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On June 30th and July 1st, passenger numbers exceeded those of the same weekday prior to COVID.
The problem is that airlines and airports have severely trimmed their workforces, despite taking federal bailouts and PPP designed to keep staff on payroll. That means a lot more is being demanded from the remaining staff on hand, who are often unable to accommodate everyone they’re being asked to. And thanks to leaner management teams, a lot of know-how has left the industry. That has added up to a whole lot of long lines, cancelled flights, and lost baggage this summer.
Videos of massive lines at Tel Aviv Terminal 3, Terminal 1, and Amsterdam have been nothing short of shocking.
I have heard of issues at Toronto airport, such as Ryan Whitney’s viral videos and his full story of his ordeal there.
But reading the firsthand account of DDF member Yehudaa flying from Toronto/YYZ Airport really brought it home.
“Take YYZ for example, which was recently rated one of the worst airports worldwide for delays & lost baggage. Excuse the long post.
I flew YYZ-DEN 2 weeks ago and YYZ/AC was an absolute nightmare:
- Got to airport at 6 am on a Sunday morning to find absolute chaos & huge crowds of people everywhere.
- Even priority checkin took a half hour. Priority line for security, and had my kids with me (so they put you at front of priority line) took another 15-20 min.
- US customs preclearance line took over 2 hours (Nexus application is still in progress!)
- Finally get to front of customs line, only to be told that our luggage (which we checked in 3 hours earlier) still hadn’t cleared customs due to a luggage backlog.
- Sent back to a waiting room with many others and waited another hour until our luggage cleared customs.
- Missed the flight during that time, even though it had been delayed ~2 hours.
- Finally cleared customs, sent wife & kids to lounge and then waited over 2 hours in customer service line to rebook. Lounge agent couldn’t help. (While in line I met a french guy who had been stuck in YYZ for over 24 hours already).
- Called AC while in line but they couldn’t even put my call in the queue due to call volume.
- Got to front of line, no direct or connecting flights available for more than 24 hours, so I took standby on a flight a few hours later.
- Cleared standby and got seats 5 min before gate closed, only to then be told that we can’t fly because our bags wouldn’t make it onto the flight.
- Flight was then delayed 30 min due to the luggage-loading truck breaking down, so they said we could get on and our luggage would make it.
- Boarded and got delayed another 30 min or so.
- Landed in DEN and found that our bags were not at the carousel, along with 6-8 other people on our flight who also didn’t get theirs
- No AC employees anywhere in the airport and couldn’t reach AC by phone.
- Finally some nice airport employee said that Lufthansa handles AC baggage claims in DEN (a sign saying that would’ve been nice…)
- No employee at Lufthansa desk, the United agent at next desk says he’s on break
- Lufthansa agent shows up a half hour later, thankfully we were first in line as he took 20-30 min to file our report
- Finally leave DEN ~12 hours after originally planned. Kosher store is now closed so we had to book a hotel in DEN to stay the night to be able to pick up food the next morning
- Luggage never showed up in Colorado in the 8 days that we were there, and tracking online never progressed. Bought everything that we need for 4 people for 8 days, lost a ton of time to shopping.
- Flew back DEN-YYZ 8 days later, flight delayed a bit on tarmac in DEN due to ground stop in YYZ.
- Flight held on runway in YYZ until Canadian customs had capacity to take us in.
- While waiting for our luggage I went to talk to the baggage desk about my outbound luggage and they had me look at a few big piles of luggage in the carousel area and then said that my bag is probably amongst the thousands of bags sitting in the baggage area and would be processed whenever they could. (He did show me on his computer that the bags were scanned as being loaded on a plane to DEN a few days after I flew, but were never scanned as being unloaded in DEN so that probably meant they didn’t actually make it onto the plane. Go figure.)
- Waited for 2.5 hours from landing at baggage carousel but my baggage never came out (I had actually seen it being taken off the plane but it never made it through the airport) so now I’m down 6 pieces- 4 from the way there and 2 from the return.
- Line to talk to anyone at baggage claim had now grown really long and my kids were going nuts, so we just left.
