Travellers facing 'chaotic' delays as Pearson airport navigates long lines, staffing issues
CBC
Travellers at Toronto's Pearson International Airport are being asked to pack plenty of patience on Monday as longer than expected lineups and Canada-wide staffing shortages cause delays.
"This is ridiculous — this is really not well organized," said Adam Brazier, who is travelling home with his family to P.E.I.
"A lot of people are going into the wrong lines right now because there's nobody to tell us which lines to go into."
Matthew Green, the NDP MPP for Hamilton Centre, reached Pearson airport about 90 minutes before his 8:10 a.m. domestic flight to Ottawa. He says he arrived to find about 500 people lined up in the airport outside of the gate, in what he described as a "disorganized, chaotic conga line."
What became immediately apparent, Green says, is that the airport was "completely understaffed, unprepared, and unable to accommodate the bottleneck that was happening there."
Green missed his initial flight, waiting two hours before boarding a different one.
The airport sent out a message on Twitter Monday morning, advising travellers to leave themselves lots of extra time and to check their flight status before leaving for the terminal.
"We'd like to remind passengers that employees in the terminals are doing their best to get them on their way," the airport said in a statement.
Several Canadian airports have had frustrated travellers in long lines due to a shortage of security screeners.
Vancouver has seen particularly long waits, with passengers saying they have also missed domestic flights due to security screening delays.
In an email to the CBC News, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) said it's making every effort to address the issue — but it can't find enough workers.
CATSA, which is the federal crown corporation that's responsible for all passenger security screening, says once it does manage to hire enough staff, it will also take time to train them.
Pearson also says health checks to cover the increased number of travellers have doubled processing times.
Green calls it "wholly unacceptable" that the airport couldn't have predicted delays as post-pandemic travel ramps up.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Volunteer firefighters from across Saskatchewan have been working in Beauval and other communities in the province's north to help save them from ongoing wildfires.
It is a sellers market across Saskatchewan and first-time homebuyers say they are having a hard time making that milestone purchase, bidding on multiple homes that end up selling for more than the asking price.
Residents who live in the neighbourhood of Virginia Park have plenty of experience having to compete for parking during major events and summer festivals.
A B.C. couple is begging people to stop calling them.
When Mahmoud Fares calls his family in Gaza, "I don't even have the guts to ask them, 'How are you doing?'" he says. "We know how they are doing. They're doing bad."
Multiple Canadian contractors that have helped build a sprawling, taxpayer-supported electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in southwestern Ontario allege they haven't been paid for millions of dollars worth of work, court records show.
WARNING: This story contains references to domestic violence and suicide.
Four men and three women from Guelph and Cambridge were arrested following a "'multi-jurisdictional" drug investigation.
Thamara DeVries is finally beginning the process of reclaiming her dream home, after months of watching the property turn into a nightmare.
The Yukon government says that stopping illicit drugs from reaching the remote, fly-in community of Old Crow is an urgent issue — but government and regulatory officials also say they have limited authority to do much about it.
Riley Simpson has been playing softball since they were nine years old. They fell in love with the sport after watching their older sister play.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is scheduled to address First Nations leaders Thursday at a summit called to allay their concerns over the Liberal government's major projects legislation.
Horizon's four regional hospitals are in such a critical state of overcapacity, trying to cope with a record number of patients who really belong elsewhere, the CEO is calling on the province to bump those patients ahead of other New Brunswickers waiting for placements in nursing homes and other community care.