Canadians Continue Their Love/Hate-Mostly Hate-Relationship with Pearson

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 10, 2013) - Bigger isn't always better, but in the case of Canada's busiest airport, Toronto Pearson International, size matters a great deal. With greatness comes opportunity: opportunity to please, and opportunity to annoy. Pearson reflects both sides of the coin, based on a new poll by FlightNetwork.com ranking the nation's worst airports.

This was the third year of the survey, which measures opinions about airport improvements, pet peeves and overall service in Canada's five highest-traffic airports. While Pearson was deemed 'the worst' by 71.3% of respondents, it received very positive response for many enhancements implemented over the past year.

The remainder of Canada's highest-traffic airports placed less decisively in the worst airports poll with Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport next at 12.8%, Vancouver International Airport (8.3%), Edmonton International Airport (4.0%) and Calgary International Airport ranking 'least' worst with 3.5% of the vote.

Many upgrades at Canada's busiest airports this year sought to address the most-common pet peeves of travelers. The FlightNetwork.com poll identified long lines at check-in (40.4%), delays clearing security (28.5%), long waits retrieving baggage (14.8%), lack of food and drink options (11.1%), and lack of shopping options (5.5%).

New Pearson perks include the addition of self-serve border clearance for Canadian citizens, along with an influx of new dining options and tabletop iPads for food orders and flight-tracking. These advances, ironically, led to Pearson also being named "Most Improved," with nearly half of respondents (49.1%) appreciating its efforts. Although Vancouver placed second in that category with 19.8%, its new high-speed baggage system was chosen as the best Canadian airport improvement with 27.6% of votes.

"Pearson continues to enhance the airport experience for Canadian travellers," said Naman Budhdeo, CEO of FlightNetwork.com. "By virtue of being the busiest and largest airport in Canada, it's always going to have the most complaints, but it's clear Pearson upped its game over the past year."

The FlightNetwork.com poll was conducted through Google Consumer Surveys. Each question received approximately 1000 unique responses from Canadian residents and offered demographic breakdowns. Access to specific poll insights is available in an infographic and in FlightNetwork.com's blog post.

Surprisingly, when it came to choosing worst and most improved airports, results were consistent across the board, regardless of age, gender, or location within Canada.

About FlightNetwork.com (www.flightnetwork.com)

As one of Canada's leaders in online travel, FlightNetwork.com delivers the lowest airfares from the top airlines by offering consumers access to over 2 million bulk rates on cheap flights negotiated with major airlines. Its proprietary flight booking engine offers last second booking and the exclusive ability to 'mix and match' fares - the only Canadian online travel agency that allows booking on different airlines for departure and return flights to get the lowest fares possible. Backing up Flight Network's award winning online service are over 120 insightful travel specialists in the FlightNetwork.com call centre who ensure that customers successfully book the best travel deals.

FlightNetwork.com's Price Drop Protection plan is a unique, free program, exclusive to FlightNetwork.com customers on all economy flights, vacations and hotels. The Price Drop Deal is unlimited on all domestic, USA and international flights, as well as vacations and hotel bookings. If you book with FlightNetwork.com, and the price drops after you book, you will get the difference credited back.