They’ll find a way to make it worse, I have faith in them.
Normal-Natural-6018 on
Pearson airport is becoming the JFK airport version of Canada
BroadReverse on
It’s the worst airport I have ever been to and I have travelled a decent amount in Canada, the US and Europe. Staff are rude and are always yelling at people. I saw a loser staffer yell at an older lady who didn’t speak English very well and it made me see red. Either find someone who can speak French or be more patient. People who don’t travel often get confused and these guys take their entire day out on them.
This isn’t just because it’s a big airport. Montréal, Vancouver, New York and even fucking LA are better than Pearson. It’s actually so worth it to fly either out of Toronto Bishop or Hamilton. Fuck that dogshit airport I will never not take the opportunity to bash it.
Odd-Elderberry-6137 on
Nice to see DTW near the top. Far and away the best airport for southern Ontario.
graylocus on
I heard pilots hate(d) flying into Pearson as well. I don’t remember the reason why. And it costs airlines a lot of money to fly into Pearson.
Just a myriad reasons all across the board to hate Pearson.
Hootbag on
*Here at Pearson, we’ve heard your voice. Effective immediately, we will increase the height we’re dropping your checked carry-on baggage onto the tarmac from three metres to four. We know that you don’t have any other options for flights, and we’d like to simply say, “thank you for the 35-dollar airport improvement fee that won’t go towards improvements, and go fuck yourself.”*
PastAd8754 on
Hot take I don’t mind Pearson at all.
Wise_Ad_112 on
I avoid that shitty airport, I rather go through Montreal if I need to connect to Europe
ShmendrikShtinker on
Pearson International should honestly be the gold standard for how *not* to run an airport. The entire exit process is like an Olympic-level obstacle course of redundancies.
It’s been a while since I’ve had the “pleasure” of experiencing it, but in one terminal, they’ve ditched paper customs declarations—only to replace it with machines. Oh yes, because doing everything on a screen that *then* prints out a physical copy is the pinnacle of efficiency. Naturally, you take that printed declaration to a customs agent, show it again after passport control, and—wait for it—once more after you pick up your luggage. Just in case you thought you’d escaped.
Now, in the *other* terminal, they really mix things up. Here, you get to fill out the paper declaration yourself, pop it into a machine, and—surprise, surprise—it spits out another copy for you. And yes, the same maddening routine follows: hand it over, show it again, and again, and again.
It’s the only airport I’ve encountered where there’s a whole extra line *after* baggage claim, just so they can double, triple, and quadruple check that piece of paper you desperately want to set on fire. Genius.
[deleted] on
[deleted]
marcocanb on
I’ve driven 6 hours out of my way to board a flight that did not go thru Pearson.
c0mputer99 on
Anyone else remember the Press release where the rep said their delay/cancels are down 40ish% and the camera guy pans up to show 70%+ delay/cancels on the board.
If they bring up the starting wage to at least the same rate as some of their parking spots, I think service could improve to at least 3rd worst.
jemder on
I recently flew from Kelowna, BC to Boston. The flight from Kelowna was over an hour late leaving as the plane encountered bad weather arriving into Kelowna. I only had 90 minutes in Pearson to catch my flight to Boston and I had to walk a considerable distance to get to the US side and once there the lineups were horrendous, the machines checking carry on bags broke down and when I finally got the gate, the plane had left.
I did find an Air Canada desk and they booked me on a flight to Montreal and then to Boston and I also got a breakfast voucher. I then had to go all the way back to the “Canadian” side for the Montreal flight and once I got to Montreal had to do the same thing all over again and almost missed the flight to Boston as the Pearson/ Montreal flight was also running late and also due to the crowds trying to get through US Customs.
At least in Montreal they had a few employees calling out passengers for the next flight and let us go to the front of the line.
I don’t think Air Canada should have let me book two flights with only 90 minutes between them – I had no idea the distances at Pearson would be so long or that there would be such a bottleneck going through US Customs.
GreatDune on
I still have a suit “missing” at that Airport. Hopefully it’s stuck under a conveyor belt somewhere resting in peace.
Devourer_of_felines on
> In a statement to the Star, a Pearson airport spokesperson criticized the study’s methodology. It was “heavily skewed toward U.S. travellers,” the spokesperson said, and didn’t verify if they actually travelled through Pearson.
