airport

Thursday April 27, 2023

April 27, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 27, 2023

Omar Alghabra defends proposed air passenger protection overhaul

March 16, 2023

As an airline crew member, Omar Alghabra bids farewell to Canadian passengers seeking cheaper airfares across the border in the U.S. airports with a “buh bye now” that may not be as jocular as it sounds. The proposed overhaul of air passenger rights rules in Canada by the Liberal government would ensure that airlines are held accountable for delivering the obligations they’ve committed to their passengers. The new regulations would also hike fines for airlines that don’t comply with Canadian Transportation Agency rules and limit situations where airlines can deny compensation for delays and damaged or lost luggage. Despite criticisms from airlines and advocacy groups, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra asserts that the proposal would protect consumers and shift the burden onto airlines.

Critics, however, have expressed concerns about the loopholes that may still exist and the possibility of increased ticket prices. Air Passenger Rights advocacy group president Gábor Lukács has accused the government of misleading Canadians about the new rules. Lukács argues that the new regulations could still allow airlines to deny compensation for cancellations and delays “required for safety purposes,” as those four words remain peppered throughout the fine text. He also believes that airlines can avoid fines by entering into “compliance agreements.”

News: What do the proposed passenger rights changes mean for travellers?  

May 25, 2022

In an interview on CBC Radio’s As It Happens, Alghabra disagrees with Lukács, saying that the proposal removes the loopholes that airlines could have used to justify not compensating passengers and ensures that airlines are held accountable for delivering their obligations to passengers. The proposed regulations also define new service standards that airlines need to follow, including providing food and access to telecommunication when customers are waiting for a snowstorm to end. Alghabra asserts that the new regulations are the toughest in the world, and airlines will be required to fund complaints at the Canadian Transportation Agency.

While the National Airlines Council of Canada argues that these rules will lead to higher ticket prices, Alghabra is surprised and says that they are not asking airlines to do more than what they promised customers they would do. The proposed regulations will only hold airlines responsible for what they promised customers and not what they don’t control. Alghabra believes that the new regulations will be better for customers, airlines, and everyone.

In terms of concerns about the lack of competition in Canada’s airline industry, Alghabra asserts that Canada has more competition than ever before, with Air Canada, WestJet, Porter, Flair, Lynx, and some regional airlines expanding. He believes that the environment will be hospitable for airlines and will protect airline workers while ensuring that they are well-compensated and that Canadian jobs in the air sector continue.

As an airline crew member, Alghabra’s “buh bye now” might be an indication that Canada’s air travel system is undergoing significant changes. The proposed overhaul of air passenger rights rules in Canada, while not perfect, is a step in the right direction, protecting consumers and holding airlines accountable for delivering their obligations to passengers.

 

Thursday March 16, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 16, 2023

Transport Minister pledges to close passenger compensation loophole used by airlines

January 13, 2023

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Tuesday the federal government will close a loophole that allows airlines to deny customers compensation for cancelled flights.

The reform will come as part of an overhaul of passenger rights to be tabled in Parliament this spring, he said at a news conference.

Asked whether he would end the exemption that lets carriers reject compensation claims by citing safety issues, Alghabra answered in the affirmative.

“The short answer is yes. We are working on strengthening and clarifying the rules to ensure that we make a distinction,” he said.

“Obviously we don’t want planes to fly when it’s unsafe to do so. But there are certain things that are within the control of the airlines, and we need to have clearer rules that puts the responsibility on the airlines when it’s their responsibility.”

Alghabra’s pledge came during a news conference at Toronto’s Pearson airport Tuesday morning, where he promised an additional$75.9 million over three years to reduce the backlog of complaints at the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).

May 25, 2022

The money will allow the transport regulator to hire 200 more employees who can chip away at the 42,000 complaints currently filed there, he said.

“The backlog is huge.”

