travel

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) 

 

Friday January 13, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday January 13, 2023

Sunwing has received 7,000 complaints about holiday travel disruptions

Sunwing Airlines has received 7,000 complaints so far from customers unhappy with the airline’s performance during a turbulent holiday travel season that saw many customers stranded abroad.

July 17, 2019

Sunwing executives told MPs on the House of Commons standing committee on transport, infrastructure and communities Thursday that the airline cancelled 67 flights between December 15 and 31, in part because of staff shortages. Sunwing president Len Corrado said the airline struggled after the federal government declined its request to hire 63 pilots as temporary foreign workers.

Members of Parliament are questioning airline executives and airport authorities on Thursday about the travel chaos that erupted during the holidays.

Hundreds of air passengers were stranded over the holiday season after airlines cancelled or delayed flights, largely due to a major storm that hit much of Canada around Christmas.

Even though the House of Commons isn’t sitting right now, MPs on the transport committee met Monday and unanimously supported calling witnesses to discuss the travel debacle.

Executives from WestJet and Air Canada also testified.

Sunwing, a smaller airline that offers flights to warm southern destinations, faced the brunt of MPs’ questions Thursday. (CBC) 

January 8, 2016

Then there was this under-reported tale from last month under the headline, “Swoop flight to New Brunswick flies back to Hamilton without stopping at destination”

People who were on a Swoop Airlines plane are telling CHCH News of a flight to New Brunswick that ended up back where it started, leaving a lot of angry passengers.

First passengers got messages from the airline saying the flight was delayed. Then after taking off three hours later than scheduled, they flew to Moncton but didn’t land, the plane turned around and flew back to Hamilton.

Swoop sent out a series of notifications, first blaming “operational delays,” then saying it was “due to weather,” then “delayed due to customs and immigration,” even though Hamilton and Moncton are both in Canada.

A passenger on the Swoop flight Justin Forshaw says, “they then said there was going to be people at Hamilton to receive you, give you travel vouchers, transport to a hotel. There was nobody there.”

May 25, 2022

The passengers say when they got back to Hamilton airport they were abandoned. There was nobody from Swoop to help them.

Passengers say the flight attendants said there would be a new flight to Moncton within 24 hours but they still haven’t heard anything. Passengers CHCH News spoke with are doubtful about receiving refunds from Swoop.

CHCH News requested an on-camera interview with Swoop, and they responded with a statement saying the airline blames the cancellation on the weather. It doesn’t explain why passengers were given those other reasons for the delays and cancellations, or why there was no one to meet them at the airport. As for refunds, it says it’s “working through reimbursements.” (CHCH) 

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.

 

Saturday July 2, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday July 2, 2022

The misery of waiting overnight in line in hopes of getting a passport

May 25, 2022

After two days and one night lining up outside the passport office at downtown Vancouver’s Sinclair Centre, Kris Hansen still hadn’t made it inside, still hadn’t spoken to a single Service Canada official. The 50-something school principal spent a Thursday night last week under a blanket on the sidewalk on Hastings. There were no security guards outside. No Porta Potties. No signage. No one in line had any idea when – or if – they would be seen.

After sitting cross-legged on the concrete for hours on end, Mr. Hansen had bought himself a canvas camping chair. He was trying to renew his son’s passport. The boy wants to see his dying grandfather in Japan one last time. He is desperate to say goodbye.

“I have no choice,” Mr. Hansen said, shaking violently from the bitter, pre-dawn cold. “I know how much this means to him.”

A few minutes later, a kind soul began handing out blue plastic ponchos, to help cut the north wind coming off the Burrard Inlet.

“I’m just so tired,” Mr. Hansen said, his eyes filling with tears. “I haven’t slept. I’ve had to cancel classes. There are so many better ways this could be handled. This is lacking all logic. All common decency.”

For the past five months, this is how people in B.C.’s Lower Mainland have been applying for – and renewing – their passports. A surge in demand is creating massive backlogs across the country. The wait times at the Surrey passport office are just as bad. The office in Richmond doesn’t have a printer able to create passports. Last week, police had to be called to the Montreal passport office to help with large crowds.

A week earlier, the federal government rolled out a new “triaging” system to deal with the passport crisis, which began ahead of March break: Those flying out in less than 48 hours are now given priority access, explained Karina Gould, Minister of Children, Families and Social Development, whose portfolio is responsible for the passport office.

So, people began immediately booking tickets for fake trips that they won’t be taking, to increase their odds of actually setting foot inside a Service Canada office.

Julie Scott-Ashe, a GIS mapping analyst with the B.C. government, managed to secure an appointment at a Saskatoon passport office. Saskatoon and Regina are the only two passport offices in the country with appointments before August. Since it would cost $1,200 to fly to Saskatchewan from Vancouver, she is planning to book a cheap flight to Edmonton, then rent a car and drive the rest of the way.

She needs to renew her daughter’s passport, so their family in Europe can reunite for the first time since the pandemic began.

Five months into the crisis, Canadian passport offices still close for weekends and holidays. They still shutter at 4, every afternoon. Last week, the Vancouver office had just half the 15 staff that normally work there.

Why hadn’t Ottawa asked bureaucrats to temporarily help staff passport offices, Ms. Scott-Ashe wondered. Before B.C. began rolling out COVID-19 vaccines, she noted, the province encouraged its civil servants to volunteer to work on the project. (The Globe & Mail)