If it doesn't have their language most non-English speakers speak at least 2, so you should be able to find a common language on Google translate.
I worked in Montreal for 40 years and we had to travel all over North America. We avoided Pearson like the plage🙄. It was the worst airport to go through. Always hassles and delays. It's international setup was especially awful. It didn't surprise me that people would blame Trudeau since he is responsible for everything bad in Canada right now. He is not the brightest blub on the tree but he didn't build Pearson
1000% agree with this. Pearson has always the worst, and (similar to Matt's experience), US customs in Pearson is consistently awful. When I I lived in the US with a TN/H1B visa , I would connect in Winnipeg/Calgary/Montreal/Vancouver rather than fly direct from Toronto just to avoid that experience. (I would have bet money that they had a scoreboard in the back and agents got points for making someone cry...) Every other airport was just better. Travel is always a nightmare, but there is some special layer of hell in Pearson.
Typical ratio of story:reality when the story is that something is/was "hell". I think most news readers automatically take down the drama level from what they read to what they assume really happened.
The "inflation coverage" lately has been grasping to find those few people whose incomes were marginal enough before, that inflation is putting them into hunger. It's nice in a way - the only time these people even get noticed in most news. The bigger picture is that (say) 14% of households have some food insecurity anyway, inflation has put it up to 16%, and that's the story.
For those of us who remember double-digit, of course, current inflation is not that scary. To *politicians*, yes, frightening, but not to most of us victims. The big story for me just now is how I have a 2-day wait for a reservation at a good restaurant, and a lineup at the place I got takeout from last night, movie theatres getting crowded. It's a pretty upbeat atmosphere for consumer spending around me.
And why not? The big story for the last two years was how Pearson Airport was *empty*, as we all piled up money that wasn't being spent on travel and hospitality; my family has a lot of savings - one reason for inflation is that we're still willing to spend.
And now I have to spend the first 10 minutes of a broadcast all week, hearing how inflation is bringing poverty, then the next 10 minutes watching throngs lining up to spend $1000 to travel by air. You could square the contradiction by doing a minute on "what an example of income inequality", but nope, we just have to deal with stories about how people are too poor to eat, and also too rich to contemplate the shame of a mere car-vacation.
Grateful for your attempt to report facts. To me, it seems like it's normal as far as Canada goes, which means that we run our systems at 100% of capacity and so if anything - anything! - goes wrong, the system gums up and there's chaos. It sounds like you were lucky and thank goodness are able-bodied. I think our leaders can do better for us.
One theme here in (on?) The Line is that a lot of publicly-funded services have been pushed to the limit for cost reasons, leaving no margins for the unexpected. Is this perhaps the issue at the airport? Or, maybe this is part of a larger service sector challenge, where people were laid off during the pandemic, found other work, and aren't interested in coming back, meaning they are finding a hard time recruiting new people in a strong job market? The lack of staff seemed to be a recurring theme.
I'm a car guy and there has long been a truism that if the distance was only a few hundred miles, it makes more sense to drive than fly. That became even truer post 9/11, when you needed to add several hours to the airport arrival to deal with security/customs. NYC is in a grey area, distance-wise (~500 miles/750 kms) but the ability to go directly destination to destination can make a big difference, slow airport or not.
Canada is behind the times, as is often the case. Many other coutries have implemented technologies such as facial recogntiion to automate airport procedures.
I do wonder how Canadians would (and will) react to those kind of technologies, though, particularly given the bad press generated by companies like Clearview. I think we need good privacy regulation around this kind of data first so that it's clear how this kind of data (your face!) can be used -- and more importantly, not used.
Good piece. I went through Pearson from Vancouver and back last weekend. The airport was fine, waited on the tarmac in our AC plane coming in from Windsor. Learned later that is how AC is managing not having enough gate staff. Because of that I was rushed to my connection and only had time to grab something to eat rather than sit down. This is where my beef is: $19.50 for a cold sandwich that was put together days before I ate it. It’s not the wait or the lines that bothered me about the place it’s the unhinged price gouging that is taking place without anyone seeming to care. We’re trapped in this large space and forced to purchase grossly overpriced items.
Thanks for this sensible approach to the issue, Matt, as I've been trying to figure out what all the media/political fuss is about. It seems to be more of a timing thing associated with one airport in particular rather than a description of air travel in general.
I have taken 13 flights in the past few months - three within Canada, four between Canada and the USA, two within the USA, two between Canada and the UK and two within the UK. I checked a bag on every trip. I've cleared US customs in Pearson and Vancouver and Canadian customs in Montreal and Calgary. My son just made a last-minute trip to the west coast and my wife recently flew in and out of Pearson. The travel experience for all of us has been not much different than before the pandemic.
