Mississauga’s Pearson Airport reminds frustrated travellers not to threaten or abuse airport staff
Published May 18, 2022 at 7:59 pm
It’s been a hectic few weeks for Pearson Airport in Mississauga — so much so that the airport recently reminded travellers not to abuse its staff and frontline workers.
With a recent surge in travel causing major delays and exceedingly long wait times, travellers have become frustrated and some are taking it out on the staff.
“Our airport workers are doing their best to help you reach your destination and a little kindness goes a long way,” said Pearson Airport on Twitter.
“Please be respectful with frontline workers—threats and abusive language are not tolerated.”
Travellers, both incoming and outgoing, are experiencing lengthy delays inside the airport’s terminals and aboard arriving planes as passengers have to wait for the customs area to clear, partly due to COVID-era travel restrictions that are still in effect.
Before the pandemic, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) processing at Pearson took on average 30 seconds for an arriving passenger; today, the processing can take up to four times longer.
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The increased processing time stems from airport mandatory random COVID-19 testing for 2,000 international arriving passengers per day and duplicate health checks and questions.
The busyness at the airport has prompted Pearson and business leaders to ask the federal government to put an immediate end to the “staggering” delays.
Jan De Silva, president and CEO of Toronto Region Board of Trade, said: “To solve for the long-tail economic realities faced by our visitor economy, we must demonstrate to potential visitors, especially our business visitors, they can travel easily and without undo challenge to our region. In short, we need to make this a good experience. Competing cities around the world are doing this successfully. We are painfully and inexcusably behind in Toronto.
“For this reason, we echo the GTAA and urge the federal government to take immediate action and remove legacy public health requirements to support GTA businesses and to help our city get back to normal.”
With files from Declan Finucane
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