I don’t disagree with any of what you’ve written, but it seems that you, like me, have flown lots and are probably better able sit back and go with the flow when such things happen. Sure, it’s frustrating, but nothing changes by getting upset and yelling at people even if our anger is justifiable. I have flown about 25 segments this year since I started flying again and my experience is that I have never heard so much meaning and groaning from fellow passengers. I also witnessed one very unreasonable 60-ish man who was giving a GA at YYC a piece of his mind to the point where the police were called. It was ridiculous, especially as his gripe was totally not about anything the GA had done (or not done).

And yes, whether contract staff or WestJet employees, staff need to be trained to minimally make regular announcements about things and also about what sources of info might be available about delays and such (even if they can’t officially say anything about what they find out). I recall a few years ago flying out of Fredericton and there were rolling delays. One of the CATSA employees was hanging around the gate area and she was looking up stuff on FlightAware and other similar sites. It turned out that she was going to have to stay until the last flight went out or was cancelled, and she was much more informed than the AC ground staff in terms of what was going on at YYZ. There was freezing rain so lots of aircraft holding to land, so everything was backed up. It was very helpful as I then knew for sure I’d miss my connection and booked myself a room for my late arrival.