- Waited 2 hours on hold with AC to create a file for the luggage from the return flight, guy who answered barely spoke english and made a bunch of mistakes on the report which I had to correct online.
- On days 3 and 4 after arrival all of my luggage showed up at home with 4 separate couriers (now 11 days after the outbound flight), except for one piece which had actually been sent to DEN and then came back via Vancouver and got stuck there for a day before coming to YYZ.
- Now I have to work on a claim with AC for everything that we bought in DEN- clothing for 4 people for 8 days wasn’t cheap, and all our nonperishable food was in our luggage so I’m going to try to get reimbursed for buying all that again in DEN…
Side story- one of the couriers who delivered my bags told me that he delivered the same bag twice- someone traveled, lost their luggage, got it delivered, and then traveled again a few weeks later, AC lost it again, and he delivered it again.
I’ve heard from multiple people in Toronto that they’re only flying Porter out of the YTZ and completely avoiding YYZ for now.”
Wow. I have no words for that.
I was thinking of using miles to fly to Toronto as I did pre-COVID to catch a ballgame at Rogers Centre along with their excellent kosher stand, but now if I still decide to go, I’ll be driving instead.
If you are flying this summer here are some things I’d suggest:
-
- Book you travel on a card that includes trip delay/cancellation insurance and baggage delay/lost baggage insurance such as Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Sapphire Reserve (Comparison here) or AMEX Business Platinum Card and the AMEX Consumer Platinum card (Comparison here). Note that airlines are responsible for paying you back for items you need to purchase while your bags are delayed.
- Be sure to leave plenty of time before departure to account for long lines and hiccups.
- Avoid checking bags if possible.
- If you are checking bags, bring several days of clothes and items that you will need after landing in your carry-on bag.
- Board the plane as early as possible to avoid having to check your carry-on bag due to lack of space. Airline credit cards allow you to board early, even on basic economy fares.
- If your travel is urgent, consider booking a backup flight. Most mileage tickets can be refunded up until the time of departure with no penalty and most non-basic economy paid tickets can be refunded for future travel credit with no penalty.
- Be sure that you have PreCheck and Global Entry to cut down on TSA lines and immigration/customs lines. Global Entry includes PreCheck at no additional cost. Many credit cards and even some additional user cards include these memberships for free. Be sure that your PreCheck KTN (Known Traveler Number) is in your reservation and that it prints on your boarding pass. You can bring kids 12 and under with you through PreCheck lines even if they don’t have PreCheck.
- Be sure that you have CLEAR to save even more time in line. Delta and United cards give a discount for this and the AMEX Business Platinum Card and AMEX Platinum Card provide for an annual $189 statement credit, enough to cover the annual fee for 2 adults. Kids under 18 can go with their parents for free without a membership.
- If you fly or drive to/from Canada, you’ll want NEXUS, which also includes PreCheck and Global Entry at no additional cost. Many Chase cards cover this for free.
- Be sure to book longer connections, and have a card that provides free lounge access to use during the connection.
- Airline branded lounges are also a good place to get rebooked during irregular operations when regular rebooking lines in the airport and phone hold times can seem endless. Cards like American Executive, Delta Reserve, and United Club allow access to those.
- Consider putting Apple Airtags in each of your checked bags, so that you can locate them if they get lost. There have been several stories of travelers getting their bags back, thanks to Airtags.
- File a DOT complaint for problems with an airline. The DOT has also been sharing helpful travel tips via Twitter about airline responsibilities.
Have you been in any travel nightmares this summer? What advice do you have?
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58 Comments On "DDF Member Shares His Flying Horror Story; My Advice For Travel This Summer"
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A lot of the issues are due to things that had an optimal amount of cushioning before COVID, and while demand has surged the supply of those hasn’t kept up, and they all are stretched so thin that they compound into one weak link breaking and an ever growing butterfly/ripple effect.
My guess is that while for the dates you specified passenger counts were at pre-pandemic levels, flight/seat counts are much lower and planes are jam-packed/overbooked more than before. Recommending passengers with urgent travel needs to book a backup ticket (while it’s a sound decision on a personal level) only exacerbates the already-stretched capacity issue.