> “Toronto Pearson values performance assessments, but we rely on industry-approved standards,” the spokesperson said.
The no verification respondents actually set foot in the airport they’re answering for is questionable. But fact that it skews heavily toward UStravellers isn’t exactly a gotcha if their complaint is travellers think Pearson sucks compared to American airports.
Snoo1101 on
I use to joke around that Pearson Airport was the best place to visit in Toronto.
Guess my job didn’t hold up.
ughfinethisusername on
Totally believe it, I politely asked a worker for directions to an area and he became unhinged and yelled at me.One of his exact quotes “I already told you two times before, listen better”
Uhhh no you didn’t I just came up and asked you, maybe some other person looking somewhat like me did????
L_viathan on
Its the second-worst mega-airport in North America, based on the article. Newark is the worst. Personally I think JFK is worse. Not global.
spartiecat on
Newark can’t help it because the design of that airport makes no sense and getting through there is a challenge.
Pearson is garbage by choice
Royal-Novel355 on
I just landed in italy few days ago…and shit was 1/10. I want to kiss Toronto soil when I het back. I don’t believe any of this bs.
ThePrinceOfCanada on
The only time I’ve ever come undone on a worker was air Canada customer service at Pearson. Just an awful airport and awful airline. Also the worst poutine I ever had was at Pearson
ExileInParadise242 on
Certainly the most memorable experience I’ve had at Pearson was when I was emigrating out of the country and my cat got loose in security, because for some reason they insisted they needed to take it out of the carrier.
Munzo101 on
On my last visit, half the security gates were closed, then after the line is halfway across the terminal they close it and open another. Surely the most incompetent airport operations.
madhi19 on
Okay who the worse? Feel like that should be part of the title. Edit You made me click it and read the article… I feel so dirty this is no way to reddit! loll For the record. “Only New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport was ranked lower.”
NoBank3484 on
All those years of filling out those surveys and finally paid off…
AustonDadthews on
they should pay a staff member to cattle prod the people that just stand and ride the moving walkways
jake20501 on
Look around, does anything in this country seem satisfactory?
kemar7856 on
All the execs need to go to asia and see how good airports function
Syrairc on
There’s actually a mistake in the article. Pearson was both the #1 and #2 worst airports. Terminal 3 was the #1 worst airport, terminal 1 was #2.
1zzie on
Super small thing but all the water fountains have the filter light covered with a tag that says Pearson and the bottle count is scrambled. So for your efforts to avoid buying overpriced plastic bottles you get gross water.
31 Comments
Pearson: “Only second last? Hold my beer”.
They’ll find a way to make it worse, I have faith in them.
Pearson airport is becoming the JFK airport version of Canada
It’s the worst airport I have ever been to and I have travelled a decent amount in Canada, the US and Europe. Staff are rude and are always yelling at people. I saw a loser staffer yell at an older lady who didn’t speak English very well and it made me see red. Either find someone who can speak French or be more patient. People who don’t travel often get confused and these guys take their entire day out on them.
This isn’t just because it’s a big airport. Montréal, Vancouver, New York and even fucking LA are better than Pearson. It’s actually so worth it to fly either out of Toronto Bishop or Hamilton. Fuck that dogshit airport I will never not take the opportunity to bash it.
Nice to see DTW near the top. Far and away the best airport for southern Ontario.
I heard pilots hate(d) flying into Pearson as well. I don’t remember the reason why. And it costs airlines a lot of money to fly into Pearson.
Just a myriad reasons all across the board to hate Pearson.
*Here at Pearson, we’ve heard your voice. Effective immediately, we will increase the height we’re dropping your checked carry-on baggage onto the tarmac from three metres to four. We know that you don’t have any other options for flights, and we’d like to simply say, “thank you for the 35-dollar airport improvement fee that won’t go towards improvements, and go fuck yourself.”*
Hot take I don’t mind Pearson at all.
I avoid that shitty airport, I rather go through Montreal if I need to connect to Europe
Pearson International should honestly be the gold standard for how *not* to run an airport. The entire exit process is like an Olympic-level obstacle course of redundancies.
It’s been a while since I’ve had the “pleasure” of experiencing it, but in one terminal, they’ve ditched paper customs declarations—only to replace it with machines. Oh yes, because doing everything on a screen that *then* prints out a physical copy is the pinnacle of efficiency. Naturally, you take that printed declaration to a customs agent, show it again after passport control, and—wait for it—once more after you pick up your luggage. Just in case you thought you’d escaped.