In fact, the only significant delay I had was at Heathrow where literally thousands of people were trying to go through passport control in single file - THANKS, TRUDEAU!!!! :-) The line moved quickly, though. No issues with vaccinations or covid testing - pre-flight vaccinations and ArriveCAN were seamless and my positive PCR test was checked every time I entered the USA and did it's job even when I got pulled out for random testing in Calgary. Now, if only there were consistent masking requirements!
I flew from Toronto to Calgary in early May. I allowed myself a normal amount of time but when I dropped off my bag I was shocked to see the line for security was, after folding back on itself several times, all the way to the front doors of the terminal! It took an hour and a half just to get to the security area. I barely made my flight. "Do I have time to pee?" No, no! Do it on the plane!" And then take-off was delayed for half an hour.
Leaving Calgary was uneventful except having to go the body scanner several times because it was flagging the rivets on my jeans and whatever metal is our new folding money. Yes, I had to put the cash in my pocket through the X-ray machine separately! I felt so safe!
I used to find transiting through Pearson to be a trial before the pandemic, so not surprised to hear that it could get gummed up with friction at various points of operation. When I'd travel to upstate New York from Vancouver, the choice was usually to fly through Toronto or through Chicago. The risk with Chicago was that there was only a few connecting flights to Vancouver each day, and one summer thunderstorm could easily leave you stuck at a very busy airport. There were fewer connections getting from upstate New York to Toronto, but once you got there, connections to Vancouver weren't a problem. As it turns out, I never once had a problem with a Chicago connection, but got delayed EVERY TIME through Pearson. The customs clearance process was just painful - everybody having to pick up bags after arriving from the US, go through customs, then recheck bags. I have no idea if it's changed, but I also have no reason to want to go anywhere near Pearson if another route is available either.
We unvaccinated pariahs among your readers would appreciate knowing exactly who asked you for vaccine paperwork, exactly when they asked, and whether they used the QR code app. That would make us more likely to chip in a few bucks as well.
Thanks. Did you delete an unpleasant reply to my comment? Your prerogative of course, but my personal view is that keeping that kind of thing on display helps rather than hurts. But maybe I am optimistic.
The airlines seem to have their own process to guard against having to fly an unvaccinated person back after being refused admission to Canada. I have witnessed checks at the boarding gate where the airlines request the vaccine records and hand you a particular type of physical boarding pass in return, well in advance of departure. You can't board without this pass.
A useful opinion. However, it begs the question, concerning the top-of-the-fold stories across much media, would this 'meh, not great, not terrible' headline have made the cut to the top half or even the front page. In other words, how much torque is needed to make the cut? Find a little outrage here, a few dramatic photo shots there, and you've got a story to grab some eyeballs. Even this piece of 'no big deal' opinion only gets its traction, as noted, against the backdrop of the outrage headlines that have been garnering so much attention.
So on the one hand, a modestly important topic (wait times in an impatient world, or facts versus media fictions), nevertheless a good example of how difficult it is to sort through the avalanche of info and opinions to discern what might be factually true. Short of lived experience, preferred belief likely does the sorting for many. Thus, our age of personal ideologies and media amplification centres. Sadly, few trusted air traffic controllers to faithfully manage the true versus the false.
Would it not be helpful to look at aviation cancellations globally and see if Pearson reflects those trends or has more cancellations? If more - then what are the causes? Most of us have been on trips in the last while so reporting back on one personal experience seems odd to me. Perhaps I am missing your point.
I’m old enough to remember when getting on an airplane was as simple as getting on a bus is nowadays. I’m not sure what the answer is, but we sure seem to be willing to surrender more and more of our freedoms for the “convenience” of flying. Frogs in the pot.
Most of the hold up is all about keeping us safe. Shoes are dangerous. Belts are dangerous. Laptops are dangerous. Bottles of liquids are dangerous. People are dangerous.
Yes, I too remember getting on a plane for NYC as a matter of fact, no passport, no fuss. Once I flew to Hawaii and I forgot my wallet at home. It wasn't a problem but I had to promise to not do it again. Times have changed, big time.
Yes, they have. And not always for the better. But that Hawaii trip must have been memorable! 🙂
Oh yes!
Other countries seem to be able to streamline the check-in and Customers review processes much better than does Canada. I'm thinking Australia in particular.
I've flown back and forth between Ottawa and Melbourne probably 40 times and not only is the arrival process into Melbourne just as onerous (you do have to have your "business visa" after all) they also have their departure screening as well. So from my experience yes, flying through Pearson has always been pretty chaotic but Melbourne is no cake walk either.
Not sure how you entered Australia. Canadians need a visa, which can be obtained online. When you land, the automated kiosk checks to see if you have a visa (linked to passport) and if your face matches the passport. If all ok, the gate opens.
Yes, as the Republican gun fetishists keep saying "When they flew planes into buildings we didn't change anything." Say what, now?
