AIR CANADA ON SUPPORT SYSTEMS - 515

       AIR CANADA ON SUPPORT 

The Two Pictures above depict the actual State of Affairs of one of the Premier Airlines Operators ,  namely Air Canada .

Air Canada and Lester Pearson Airport  of late have gained the dubious distinction of being among the worst Managed Airports and Airline Operators in the World  for some time now . 

The first picture of Air Canada in the high sky was a GO TO  Airlines for my Travel from India to Canada and Back over the years .  Having used this Airline on quite a few occasions  ,  I have happy memories of the Splendid  Services provided by them .

All this alas , is a story of the past . My recent experience with the Airlines and The Toronto Pearson International Airport was in total contrast to my earlier  experiences. 

First things first , getting the Boarding Pass or  the Checking in -  Getting the  Luggage Tag after making the online payment for the same - making the necessary inputs into the many computers  kept for the same  -  Tagging your luggage and dropping the same at the specified kiosks have to be all done by you, without you having to meet or see a single person  from the Airlines or The  Airport Services .

The second picture of the Air Canada Aircraft being towed by a Tractor is almost the true picture of the Airlines sorry  current status .  

We  , which includes my better half and my two Grandchildren aged 14 and 9 had booked our Tickets by the Air Canada Express from Toronto to Regina by Flight AC 7909 on the 17th of October . The flight was to depart from Toronto at 6.45 pm and reach Regina after a flight time of close to 3 hours .

The departure was from gate D7 of Terminal One of this very large Airport with very high  Arrivals and  Departures . Gate D7 being a recent addition seemed  to have certain drawbacks which included decent Vegetarian Eateries .

Having been warned of the prevailing and sorry state of Affairs  at Toronto Airport we arrived well before the scheduled departure time and had our issues with the Boarding Pass , Luggage Drop and  Security Check all  completed and arrived at Gate D7 at 5.15 pm itself for our flight which was  scheduled to depart at 6.45 pm

The first announcement and the excellent Free Wifi informed me  via email that there were certain issues which they were trying to resolve and that our flight was now scheduled to leave at 7.45 pm .

This then became 8.30 , 9.30, 10.00 ,10.30 , 10.45 pm and the flight finally departed at 11.15 pm .

The interesting part is the reason cited for the delay : Lack of  A Pilot and his delayed arrival at the Airport because of the seemingly heavy traffic on the roads in Toronto . We and the Grandkids aged  14 and 9 years had to put up with an Airline that did not have a Pilot to maneuver a Scheduled  Flight .

The situation at the neighbouring gates was no better . The flight to Thunder Bay was delayed due to some technical issues with the Aircraft . 

Another  flight  was delayed due to want of Aircraft Cleaning Personnel. 

The flight to London Heathrow was CANCELED due to bad weather conditions . Bad weather condition should have  affected all flights across the Atlantic to Europe , which was not so  and if it was only over London , it could have been diverted to Manchester or Birmingham or any other place .

This does show Air Canada in very poor light . The aftereffects of COVID where large number of staff were laid off has begun to tell as  replacements with the necessary skillsets are very difficult to be found and that too at very  short notice as people have now started to travel more freely .

All Services and Allied Industries have taken a hit because of the Covid , as most  people  have found a  better or more remunerative source of employment when they were shown the door during the Covid Pandemic . Finding replacements for them in a sparsely populated country like Canada is a big and continuing problem .

    VERY HARD TIMES INDEED  

The only silver lining here is that those seeking opportunities abroad especially from India have a great chance to be gainfully employed , provided they are willing to take the severe winter conditions in their stride .