Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses who are appearing here today.
I flew this morning from Halifax. I think all of us across the country can acknowledge that what happened in December was a mess and was chaotic. The stand that I would like to take is similar to that of a couple of the members who have already asked questions.
None of us can prevent storms and weather, and we know things happen when they do. The issue that I want to concentrate on is the poor communication and lack of communication with customers and clients and whether the airline knows that the aircraft is going to be delayed or cancelled or whatever for minutes or hours. I personally was caught when I tried to leave Ottawa in December for Toronto but we couldn't depart due to weather. I had called in the morning and was told everything was going to be fine. Had I known, I could have had us rerouted and we could have gone to Montreal, because in Montreal things are usually a little bit better, as I was told. We got on a flight to Montreal 24 hours later and then we were stuck in Montreal because the international aircraft could not depart because of mechanical problems. Things happen; sometimes they're controllable and sometimes they're not.
The issue here is communication. I saw so many people lying down in the airports. People were getting angry and frustrated, and I felt for the staff who were there. There was no communication and none of them knew what was going to happen. Some people were lucky to have lounge access. A lot of people have apps and those said they were boarding. You're going there and you're left waiting for hours and there's no boarding.
I'll start with Air Canada, because it happened to be an Air Canada flight, but it was probably the same with other carriers as well.
What are you doing to improve this communication? Clearly it's not happening. People understand there are difficulties, but there's really no answer when there is no communication to customers.