Great article. Actual journalism! What a treat! However, in the future when you encounter someone with language difficulties use your phone and google translate. Google has almost every language and can produce either text or speech. If it doesn't have their language most non-English speakers speak at least 2, so you should be able to find a common language on Google translate.
Apple doesn't have this yet so it doesn't exist with media class.
Please tell me the "Thanks Trudeau" was irony. There are so many bizarre comments about Trudeau (I live in SK) that it's hard to tell any more.
I believe it was a nod to the "Thanks, Obama" meme -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanks,_Obama
And #thanksTrudeau has been trending on Twitter.
Yes, I'm not sure how Trudeau caused problems at La Guardia.
I worked in Montreal for 40 years and we had to travel all over North America. We avoided Pearson like the plage🙄. It was the worst airport to go through. Always hassles and delays. It's international setup was especially awful. It didn't surprise me that people would blame Trudeau since he is responsible for everything bad in Canada right now. He is not the brightest blub on the tree but he didn't build Pearson
1000% agree with this. Pearson has always the worst, and (similar to Matt's experience), US customs in Pearson is consistently awful. When I I lived in the US with a TN/H1B visa , I would connect in Winnipeg/Calgary/Montreal/Vancouver rather than fly direct from Toronto just to avoid that experience. (I would have bet money that they had a scoreboard in the back and agents got points for making someone cry...) Every other airport was just better. Travel is always a nightmare, but there is some special layer of hell in Pearson.
Or this is not his fault
Typical ratio of story:reality when the story is that something is/was "hell". I think most news readers automatically take down the drama level from what they read to what they assume really happened.
The "inflation coverage" lately has been grasping to find those few people whose incomes were marginal enough before, that inflation is putting them into hunger. It's nice in a way - the only time these people even get noticed in most news. The bigger picture is that (say) 14% of households have some food insecurity anyway, inflation has put it up to 16%, and that's the story.
For those of us who remember double-digit, of course, current inflation is not that scary. To *politicians*, yes, frightening, but not to most of us victims. The big story for me just now is how I have a 2-day wait for a reservation at a good restaurant, and a lineup at the place I got takeout from last night, movie theatres getting crowded. It's a pretty upbeat atmosphere for consumer spending around me.
And why not? The big story for the last two years was how Pearson Airport was *empty*, as we all piled up money that wasn't being spent on travel and hospitality; my family has a lot of savings - one reason for inflation is that we're still willing to spend.
And now I have to spend the first 10 minutes of a broadcast all week, hearing how inflation is bringing poverty, then the next 10 minutes watching throngs lining up to spend $1000 to travel by air. You could square the contradiction by doing a minute on "what an example of income inequality", but nope, we just have to deal with stories about how people are too poor to eat, and also too rich to contemplate the shame of a mere car-vacation.
Grateful for your attempt to report facts. To me, it seems like it's normal as far as Canada goes, which means that we run our systems at 100% of capacity and so if anything - anything! - goes wrong, the system gums up and there's chaos. It sounds like you were lucky and thank goodness are able-bodied. I think our leaders can do better for us.
Why is Gurney’s son playing hockey in June?. Is he with Colorado or Tampa Bay?
One theme here in (on?) The Line is that a lot of publicly-funded services have been pushed to the limit for cost reasons, leaving no margins for the unexpected. Is this perhaps the issue at the airport? Or, maybe this is part of a larger service sector challenge, where people were laid off during the pandemic, found other work, and aren't interested in coming back, meaning they are finding a hard time recruiting new people in a strong job market? The lack of staff seemed to be a recurring theme.
I'm a car guy and there has long been a truism that if the distance was only a few hundred miles, it makes more sense to drive than fly. That became even truer post 9/11, when you needed to add several hours to the airport arrival to deal with security/customs. NYC is in a grey area, distance-wise (~500 miles/750 kms) but the ability to go directly destination to destination can make a big difference, slow airport or not.
Canada is behind the times, as is often the case. Many other coutries have implemented technologies such as facial recogntiion to automate airport procedures.
I do wonder how Canadians would (and will) react to those kind of technologies, though, particularly given the bad press generated by companies like Clearview. I think we need good privacy regulation around this kind of data first so that it's clear how this kind of data (your face!) can be used -- and more importantly, not used.
Good piece. I went through Pearson from Vancouver and back last weekend. The airport was fine, waited on the tarmac in our AC plane coming in from Windsor. Learned later that is how AC is managing not having enough gate staff. Because of that I was rushed to my connection and only had time to grab something to eat rather than sit down. This is where my beef is: $19.50 for a cold sandwich that was put together days before I ate it. It’s not the wait or the lines that bothered me about the place it’s the unhinged price gouging that is taking place without anyone seeming to care. We’re trapped in this large space and forced to purchase grossly overpriced items.
