Mini Adventure at the Toronto Pearson Airport

So it was finally the moment I get on the plane with so much excitement and enthusiasm. My parents and my second sister came to drop me off but shortly after my cousins came to surprise me (Salini acca, Pratheep, Anoja, Bustala, Jaswan, and Stephi)! It was quite nice of them to do so. Finally, Nav along with his family and few of our mutual Brock University friends showed up too (Niruban, Vathanan, Theeraka and Priya).


However, after I boarded the 10:55pm flight we experienced numerous difficulties:
1st) Illegal pilots. Don't be alarmed, this is Air Canada's way of saying, "Pilots who are tired and have worked over 14 hours." They wasted 20 minutes in switching the pilot crew.

2nd) Leakage in the economy class from the ceiling of the aircraft because of the heavy thunderstorm and lightning. The stewardesses used plastic cups and a rag to hold off the rain water from soaking the seats and some of the passengers. (See Pictures for proof and evidence of their carelessness.)

3rd) We waited 2 and half hours and finally they told us to leave the aircraft so that the maintenance crew can come in and fix the problem. Well they couldn't.

4th) After waiting another 30 minutes, they finally announced that the flight is now "not flyable".

5th) Nav and I had to get off the flight, argue with an Air Canada agent and how we should be compensated. We were not alone. Few vocal people joined in and the Air Canada people had no choice but to... ... wait for it... give us $10 Tim Horton's vouchers!?! Nav and I made sure we used every penny of it. Of course we will.

6th) It's around 2:30am, we are stranded at Toronto Pearson airport. What do we do? Nav quickly talks to the agents and I quickly check out other flights that will take us to Busan as soon as possible.

7th) It didn't matter how much we researched and whom we talked to. We wouldn't be able to do anything until 5am when the "Ticket Booth" people open up. We waited and waited until 5am. We went and complained big time. Nav raised his voice and I pretty much told them that I would like to talk to a manager and if there is someone we could e-mail in order to get compensation. The person at the ticket booth was no use until Nav yelled at him and told him that we are not going for vacation but for actual jobs! The guy told us to be seated and he'll try to do something for us.

8th) We waited another 15 minutes. I got fed up and went back in line to talk to the guy again. This time he gave me blankets, toothbrushes, and other nonsense and informed me that he is trying to get us a direct flight from Toronto to Beijing instead of Toronto to Vancouver, and then Vancouver to Beijing. Unfortunately the Toronto to Beijing flight is at 1:10pm EST but we have no choice but to go on that flight now.

Now, Nav and I are basically tired, frustrated and disappointed with Air Canada and its services, or lack of. We will no longer be supporting them in any causes. Oh, we also met a pilot and a stewardess who finished their shift and told us about stories back in Vancouver, joked around for a bit and they were really friendly. Too bad they weren't working but the pilot was kind enough to take our blog addresses and wished us good luck on our journey.