Now, in the *other* terminal, they really mix things up. Here, you get to fill out the paper declaration yourself, pop it into a machine, and—surprise, surprise—it spits out another copy for you. And yes, the same maddening routine follows: hand it over, show it again, and again, and again.
It’s the only airport I’ve encountered where there’s a whole extra line *after* baggage claim, just so they can double, triple, and quadruple check that piece of paper you desperately want to set on fire. Genius.
[deleted]
I’ve driven 6 hours out of my way to board a flight that did not go thru Pearson.
Anyone else remember the Press release where the rep said their delay/cancels are down 40ish% and the camera guy pans up to show 70%+ delay/cancels on the board.
If they bring up the starting wage to at least the same rate as some of their parking spots, I think service could improve to at least 3rd worst.
I recently flew from Kelowna, BC to Boston. The flight from Kelowna was over an hour late leaving as the plane encountered bad weather arriving into Kelowna. I only had 90 minutes in Pearson to catch my flight to Boston and I had to walk a considerable distance to get to the US side and once there the lineups were horrendous, the machines checking carry on bags broke down and when I finally got the gate, the plane had left.
I did find an Air Canada desk and they booked me on a flight to Montreal and then to Boston and I also got a breakfast voucher. I then had to go all the way back to the “Canadian” side for the Montreal flight and once I got to Montreal had to do the same thing all over again and almost missed the flight to Boston as the Pearson/ Montreal flight was also running late and also due to the crowds trying to get through US Customs.
At least in Montreal they had a few employees calling out passengers for the next flight and let us go to the front of the line.
I don’t think Air Canada should have let me book two flights with only 90 minutes between them – I had no idea the distances at Pearson would be so long or that there would be such a bottleneck going through US Customs.
I still have a suit “missing” at that Airport. Hopefully it’s stuck under a conveyor belt somewhere resting in peace.
> In a statement to the Star, a Pearson airport spokesperson criticized the study’s methodology. It was “heavily skewed toward U.S. travellers,” the spokesperson said, and didn’t verify if they actually travelled through Pearson.
> “Toronto Pearson values performance assessments, but we rely on industry-approved standards,” the spokesperson said.
The no verification respondents actually set foot in the airport they’re answering for is questionable. But fact that it skews heavily toward UStravellers isn’t exactly a gotcha if their complaint is travellers think Pearson sucks compared to American airports.
I use to joke around that Pearson Airport was the best place to visit in Toronto.
Guess my job didn’t hold up.
Totally believe it, I politely asked a worker for directions to an area and he became unhinged and yelled at me.One of his exact quotes “I already told you two times before, listen better”
Uhhh no you didn’t I just came up and asked you, maybe some other person looking somewhat like me did????
Its the second-worst mega-airport in North America, based on the article. Newark is the worst. Personally I think JFK is worse. Not global.
Newark can’t help it because the design of that airport makes no sense and getting through there is a challenge.
Pearson is garbage by choice
I just landed in italy few days ago…and shit was 1/10. I want to kiss Toronto soil when I het back. I don’t believe any of this bs.
The only time I’ve ever come undone on a worker was air Canada customer service at Pearson. Just an awful airport and awful airline. Also the worst poutine I ever had was at Pearson
Certainly the most memorable experience I’ve had at Pearson was when I was emigrating out of the country and my cat got loose in security, because for some reason they insisted they needed to take it out of the carrier.
On my last visit, half the security gates were closed, then after the line is halfway across the terminal they close it and open another. Surely the most incompetent airport operations.
Okay who the worse? Feel like that should be part of the title. Edit You made me click it and read the article… I feel so dirty this is no way to reddit! loll For the record. “Only New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport was ranked lower.”
All those years of filling out those surveys and finally paid off…
they should pay a staff member to cattle prod the people that just stand and ride the moving walkways
Look around, does anything in this country seem satisfactory?
All the execs need to go to asia and see how good airports function
There’s actually a mistake in the article. Pearson was both the #1 and #2 worst airports. Terminal 3 was the #1 worst airport, terminal 1 was #2.
Super small thing but all the water fountains have the filter light covered with a tag that says Pearson and the bottle count is scrambled. So for your efforts to avoid buying overpriced plastic bottles you get gross water.