To the Airlines

[trey kule]

We all understand the weather can throw a wrench into things.

But stop selling tickets if not you do have the people to crew them. The CSRs and ground staff.

And stop treating people like idiots.

My flight tonight. As scheduled. Boarding at 20.50.
At 20.52 announcement there was no flight crew and that it would be three hours before a crew arrived!

Why would you wait to tell people? No question you knew that our flight was not going to depart on time..
Even with my old failing eyesight I could see the cockpit was empty.


It’s time the Govt stepped in and stopped ticket sales for the next two weeks until all the stranded pax have been moved.

Rant ended. Now looking forward to flying with a crew at the end of their duty day, in the middle of night, and bad weather. What could go wrong!

[skyhighh]

The real question is why are airlines struggling to find pilots to crew their aircraft at the first place?

Trust me, we hate hearing those stories and most of us want to help you in this situation. Unfortunately most airlines have been treated their crews so bad expecting them to go above and beyond that at some point… crews had enough. The government won’t help, if anything, it is the reason why you’re having the problem you currently have.

[trey kule]

My issue is the corporate mentality that is directing this. And yes, glad I am out to pasture and was able to fly in the good old days. And they were good.

They have to get some management that knows how to actually operate an airline.

[‘Bob’]

Those that post don’t know. Those that know don’t post.

[trey kule]

And those that can’t think beyond slogans seldom solve problems

You should be a bit careful who you infer does not know.

Looks like WestJet got the memo. Proactively cancelled all flights to Vancouver tomorrow. Good on them. It is a tough decision but the right one.

[oldncold]

talkn to a friend today, said many of the smaller non sked charter companies phones ringing off the wall since tuesday, in yvr yyc to get folks out of bc if they had cash on the barrel or cc with enough room . i flew thru yvr airpace today and it was like the first 6 weeks of covid back in spring 2020. ghostly quiet. want to go direct no problem today . atc had time to chat even . airsprint and other corp owners rescuing their own family and extended family stuck in airline limbo if you didnt need a gate in yvr peace of cake last 3 days for runway 8r or 26l yvr .

[Stu Pidasso]

The "Gate Agent" wouldn't have two clues about there not being any Pilots. They likely received a call from STOC 1 minute prior to the PA. They are busy doing what Gate Agents do, trying to get asses into seats on continually oversold flights.

Why are there no Pilots? The answer is simple, post 9-11 it turned into a shit career that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. Employers exploited Pilots paying less than Mcdonalds. The tide has turned but still a shortage coming through the schools. It has turned into a rich kids game with the incredible cost and the initial pay has not improved.

Now AC and WJ are on a massive hiring spree and sucking everyone else dry, I would recommend avoiding Jazz as they have an extreme Pilot shortage.

Every Pilot in this country is hoping the border opens to the US, then they can turn out the lights on Aviation in Canada!

[rookiepilot]

Funny these constant issues aren’t real for most — delays, or the 10 hours I know of someone spending stuck on an airplane on YVR’s ramp — or even worse, they are butt of CBC - hysteria type jokes, until it happens to you.

Only a 3 hour delay? Hardly newsworthy.

You guys should think about having some sympathy for the elderly, moms and little kids caught up in someone else’s incompetence, when it goes really wrong.

My $.02

Hey, YVR’s CEO was “pleased”.

YVR CEO 'pleased' with airport's performance after tarmac chaos
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/high ... os-6294576

[TheStig]

Airports are operated as not-for-profit enterprises and have become bloated, inefficient and worst of all not accountable to the travelling public. Airports are treated as cash-cows by the Federal Government instead of vital National infrastructure, we’ve seen this week how much people depend on them, and how they’ve failed. We could have a gold-standard, envied around the globe, standard of air travel if the government supported every air traveller with the same subsidy provided per passenger to VIA rail or public transit.

The delays that airlines are blamed for are mostly a result of the airport authorities not being able to maintain operations. Runway, taxiway, apron, de-Icing capacity capacity are all 100% out the the airlines control, not to mention bridges that fail in snowy/windy conditions, runways without CAT II/III capability and lighting. Additionally, airlines provide customs with passenger numbers and departure and arrival times, would you say they properly staffed for peak periods?

Is it reasonable for an airport to be able to maintain 100% of its normal operations in a blizzard? No it isn’t. On the other end of the scale, was the complete failure in YVR last week acceptable? I don’t believe it was.

Airlines have a huge role to play, obviously, but making them the scapegoat for all the delays isn’t reasonable either. How is an airline supposed to anticipate weather this horrendous across the entire country the week before Christmas? What about the airport authorities? Should YVR continuously maintain the same winter operations capability as YYZ for the weather that happens once a decade?

WJ cancelled all flights after 10am in YYZ today (certainly a tough decision for them to make). However, AC flew a reduced schedule based on the forecasted airport capacity, as they routinely do when extreme weather is forecast. Who inconvenienced their passengers more? I watched a couple hundred people complete their holiday travel plans with only a (relatively) small delay.

