Planning to fly in the next few months? Your flight may be delayed

Have you purchased flight tickets for the months of May to August? Please note: Your departure time or even day may change. As travel resumes after years of the pandemic, airlines around the world are reviewing their flight schedules.

You should know that airline carriers plan the flight schedule up to a year in advance. Then, throughout the year, changes are made based on demand and availability of aircraft and manpower.

This year, due to the pandemic, many changes may be required. As in 2022, it is difficult to predict when airlines will resume travel.

Make it a habit to frequently check the date and time of your tickets on your airline’s website or app, which may change without warning you.

If your flight is significantly delayed, more than three hours, under Canada’s Air Passenger Safety Regulations (APPR), you can contact your airline and be transferred to another flight free of charge.

However, if the change is made more than a fortnight before the date mentioned on your ticket, you are not entitled to compensation.

In 2022, Air Canada canceled several July and August flights, citing labor shortages and supply chain issues.

This situation may repeat itself this summer around the world, when more passengers are expected to arrive at airports than last year.

WestJet has already announced it will stop flights to Europe from Toronto, Halifax and Vancouver over the summer.

In the United States, 50,000 American Airlines summer flights were canceled, especially in June and July. German airline Lufthansa has cut 34,000 flights from its summer schedule.

After massive layoffs in the industry during the pandemic, airlines are still struggling to hire enough staff to meet demand. These problems, which already exist in 2022, come on top of other logistical challenges, some of which are related to the war in Ukraine.

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary says travelers should still expect significant cancellations and delays at airports in the summer of 2023.

To avoid endless queues and logistical problems, some airports have imposed passenger limits. For example, at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, between 6am and 1pm, airlines must carry 5% fewer passengers. The move reduced the number of passengers by 5,000 per day.

At Montreal-Trudeau Airport last summer, chaos prevailed

Heathrow Airport in England has announced that no new flights will be added during the peak season to avoid the chaotic delays seen in the summer of 2022.

Airspace closed due to the war in Ukraine makes life difficult for airlines, especially for flights to Asia. To avoid passing through Russia or Ukraine, many flights go through Germany and Romania, whose airspace is saturated.