Pathetic Pearson Airport

[B208]

One of the most expensive airports in the world apparently.

...Not a big deal for me...
...
What a joke.

Apparently it is a big deal for you. And of all things that's wrong with the GTAA, this would be at the bottom of the list that should be of yours or anyones concern.

Chill out and have a drink Alky. For a dude with difficulty walking, unserviceable moving side walks are a big concern, especially when one considers how much of an improvement fee the airport charges.

[Braun]

What would have made YMX a better option? Not disagreeing, just curious what makes it better from a controller point of view?

Runway layout permitting expansion for parallels. Real high speed taxiways. Ultra long runways and since the terminal is/was in the middle of the airport we don't have to sort the aircraft in the air like we do in YUL. Aircraft going to transborder gates that land 24L screw up the flow on the ground. Also space to expand all facilities.

[Jimmy2]

Yes. You wait 20 minutes for a marshaller to bring the plane the last 20 feet to the gate, the moving sidewalk doesn't work or when it does there are retards standing across the entire width so no one can get by, you stand in line at immigration for 45 minutes, floors and carpets are filthy, bathrooms are disgusting, you go stand outside for 45 minutes in an unheated shelter breathing exhaust fumes waiting for your hotel shuttle driver who probably just arrived in Canada on the yesterday's flight. Welcome home.

[Alcoholism]

One of the most expensive airports in the world apparently.

...Not a big deal for me...
...
What a joke.

Apparently it is a big deal for you. And of all things that's wrong with the GTAA, this would be at the bottom of the list that should be of yours or anyones concern.

Chill out and have a drink Alky. For a dude with difficulty walking, unserviceable moving side walks are a big concern, especially when one considers how much of an improvement fee the airport charges.

First world problems as you sip on your triple-twist-dirty-skinny-latte as you hope to lazily have a device move you a short distance. If walking is a concern, there are plenty of wheelchairs to help make it easy for you.

[FADEC]

Travelling all over the world; never seen anything not working at Pearson.
Frankfurt is LONG walks; LHR also; as mentioned.
Try Juba, Kabul, Accra, Monrovia, Addis, etc, then get back to us!

[Jimmy2]

Well there we go. We're better than Africa.

[atphat]

LOL

[jpilot77]

But after complaining about YUL, by far the worst that operate into regularly is good ole LGA!

[DonutHole]

What Pelmet may be trying to say is this: We are getting tired of taxpayers money and money put into aviation infrastructure being used for other purposes or being wasted or outright criminal misuses! The NDP and greens were adamantly against pay-to-play dinners and golf tournaments and vowed to enact legislation to stop the corruption,,,, what are they doing with the $550.00/plate dinner now and the golf tournament? They are all crooks and liars !!!!!

The greens and NDP have never been in power at the federal level, and therefore have never had the ability to enact any legislation of any kind - politics 101. Maybe you're raging at the wrong target?

Regarding that (cough, cough) high speed moving sidewalk going toward Customs, it has hardly ever functioned in the ten years the terminal has been there. They'd be better off tearing it out and putting down carpet, it's as fast a walk as that piece of junk and way more comfortable on the feet.

You need to go back to politics 101. Under minority government the NDP has had massive amounts of influence, like when budgets are passed and the conservatives needed their votes to avoid non-confidence.

[Rockie]

Politics 101

Influence isn't the same as power. It isn't even the same as a coalition government. While it is mandatory for the right wing to blame the left for everything, blaming the Greens and NDP for Pearson is laughable.

[Broker]

The high speed walkway in YYZ is very high maintenance. Normally, they shut them all down late evening for maintenance. Not the best idea but that is what happens. If pax can't walk, they can always request assistance in the form of wheelchairs and/or golf cart. If you arrive late, expect to walk.

[pelmet]

But after complaining about YUL, by far the worst that operate into regularly is good ole LGA!

LGA will be whole different story in a few years. Was there the other day and things are changing rapidly. From an airport terminal point of view that is.

The high speed walkway in YYZ is very high maintenance. Normally, they shut them all down late evening for maintenance. Not the best idea but that is what happens. If pax can't walk, they can always request assistance in the form of wheelchairs and/or golf cart. If you arrive late, expect to walk.

Imagine the idea of not shutting down the high spr unbelievably all three) of the slower parallel ones were not working.

[ogc]

I saw one of the reasons the escalators are often not working. People take too many bags get stuck at the bottom or top and hit the emergency stop button.

Then no one resets it.

[ZBBYLW]

There are many short falls with YYZ.

It starts with staffing with Nav Canada. When they are using all three runways the operation actually runs pretty well. Unfortunately management at Nav Canada need to get some more bums in seats. Perhaps offer transfer bonuses from elsewhere in the country to move to YYZ not sure how their contract works but they obviously need to entice more people to stay in YYZ.

Once you land and get to the gate, many times our own ground staff seem to not be ready for us, perhaps staffing or just not caring much. If they are present, many times the sterile zone has something inside it. Once the gate is attached we have to wait for an agent because they got lost. It's been said before that if pilots did their job as poorly as other employee groups there would be airplane wrecks scattered around the country.

The terminal is built for significantly less people than is handled today, the claustrophobic costume hall is overwhelmed during any rush and is very stuffy due to the low ceiling, YVR and YUL are actually quite pleasant.

If departing it's standing room only as it seems each gate is designed for an Embraer or CRJ on the domestic and transboareder gates, and for a 319 or 737 on the international size. Without any forward looking design they are simply overwhelmed by 280 seat 767s doing transboarder flying or 450 seat 777s doing domestic flying.

I can't remember the last time I have seen a moving sidewalk or escalator out of service at a mall, without anyone actively working on it. YYZ's escalators have already been covered here.

As a pilot not sure what one could do. The only reason it bugs me is that we pay top dollar for this sh!t hole we are trying to turn into a global hub.

[rookiepilot]

It comes down to an attitude of providing excellent service vs mediocrity and laziness, and that always comes from the top.

Easy tell on a public facility is if washrooms are cleaned. I just returned from Europe. Multiple airports, train stations. All clean. Return to Pearson, disgusting. As usual. Don't expect better cause no one cares.

[seniorpumpkin]

I've seen my fair share of third world airports that offer third world service.
YYZ still pisses me off every time, I think largely because the airport improvement taxes I alone have paid this year from commuting could probably fund a whole new escalator.

[crazyaviator]

Taxes are NOT to fund specific projects or infrastructure,,, you are led to believe that, they go into a pot to be dispersed to whomever they wish,,,,, democracy at its best NOT !!!

[Rockie]

Here I agree with you. There is not a "gas tax account" for road repair and construction. There is only the "general revenue account". I agree with user fees if they are allocated properly which they often are not.

However airports are run by non-profits (HAHAHA) who only pay rent to the government. They aren't taxes per se.

[Kejidog]

Ah. All these problems will go away when they privatize all the airports. Just like Little t and his crew of feel good cronies are proposing.

Tongue in cheek. Yes but does anyone think that this situation will get better?

[Jim la Jungle]

Pelmet,
I've had this beef for a while towards Pearson, especially T3. One day at Viscount, GTAA employees had a stand to promote safety in the escalators. I had a laugh at first, then I took it upon myself to have a chat with them. I said it's nice to promote safety and all but it would be actually better if the equipment worked, then it would be less dangerous to take them. I stressed the fact that half of the escalators and magic carpets don't work most of the time in T3. The only thing she could answer was: "oh I don't know, I work at T1". I walked away before getting myself into trouble.