Outrage as Toronto Pearson Airport charging $4 for water with broken fountains

It seems that even when passengers are flowing and flights are arriving and departing on schedule, Toronto Pearson International Airport just can't keep it together.

After a long absence from a, frankly, broken Toronto, journalist Shawn Micallef arrived at Pearson Airport's infamously chaotic baggage claim area on Tuesday. Like many travellers, Micallef was feeling a bit thirsty on arrival, and went on the hunt for a functioning water fountain.

Unfortunately and somewhat unsurprisingly, none of the fountains were in service. Micallef tweeted a photo with the ironic caption, "The Toronto welcome to visitors."

The Toronto welcome to visitors.

How do any @TorontoPearson execs have their jobs. An untouchable entity. No fountains & water $4 — in many European airports it was 1€ & fountains worked. pic.twitter.com/zvAWaSZFHz

— Maltese Petard 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (@shawnmicallef) September 6, 2022

Though he acknowledges he didn't see the rest of the airport beyond the arrivals area, Micallef stresses that "all fountains in the baggage area, where people wait for hours, were turned off. Only water was $4."

water is really hard to resource in Toronto. It's not like the city is right next to one of the largest bodies of freshwater in the world

— Douglas Hunter (@DWHauthor) September 6, 2022

And it would be one thing if Pearson Airport's vending machines were selling a more palatable brand of water, but being Coca-Cola-branded machines, the only H2O on offer was Dasani.

So far a 1.5 hour wait for bags and @TorontoPearson’s only available water for all these people, many old, is $4

— Maltese Petard 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (@shawnmicallef) September 6, 2022

And that's just scratching the surface, as Micallef's travels through the gargantuan airport brought him past more scenes of disarray. But at least the lucrative Coke/Dasani machines seemed to be working.

It’s become such a dump. Used to be nice. After seeing a more than a half dozen others this summer….it’s the height of Canadian mediocrity. Broken escalators. Broken wall panels. Trash & clutter everywhere. pic.twitter.com/55sPgHdJF3

— Maltese Petard 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (@shawnmicallef) September 6, 2022

These aren't experiences unique to Micallef, and the apparent lack of upkeep at Canada's busiest airport has people talking. 

@TorontoPearson why is it that every day I go to work at Pearson some moving walkway or escalator is not working. Why is this the most expensive airport yet nothing seems to work. Families with children, elderly, wheelchairs…. Everyone struggles to move from point A to point B

— anita (@A5819) July 31, 2022

blogTO reached out to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority for comment on the lack of functioning water fountains, but the agency that oversees Pearson Airport did not respond to the request by the time of publication.