The announcement comes after the government topped up the agency’s funding by $11 million last year – shortly before travel chaos erupted over the summer as flight demand surged, prompting another wave of complaints.

Gabor Lukacs, president of the Air Passenger Rights advocacy group, expressed skepticism that the new cash will make a big dent in the backlog.

“The government is throwing good money after bad,” he said. “It will not improve lack of enforcement on its own.”

Alghabra hinted at other changes upcoming in a revamped passenger rights charter, including potential reforms to the regulator’s role as an investigative and enforcement body.

“We are looking at strengthening the rules, as I said, and perhaps looking at increasing the authorities that the CTA has. But I leave it up to the CTA to exercise its judgment and when and how to impose these fines,” Alghabra told reporters.

The agency has a dual mandate as a tribunal handling complaints and a regulatory authority, though advocates say it has not gone far enough to punish violations under the latter. (The Globe & Mail) 

 

Thursday January 5, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday January 5, 2023

Ottawa is passing the buck on this holiday season’s air travel chaos

December 23, 2022

Over the past couple of weeks, air travellers have experienced what will likely be remembered as the most difficult Christmas travel peak in recent memory. For Canadians, it was a sad repeat of the challenges they faced last summer. While much of the chaos air travellers experienced this Christmas can be chalked up to bad weather, those travelling with Southwest Airlines and Sunwing, in particular, saw their plans upended by challenging recoveries in the days that followed.

Both airlines saw their operations turned upside down, leaving thousands of customers affected. But that is where the similarities end. The response of the respective airlines, as well as that of the senior-most transportation official in each country, couldn’t have been more different.

Southwest made the difficult but ultimately correct decision to reset their severely disrupted operations by cancelling upwards of two-thirds of their flights for much of the week following Dec. 23 to get aircraft and crew back in place. By Dec. 30, Southwest resumed near normal operations and started its recovery.

April 23, 2014

Sunwing, on the other hand, correctly, however belatedly, leased aircraft from other carriers to deal with their stranded customers but also was forced to cancel flights until February, including all its flights out of Saskatchewan. While the airline confirms that most stranded travellers have now returned to Canada, the longer-term cancellations make it clear that the airline marketed and sold flights which they did not have enough resources to operate. Where Southwest took the “short-term pain for long-term gain” approach, Sunwing decided that extending and spreading the pain well into the winter season made more sense.

While U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared on virtually every major network news program, Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra took to Twitter to voice his concern.

Against this backdrop of air travel chaos, several key lessons can be drawn. The first and most important lesson is to be pro-active.

Many of the issues faced by travellers were not only predictable, they were predicted. The problems travellers encountered during the summer peak became self-evident by spring yet nothing was done. With its sprawling bureaucracy, it should not be too much to expect Transport Canada to better monitor operational performance so that trends can be more easily identified and appropriately addressed. 

May 25, 2022

Mr. Alghabra spent 2022 playing catch-up rather than leading. He should be the last person in Canada surprised by anything happening at airports during his watch, yet feigning surprise or being firmly in denial, was his and his department’s modus operandi. By being pro-active, he could have helped alleviate some of the long lines at airport security and customs that plagued airports last summer and could have been in a stronger position to encourage Sunwing to repatriate its stranded customers in a more timely fashion. (Continued: The Globe and Mail) 

 

Friday December 23, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 23, 2022

Winter storm in US and Canada causes power outages for over a million

The storm has brought damaging winds and freezing temperatures that can quickly lead to frostbite.

December 24, 2013

Much of Canada and the US are under winter weather alerts that stretch from coast-to-coast and as far south as the US-Mexico border.

Major airports have cancelled thousands of flights as the storm intensifies.

As of Friday morning, more than 1,130,000 people from Texas to Maine were left in the dark, as the intense winds brought damage to power lines across the eastern US.

Power outages have also been reported in Canada, affecting 260,000 people in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

January 31, 2019

The US National Weather Service said that over 200 million people – or roughly 60% of the US population – are under some form of winter weather advisory.