Correct, flight load factor is very likely at record levels this summer, which has certainly exacerbated the problems.
A big part of that is the lack of staff available to fly the planes.
Was in CVG last week. My crew came in late the night before to OKC. They couldnt leave OKC to get to CVG to continue us on to EWR. So all the flights were delayed because they came in late the night before and didnt have enough rest hours between flights.
Wow. Prob worth it to fly into Buffalo and drive to Toronto. Only a 2 hour drive or less.
surprised you not mention booking on the venture x card. it too has trip delay/cancellation insurance and baggage delay/lost baggage insurance.
Many cards do, was just listing some examples.
However I don’t believe Venture X offers bag delay insurance like the Chase Sapphire cards do.
It has baggage Delay insurance?
The same phone/internet interruption last week must have made it REALLY CRAZY!
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/rogers-communications-services-down-thousands-users-downdetector-2022-07-08/
planning on flying in august so plan on using some of your suggestions. thanks
I flew to Montréal today from EWR. Inbound customs were quick. Probably cleared in about 20 minutes and then waited 10 more at baggage claim.
Wondering how concerned I should be for outbound US preclearance.
Canada is too busy tracking the unvaccinated – Wasting hundreds of workers checking up making sure people are quarantining. There are probably thousands of workers who could help out at the airport instead are wasting their time on all of their covid measures…
+1
Any info on united flights to israel if it such a situation
Just flew through YYZ and it is indeed a mess. Thank god for global entry on the return.
Pearson is beyond a nightmare. I could spend the next week telling you horror stories similar to the one above. That is just the tip of the iceberg.
I only fly Porter now now to ERW – small old noisy prop planes, seats dont recline, no water (!) only sanitizer in bathroom – but at least they get there, with less delays than anything out of Pearson. And your luggage comes too – a miracle!
We used to only talk about Covid rules, now everyone only discusses their flight horror stories lol.
And yes they’re still nuts about the checking and testing and checking on the 14 day (yes you read that right! 14 days!) quarantiners.
Just be aware of one thing – if you park on the Island at YTZ, the last ferry back to mainland is at midnight (12:07am to be exact). So if you come out of the terminal after that, you wont be able to drive home. Need to take the tunnel then taxi home, then taxi back to pick up your car. They don’t or can’t or won’t hold the ferry for passengers who arrive late/need to wait on tarmac. Good news is porter refunded the taxi fares with response just a couple days later.
Is the Chase Sapphire a better card for trip insurance over the Amex Plat? You always seem to list that one first as the best card to purchase tickets on.
Thanks
Yes, it has more protections.
Reserve or preferred?
Meaning is the preferred better then the Amex plat?
CSR insurances are very undependable. CSR’s carrier wiggled out of paying anything involving Covid on my own travel. I would not depend on CSR insurances at all with the exception of car rentals.
2 weeks back Air Can kept us on the plane for 3 hours post-landing!!
Only Canadians would put up with that.
how long Are global entry application processing times? travelling x yyz (AND LHR AND some flights on AA :-(…) in a few weeks, and not looking forward
The main wait is to schedule an appointment, but those come and go quickly and you have to watch it like a hawk or pay for a service.
Alternatively, you can do a walk-in interview upon landing in the US from abroad.
Is this true for Nexus? I can’t find appointments anywhere, US or Canada.
No, GE.
Writer seems pretty tame. I would have been LIVID, and it would have clearly come across in my writing. So kudos to him for keeping his calm. (Though he may have already ranted out all his rage and left nothing for the post. 😉 )
My niece recently flew out of SFO to CDG (not sure which airline) and her bags didn’t arrive in Paris. My brother subsequently went to speak to an agent at SFO and he was told that they have no idea where the bag is. Randomly, my brother said out of frustration “so the bag could be anywhere? It could be sitting in Denver for all we know?!” Another agent heard that and said that in fact there are some bags in Denver that they have no idea where they belong and it turned out that her bag was one of them! Hashgacha pratis!
