Two powerful U.S. Senators are demanding better protection for airline passengers hit by cancellations and delays. Amid a spike in the number of flight cancellations and delays, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) this week sent a letter urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to fully utilize its statutory authority to protect consumers, promote competition in the airline industry, and hold airlines accountable for delayed and canceled flights. In the letter, the lawmakers raised concerns about Americans’ air travel experiences, which have grown steadily worse over the past year, and laid out specific actions DOT can take Read more
cancelled flights
Air Canada last week announced it was trimming roughly 15% of its flights as it deals with unprecedented demand and airport issues. Their website now has a list of the changes they’ve made, including flights between Toronto and several major Canadian cities, such as Ottawa, Calgary Charlottetown and Vancouver. The list also includes changes in flights to Miami, San Francisco and other U.S. cities. Here’s a copy of what I found posted on their site on Sunday night (July 3). This week, Air Canada announced changes to its summer schedule to support unprecedented and unforeseen strains on our organization. International flights Read more
Canada’s airlines don’t appear to be following Air Canada’s lead on July and August flight cancellations. Spokepersons for both Air Transat and Porter Airlines told me today that they’re not looking to trim summer flights. WestJet put out a statement around 1 p.m. Eastern Time saying it has already trimmed back its schedule by roughly 20%. “We have been meticulously planning for summer operations and over the past few months have proactively reduced capacity to ensure we can deliver a stable operation,” WestJet officials said. “We have been very measured in our approach, and are currently scheduled to operate Read more
Cold weather is wreaking havoc again for Canadian air passengers today. WestJet issued a statement this afternoon to say they’ve had to consolidate roughly 15% of their flights through the end of January. According to statistics from flightaware.com, which tracks flights around the world, there have been early 200 flights cancelled today involving just five Canadian airports. Toronto Pearson, by far the largest airport in Canada, was listed as having 53 cancellations, while Vancouver was at 51 and Calgary close behind at 48. There were 28 flights cancelled in Montreal as of noon Eastern Time today, while 14 were listed Read more
