The Lev

Flying AC880 tonight yyz-ZRH. Flight has been delayed 1 hour 20 minutes. According to the pilot it is because ground grew was later getting to the plane. They still seem to be loading cargo.

most other intercontinental flights also seemed to be delayed an hour or so.

I wonder if AC may be short ground crew due to people booking off with CoVID or somebody in their household with it.

24left

@The Lev
Had I known you'd be flying, I could have sent you this Jan 4 tweet from an AC FO.

Safe travels

MillennialMiles

The Lev Waited over 20mins on tarmac at YYZ when I arrived at 1:30am due to issues with ground crew. We were the only incoming flight for a good 30mins and it seemed there was no one working. Back in November, I waited over 1hr for checked bags from VIE. So yeah ground crew has been a total mess at YYZ for a while now.

Altaflyer

My mom had to wait for priority bags off a YEG flight at T1 for over an hour this past Saturday around 7:15pm…

24left

I looked at YYZ Departures. Most departures were later, some as little as 15 minutes, so almost 2 hours, many cancelled.

Meanwhile AC 880 to ZRH on Fin 703 (77L)







EDIT TO ADD:

AC 880 is departing now so 3 hours 20 minutes late.
.

recreationaltimetraveller

I was told by a YYZ DOM MLL agent that a lot of the issue are stemming from AC having to lay off a large number or ground crew due to refusal of vaccine. This combined with staff sick leave & incremental weather seems to be creating havoc at YYZ. It seems like an airport to avoid if you can.

painintheuk

"Over 20 minutes"? In January? That seems like Champagne problems!

Avoiding YYZ seems like quite a challenge in Canada. And if it is because ground crew won't get a vaccine, then how would that be any different requirement from other airports? People getting sick seems more of a challenge at the moment than people quitting due to vaccine hesitancy.

atsak

This is not new, though, really, in my experience. I've waited an hour for bags both pre and post COVID and up to an hour for a gate on landing plenty of times over the last few years (pre and post COVID) at Pearson. It may well be worse than usual at this very moment, or happening more often, but there is a ground "issue" about 30% of the time for me regardless. Sometimes it's only waiting 10 minutes for a gate, but sometimes it's been longer. I don't check a bag that often so perhaps just bad luck there a couple times.

zrh2yvr

I was on AC880/07JAN - had similar issues. We were delayed a it for cargo loading and then when it came time to finally push - - (around 10pm) there was no ground crew as they were pushing back a couple others. The captain even came on and mentioned they have staffing issues.

We got it on the way after a few more minutes for departure from runway 23 - - and then . . . . . some interesting chatter on the ATC that I heard while listening on the taxi. "Ground um, from Air Canada 880 . . . . We have an unruly passenger right now, uh, we are deliberating whether to turn around and go back we are just trying to sort it out . can we stop here for a minute or two?". . I am like - wonderful. I had seen the SD coming out of the cockpit but other than that had not had any indication of any problems. No noises - discussion - announcements? Then the SD went over to seat 4K (i remember looking over and the SD had been there previously for a while) . . there was a discussion and then the SD walked back towards the cockpit. PAX in 3K turned around and the two of them had high-fives . . . . next ATC transmission was that we were on our way. No more incident and I never asked - but still - truly some of the least attentive service I have had - and no smiles!!!

As an aside - this was one of the worst crews I have ever been with. Completely unfriendly - and not one acknowledgment from anyone as to status etc. Meal order from me was almost the last as I was near the back in "A" and they started front to back / front to back on the right side. Totally unfriendly announcements including the clear "Service has ended now IN ALL CLASSES" please put your masks on now. I was mid-desert so I ignored but anyhow.

On arrival - concierge was 100% on the ball - - corralled all the J-Class connections and got them expedited . . . in the end, hour late arrival but only one misconnect (FRA). . . . Will avoid YYZ as much as possible for the near future.

capedreamer

How do you listen to ATC chatter?

And to make sure I understood correctly, there's no clear evidence that the SD talking to the passenger in 4K is necessarily related to the "unruly passenger" the pilot referred to, right?

24left

One way. https://www.liveatc.net/

And YYZ is not as entertaining as some other airports.
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RangerNS

https://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=YYZ would do it.

Symmetre

YYZ is almost always an airport to avoid if you can :-D

lcohen999

I think it is a case of size and frequency, given how much traffic routes through YYZ. So it is probably a challenge everywhere but much more noticeable at YYZ

VoodooYYC

Even pre-pandemic this was sage advice, especially if “winter” happens in any way, shape or form. Basically, anything past 3cm of accumulation, or a temperature below -6, and that place might as well shut down until April. It’s borderline embarrassing how any minute change in weather conditions just cripples YYZ.