Worth it to fly Porter to YTZ when possible. Flew twice in last month and was minimal to no delays both times. But NOTE they changed out they’re reclining comfy seats for stiffer “lighter” ones that don’t recline to save on gas apparently….
I’m looking to fly to NCL (newcastl) in August with a stop in london heathrow- but I’m a bit scared honestly!
Looked into doing the stopover in paris or Dublin instead but tickets are $300-400 more!
I have the saphire reserve and jetblue cancelled a flight due to weather. I had to rebook on southwest. My claim was denied because the insurance is only if you get sick and have to cancel/delay and not if the airline cancels.
I would agree. Last week we flew LGA, ORD to LAS and LAS, DFW on return.
First segment on first flight out of LGA was 3 hours delayed which blew last flight of day connection in ORD. Learned there is no “Priority Lane” for getting a hotel voucher, even though my flights were rerouted by me already. Each flight was a wait for the crew. As to luggage, both pieces of the single bag I checked in Vegas arrived back in BDL, where the luggage office was closed and some poor gate agent had to deal with everyone. It is not the time to travel, but if you do, prepare for the worst. Food, batteries, water change of clothes and yes, as advised avoid checking luggage if you can.
Rafi
Some questions on this topic:
1) I already booked flights on my mom’s Sapphire Reserve. I am now told that they don’t cover children over 25. Is that true?
2) What recourse do I have now? Can I change the payment method (doubt it)? Should I buy travel insurance? Which company is best – Allianz?
3) Which credit cards offer travel insurance for award tickets?
1) Untrue! The card covers whoever is named on the ticket.
Dan,
From The Sapphire Reserve Guide to Benefits,
under Trip Delay Benefit:
“Who is eligible for coverage?
You, a person to whom a United States (U.S.) credit card has been
issued (“Cardholder”), your spouse, and your dependent children
under twenty-two (22) years of age are automatically covered
when a portion or the entire cost of the Common Carrier fare, is
purchased with your Chase credit card account (“Account”). ”
Do they actually follow this? And it doesn’t cover any ticket bought with the Reserve?
That’s not correct they will only cover the family members listed and kids up to the ages listed.
Does someone with an authorized user card get full coverage?
BH – other than a few short hiccups.
We got most of our pent up travel desire and Cabin fever out of our system. Travel and mini vacations. Starting with my kid sister wedding in Denver last July. We were traveled right up till early May (advanced bookings).
Last friday we flew my kid sister an BIL in from DEN. Drove straight to the Oregon coast we had booked a TS condo on VRBO. We arrived at the resort at 4:20 PM – condo not ready, still needed cleaning (thankfully candle lighting wasn’t until almost 9PM).
Well three hours later and a 25% refund as well as fee free late checkout – dinner was being prepared.
We’re not traveling by air again until October (so things should improve after school starts and more people can be hired and trained).
It’s really heartbreaking to hear all the travel stories – I feel for the poor workers in the industry – its heartbreaking all the ruined travel plans as well as the abuse some of the workers receive from customers. Its a no win situation.
I have read about abusive customers this having reservations canceled and refunded on the spot – leaving customers without accommodations or a ticket to travel or simply get rebooked on a later flight.
Just flew AC YYZ to Fll and back. Firstly leaving from YYZ is virtually empty in the late afternoons and evenings. I no longer fly mornings, and I’ve done it multiple times in the last few months with great success, where I’m through from security to gate in 15 minutes. (All on AC). Not sure what more people don’t fly later. It saves hours of aggravation in YYZ.
We were only delayed 30 minutes leaving and 1 hour coming home. (It’s the new norm!)
At 2 am they held us for 15 minutes on the plane till they had someone at the jetway, no line at customs but luggage (even the wheelies they made a ton of us check) took an hour to come out. Luckily mine came out on both ends. But I know some who have been held on the plane 1 hour and 2 hours for luggage in YYZ. I have waited an hour on other occasions for luggage as well recently.
My sister who flew out the same time to LGA had her flight delayed 3 hours and it seems it’s becoming delayed more frequently.