Kudos to all the hard working pilots safely transporting passengers all over the world in these difficult conditions, hope you can all enjoy some time with your families and can tune out the static from those who have no clue what it’s like to do what we do.

[homesick]

Your first paragraph is spot on.
The world over, air travel is still considered a luxury.
It's moments like these that people realise it's an integral part of the national infrastructure.

The industry is taxed to death with minimal return investment.

I echo your sentiments on subsidies. Every form of mass transportation is subsidised by some government entity or another. That is the only way for it to survive. There's a reason why airlines bleed more money than they make.

[co-joe]

The real question is why are airlines struggling to find pilots to crew their aircraft at the first place?

...

Saying they don't have crew, doesn't always mean pilot. All it takes is one FA to book off last minute and now you don't have enough crew.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

Nothing will ever change, the problem has always been, and forever will be pay. The new caveat to this is newer generations don’t put up with the crap mine and previous ones did in the industry. Almost 30% of Canadas workforce changed careers during the pandemic, I wonder how many walked away from pilot and AME positions after they were thrown away like garbage during the pandemic.
There are more than enough licenses out there and experienced guys to fill these positions domestically, where there is a shortage, is the amount that are willing to work for the miserable wages and working conditions these companies offer. Airlines have caused this problem and I doubt they will change things much at all until employment laws change in Canada. I have zero sympathy for the situation the industry is in, as far as I’m concerned, I fly N reg’d as much as possible.

[flogolik]

The "Gate Agent" wouldn't have two clues about there not being any Pilots. They likely received a call from STOC 1 minute prior to the PA. They are busy doing what Gate Agents do, trying to get asses into seats on continually oversold flights.

Why are there no Pilots? The answer is simple, post 9-11 it turned into a shit career that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. Employers exploited Pilots paying less than Mcdonalds. The tide has turned but still a shortage coming through the schools. It has turned into a rich kids game with the incredible cost and the initial pay has not improved.

Now AC and WJ are on a massive hiring spree and sucking everyone else dry, I would recommend avoiding Jazz as they have an extreme Pilot shortage.

Every Pilot in this country is hoping the border opens to the US, then they can turn out the lights on Aviation in Canada!

Well said, I couldn’t agree more with you!

[jpilot77]

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/sout ... 10920.html

Apparently SouthWest was responsible for 50% of cancelled flights across the globe today…

[skyhighh]

The real question is why are airlines struggling to find pilots to crew their aircraft at the first place?

...

Saying they don't have crew, doesn't always mean pilot. All it takes is one FA to book off last minute and now you don't have enough crew.

You are absolutely correct. A tad narrow minded on my part. Since there are more pilots than FAs hanging out on that website I figured it was mostly targeted to the front end. But yes you’re right. My bad.

[averageatbest]

WJ cancelled all flights after 10am in YYZ today (certainly a tough decision for them to make). However, AC flew a reduced schedule based on the forecasted airport capacity, as they routinely do when extreme weather is forecast. Who inconvenienced their passengers more?

WestJet had to deal with a crewing shortage on top of the weather. They were hit by the storms out west which left many crews out of base and low on time. Then they saw the writing on the wall in Toronto and decided to take a reset day so that they could focus their energy on a quick restart instead of days or weeks of recovery.

It was a painful decision that hurt many, but I believe that it was the right one in the long term to save many more.

[billhill]

Zero sympathy for Canadian airlines here. As mentioned above they brought it on themselves.Very poor performance. Embarrassing. Could see it coming a mile away. The two big ones could not keep it together even when the weather was fine. Everyone whining about winter?? Where you been the last 100 years? Preparation is key and is what gets you through. Anybody with any common sense knows that. What a massive sh## show.

[Kosiw]

Every time, is the first time, for airlines in Canada

[Bug_Stomper_01]

WJ cancelled all flights after 10am in YYZ today (certainly a tough decision for them to make). However, AC flew a reduced schedule based on the forecasted airport capacity, as they routinely do when extreme weather is forecast. Who inconvenienced their passengers more?

WestJet had to deal with a crewing shortage on top of the weather. They were hit by the storms out west which left many crews out of base and low on time. Then they saw the writing on the wall in Toronto and decided to take a reset day so that they could focus their energy on a quick restart instead of days or weeks of recovery.

It was a painful decision that hurt many, but I believe that it was the right one in the long term to save many more.

So in short, not enough staff because they all pay dog sh1t

[Bug_Stomper_01]

Zero sympathy for Canadian airlines here. As mentioned above they brought it on themselves.Very poor performance. Embarrassing. Could see it coming a mile away. The two big ones could not keep it together even when the weather was fine. Everyone whining about winter?? Where you been the last 100 years? Preparation is key and is what gets you through. Anybody with any common sense knows that. What a massive sh## show.

It’s disgusting what the industry is now compared to 20 years ago