Much of Canada, from British Columbia to Newfoundland, is also under extreme cold and winter storm warnings.

Several school boards in Ontario, including Toronto, have cancelled classes. The airline WestJet has also cancelled flights on Friday due to “prolonged and extreme weather events” across Canada.

This storm is set to bring the iciest Christmas in decades, say forecasters, even affecting the sunshine state of Florida. (BBC) 

From sketch to finish, in 30 seconds, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro … These sped up clips are posted to encourage others to be creative, to take advantage of the technology many of us already have and to use it to produce satire. Comfort the afflicted. Afflict the comforted.

 

Wednesday May 25, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 25, 2022

Airport madness must be fixed now

Had Dante Alighieri experienced the special torments of 21st-century passenger flight, there would surely have been another ring of Hell in his depictions.

January 9, 2021

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, air travel had become a relentless accumulation of aggravations, from the time of parking (at exorbitant cost) on arrival at one airport until (unless it was lost) the claiming of baggage at another.

But the current state of affairs — as travel gradually returns to normal while COVID-19 protocols remain in place and understaffing prevails — has upped the misery index to unacceptable levels.

Near-endless lines for check-in and security. Passengers imprisoned in planes on the tarmac for hours after landing because of crowding inside terminals. More hours in jam-packed arrival lineups at customs caused by staffing shortages.

In all, what’s going on in Canadian airports at present is a recipe for chaos and anger, not to mention the abuse of flight attendants and frazzled, overburdened ground staff. And with the high-travel summer season only weeks away this dispiriting situation needs to be resolved fast.

The Canada Airports Council is calling on the federal government to scrap random COVID-19 tests and public-health questions at customs in order to ease the congestion travellers are being greeted with in Canada.

Such measures mean it takes four times longer to process passengers than it did before the pandemic, the council has said.

July 17, 2019

That was just barely tolerable when travel was down, but it’s become a serious problem now that people are starting to fly again in numbers.

The council said it makes little sense to retain such stringent testing measures in airports — facilities never designed for procedures that halt the flow of travellers into and out of the precincts — when they are no longer in place in the community.

The situation has been particularly bad at Pearson International Airport, Canada’s largest.

Before the pandemic it took an average of 15 to 30 seconds for a Canada Border Services Agency officer to clear an international passenger, the airport said. Now, “due to the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 health screening questions, this has increased the processing time at Canada’s borders by two to four times.”

Pearson blames the understaffed Canadian Air Transport Security Authority. The Canadian Airport Council blames the over-rigid COVID-19 safety regime. Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra even blamed travellers for being out of practice.

“Taking out the laptops, taking out the fluids — all that adds 10 seconds here, 15 seconds there,” he told reporters.

April 23, 2014

That sort of thing is likely to inflame rather than calm regular flyers — who have long since mastered the hassle-filled procedures of travel. It does raise the matter of fluids and whether the current security fixation on them is justified. State-of-the-art technology exists, and has already been installed at Shannon Airport in Ireland, that would allow the inspection of fluids, carried in normal amounts, and of laptops while still in cases, backpacks and computer bags.

For travellers in this country, bringing in such advanced techniques could not come too soon.

Alghabra also points to an increase in last-minute bookings as well as flight schedules that see too many planes arriving around the same time. His department says it’s trying to address the delays and hopes more screening personnel will be added by CATSA to speed up procedures.

Among those monitoring that progress will be the union representing flight attendants, who have effectively been asked to work for free since they are typically paid for time in the air, not for trying to control and placate ticked-off travellers on the ground.

There was a time — though you’d have to be rather long in the tooth to recall it — when airports were exciting, exotic, efficient. The charm of those quaint days has long passed. The experience has slipped from taxing, to miserable, to unendurable.

Exasperated travellers aren’t much interested in excuses, explanations and vague assurances. They just want the current hellishness fixed, and soon. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)