Thanks for this sensible approach to the issue, Matt, as I've been trying to figure out what all the media/political fuss is about. It seems to be more of a timing thing associated with one airport in particular rather than a description of air travel in general.
I have taken 13 flights in the past few months - three within Canada, four between Canada and the USA, two within the USA, two between Canada and the UK and two within the UK. I checked a bag on every trip. I've cleared US customs in Pearson and Vancouver and Canadian customs in Montreal and Calgary. My son just made a last-minute trip to the west coast and my wife recently flew in and out of Pearson. The travel experience for all of us has been not much different than before the pandemic.
In fact, the only significant delay I had was at Heathrow where literally thousands of people were trying to go through passport control in single file - THANKS, TRUDEAU!!!! :-) The line moved quickly, though. No issues with vaccinations or covid testing - pre-flight vaccinations and ArriveCAN were seamless and my positive PCR test was checked every time I entered the USA and did it's job even when I got pulled out for random testing in Calgary. Now, if only there were consistent masking requirements!
I flew from Toronto to Calgary in early May. I allowed myself a normal amount of time but when I dropped off my bag I was shocked to see the line for security was, after folding back on itself several times, all the way to the front doors of the terminal! It took an hour and a half just to get to the security area. I barely made my flight. "Do I have time to pee?" No, no! Do it on the plane!" And then take-off was delayed for half an hour.
Leaving Calgary was uneventful except having to go the body scanner several times because it was flagging the rivets on my jeans and whatever metal is our new folding money. Yes, I had to put the cash in my pocket through the X-ray machine separately! I felt so safe!
I used to find transiting through Pearson to be a trial before the pandemic, so not surprised to hear that it could get gummed up with friction at various points of operation. When I'd travel to upstate New York from Vancouver, the choice was usually to fly through Toronto or through Chicago. The risk with Chicago was that there was only a few connecting flights to Vancouver each day, and one summer thunderstorm could easily leave you stuck at a very busy airport. There were fewer connections getting from upstate New York to Toronto, but once you got there, connections to Vancouver weren't a problem. As it turns out, I never once had a problem with a Chicago connection, but got delayed EVERY TIME through Pearson. The customs clearance process was just painful - everybody having to pick up bags after arriving from the US, go through customs, then recheck bags. I have no idea if it's changed, but I also have no reason to want to go anywhere near Pearson if another route is available either.
We unvaccinated pariahs among your readers would appreciate knowing exactly who asked you for vaccine paperwork, exactly when they asked, and whether they used the QR code app. That would make us more likely to chip in a few bucks as well.
Uploaded it to Air Canada when I bought the tickets and also put it into the ArriveCAN app.
Thanks. Did you delete an unpleasant reply to my comment? Your prerogative of course, but my personal view is that keeping that kind of thing on display helps rather than hurts. But maybe I am optimistic.
I don’t allow personal attacks here. It’s bad for business. And this is a business.
The airlines seem to have their own process to guard against having to fly an unvaccinated person back after being refused admission to Canada. I have witnessed checks at the boarding gate where the airlines request the vaccine records and hand you a particular type of physical boarding pass in return, well in advance of departure. You can't board without this pass.
Unvaccinated Canadians are allowed into Canada - just not out
Because you can't refuse entry to Canadians. Foreign travellers must be fully vaccinated. But this must be a red-letter day for you.
Definitely a step forward. That's why I haven't been commenting.
Mentour Pilot (https://mentourpilot.com/about/) has an interesting take on the airport problem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dunXAGSOQwQ
He is a Type Rating Instructor for Ryanair, (B737-800) has over 10,000 hours on the 737.
His thoughts are spot on. The exact same shortage exists in ATC.
A useful opinion. However, it begs the question, concerning the top-of-the-fold stories across much media, would this 'meh, not great, not terrible' headline have made the cut to the top half or even the front page. In other words, how much torque is needed to make the cut? Find a little outrage here, a few dramatic photo shots there, and you've got a story to grab some eyeballs. Even this piece of 'no big deal' opinion only gets its traction, as noted, against the backdrop of the outrage headlines that have been garnering so much attention.
So on the one hand, a modestly important topic (wait times in an impatient world, or facts versus media fictions), nevertheless a good example of how difficult it is to sort through the avalanche of info and opinions to discern what might be factually true. Short of lived experience, preferred belief likely does the sorting for many. Thus, our age of personal ideologies and media amplification centres. Sadly, few trusted air traffic controllers to faithfully manage the true versus the false.
Would it not be helpful to look at aviation cancellations globally and see if Pearson reflects those trends or has more cancellations? If more - then what are the causes? Most of us have been on trips in the last while so reporting back on one personal experience seems odd to me. Perhaps I am missing your point.