air canada outage

Air Canada computer outage delays hundreds of travellers in Toronto

Hundreds of airline passengers across North America are furiously scrambling to reschedule meetings, appointments and vacations this morning after a "technical issue" forced Air Canada to delay or cancel more than two dozen flights out of Toronto alone.

"We're experiencing a computer technical issue that is affecting our airport operations, check-in and customer call centres," reported the country's largest airline just before 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.

"We're working to resolve this issue," said Air Canada. "We thank customers for their patience."

Customers weren't feeling all too patient, however, as the night wore on with little communication from staff and a fast-dwindling supply of free pretzels.

And Toronto's was far from the only airport impacted by the Air Canada computer glitch.

People flying both into and out of Canada were stranded — and in some cases still are — without even knowing why.

Those who tried to rebook their flights were met with Air Canada website problems, unanswered phone calls and a shortage of customer service agents at the airport.

Air Canada did announce early Wednesday morning that its systems were "beginning to come back online," though flight delays and cancellations were still to be expected.

As of 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning, passengers are still reporting technical difficulties with checking in and changing flights.

Pearson's website still shows over a dozen delayed or cancelled Air Canada flights and counter service remains heavily backed up.

Air Canada maintains that it will service all customers as best it can.

"We intend to operate our full schedule today plus five extra flights and some upgauged flights (larger than normal aircraft) in order to move customers affected last night," said a company spokesperson to CBC News by email.

"There were a small number of flights cancelled this morning due to aircraft being out of position this morning due to last night's cancellations, but overall we are anticipating a normal day."

July 15 can't come soon enough for Canadian airline passengers who, soon, will have some actual recourse in these types of situations.

Lead photo by

Andi Packheiser


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