Porter is virtually empty and if that is an option it’s probably the better one.
TSA has zero availability for interviews
Any ideas booked Alaska in aug.
Here’s an interesting question. I have CLEAR, but American Airlines terminal 3 in O’Hare doesn’t have a clear kiosk. Can I check in at terminal 2 with CLEAR and walk over to terminal 3? Is that worth it?
Sure!
Once you enter terminal 2 in Ohare and pass security using clear, not sure how u would walk out to terminal 3 w out having to go thru security again
1, 2, and 3 are all connected airside via walkways.
to all those that are trying to global entry appointments there’s 2 options either you pay for a service that tracks cancellations or if you keep refreshing you could find appointments like I just had… I was looking this past Thursday night and kept refreshing till I nailed a 1pm appointment Friday the next day!
Currently sitting in lounge at YYZ flying to LGA. Obviously I got lucky, but it took me about 10 min to get through custom and security here at YYZ. No lines at all for trans border.
Seems like evening flights are the way to go.
that AirTag trick is a good one! I have two at home we use for random things that can go in luggage! Thank you
I had a flight canceled sun & mon, finally came to airport for a tues flight. At check-in they had ‘trouble’ with my ticket & I waited over 30 min till cleared up. I then ran to gate & they said they oversold & the system automatically kicked us off. After fighting with agent they let us board. We got delayed for 2 hrs, then deplaned due to mechanical issue, then cancelled altogether. They put us standby for later flight, but then didn’t let us on even though we were next on the list, with no explanation & completely ignoring me when I tried talking to gate agent. We ran to another flight headed for D.C. with a overnight stopover. After arriving close to midnight the agent was very unhelpful till supervisor came and got us a hotel. The shuttle wasn’t running so I had to pay $43 for taxi there. The hotel was old & dirty & didn’t have a crib for my infant. I was basically out of food for my baby at this point. Quite the nightmare & took us over 26hrs to get home!
Apple airpods – do they work with a Samsung android?
*Airtags
Not for tracking purposes.
https://www.howtogeek.com/724198/the-best-airtag-alternative-for-android/amp/
Good luck filing the claim. United’s claim form was down last week. It would error out after entering all the information. I tried multiple browsers, same result.
YYZ is my home airport and I believe every word of that post. If you do not have nexus / global entry stay away from morning and early afternoon flights. It is significantly better later in the day (eerily so considering all the media out there).
Flew 2 weeks ago AA to ORD, must have been 400 people in line for security and the same at customs. They stopped allowing people through security for 20 minutes because the customs hall was full. The line for security snaked all the way back into the T3 check in area and double backed all the away around the nexus area (if you know T3 you’ll understand).
Other than the security hold, my entire waiting experience was 5 minutes due to Nexus (I almost felt guilty). As I was waiting for the security hold to lift, I checked the official site that shows security wait times that comically showed 2-5 minutes!
Upon boarding the pilot announced they will wait 35 minutes for the 30+ people stuck at customs at which point he would have to depart. Panting and clearly flustered passengers all made it. Interestingly, there were several AA crew who also were stuck at customs. Just shows you how crazy it is when even the crew can’t get through quickly.
All in all, YYZ is a disaster best avoided.
I highly recommend putting your contact information on the outside and inside of each piece of luggage. Carry on and checked luggage. Helps airlines or random kind strangers contact you easily and help you get your lost luggage to you sooner!
More than once I have had a rather large bag to check in, and for whatever reason, even though I had other carry-ons, the lady insisted that I should just bring it on the plane. The first time, instead of just saying OK (or Yippee) like I should have, I asked ‘Where should I put it? Overhead?!”” Annoyed, she said, Get on first and you’ll find room.” So I did, and I did, and since then I try to find someone who’s willing to let me do this, although some just stare at me like, Are you serious?
My brother’s AC flight from TLV to JFK was delayed 2 hours departing TLV. Missed the connection in Canada. Rebooked flight from Canada was hours late. Luggage didn’t arrive for four days to the U.S.A.
It seems AC has many problems and should be avoided.
Yup seems like the issue here is A/C.