Forty-seven-year-old Tarick Ali of Ottawa has been planning his wedding for more than a year. But now, “Air Canada will ruin my wedding,” he fears.
Ali, along with 200 of his friends and family, have flown from different parts of the world to Trinidad for the special day.
“I wanted it to be absolutely perfect,” Ali, who traveled to her wedding destination on July 3 via Air Canada, told Global News on Thursday.
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But despite all his meticulous planning, what did not reach the destination of the wedding with Ali was his luggage: wearing his wedding dresses.
“Everything is bought, everything is ready. All I had to do was show up in my suit, “he said.” But everything is in my luggage and my luggage has never arrived. “
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“It’s absolutely amazing what is happening. It will ruin everything we had planned,” Ali said.
Ali has been calling Air Canada every day since his arrival in Trinidad, several times in a few days, to try to find out where his luggage is, in hopes that he will arrive in time for his wedding on July 15th.
“It’s an absolute nightmare.”
“You’ll be on the phone for three hours without answering. No one picks it up,” Ali said.
2:02 Airline problems frustrate seafarers Airline problems frustrate seafarers
He filled out a form after getting off the plane in Trinidad – a standard protocol when luggage is lost – and even returned to the airport to check again if his luggage had been found a few days after arrive, no luck.
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He also checked the condition of his luggage online. She says the case for her custom wedding dress is still in Canada.
“I spent thousands of dollars to be able to get here, as well as some money for a bespoke dress – all the buttons and buttons. Everything is perfect for the perfect day,” Ali said. “And, it’s not here. And no, we don’t know what we’re going to do,” he said.
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In the luggage, apart from the dress for his reception, his dress was also chosen to take him to the Islamic ceremony which was scheduled to take place in Trinidad before 15 July.
“Both are completely gone in action.” said Ali. “No one takes responsibility. They didn’t call us, they didn’t send us emails.”
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Another traveler, Marco Rocha, plans to travel to Portugal with his spouse and daughter since last November. His Air Canada flight was booked for mid-July 2022.
However, Rocha recently received a “fish” email from the airline saying his flight was delayed 15 minutes due to bad weather; his flight was not to be made for two more weeks.
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“I find it strange, very strange, to know two weeks in advance that bad weather would cause a 15-minute delay,” Rocha told Global News from Montreal.
With the horror stories of the airport circulating and now a delayed flight, Rocha hopes his flight will not be canceled altogether.
“I’m worried about that,” he said. “My first instinct is that they’re trying to cover themselves if more flights are canceled. I’m worried that my flight, all my vacations, will be canceled because of things that are out of my control.”
2:39 Canadian airlines, airports on the global delay list Canadian airlines, airports on the global delay list
“Aviation is a complex ecosystem made up of many independent actors, including airports, customs, catering companies, fuel companies, security systems, etc.,” an Air Canada spokesman told Global News in response to the delays. .
“All of these bodies need to work well and together for the system to work properly. The timely performance of individual carriers can be affected by the performance of any of these partners, so we are working with all of our partners to improve the performance of the industry, ”they said.
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WestJet, which has also faced massive delays and cancellations, says, “There are significant specific operational challenges and the entire Canadian aviation ecosystem that are beyond our control, contributing to significant delays.”
“We recognize each other sometimes; Collectively, we are still failing to offer the experience our guests expect and for that we apologize. As a result, our number one priority is to ensure that our guests arrive safely at their destination, as punctual as the current aviation landscape allows, ”a spokesman told Global News.
Canadian airlines have failed to achieve their business goals, according to Gabor Lukacs, an air passenger rights advocate.
“Canadians should be very concerned,” he told Global News.
“The question Canadians should be asking is why the government allows airlines to behave this way,” he said.
On Tuesday, Air Canada and Toronto’s Pearson Airport again claimed the top spots for flight delays. Air Canada saw 65 percent of its flights arrive late, according to FlightAware.
Under air passenger protection regulations, when an airline cancels a flight or delays a flight for reasons of its control, it must pay passengers a lump sum compensation, according to Lukacs.
While both Air Canada and WestJet say they meet the requirements, Lukacs says these provisions are currently being ignored by airlines and the government is not complying with them.
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The Canada Transportation Agency (CTA) has issued 77 precautionary notices and 15 notices of violation with $ 97,450 in monetary administrative sanctions (MPAs) related to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, since it went into effect in 2019.
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