Air Canada is the worst carrier ever

The BBQ Pit
41

Well, of course there’s always Air Koryo, the national (and only) airline of North Korea, flying 50-year-old Soviet-era planes, and offering fine dining like the famous Koryo burger, featuring a burger patty made of some kind of mystery meat which might possibly have once been someone’s pet, and served cold on a stale bun. Also featuring entertainment consisting entirely of propaganda about the wisdom and accomplishments of Dear Leader.

https://www.gotravelyourway.com/2018/08/13/review-10-air-koryo-facts-you-should-know/

42

It’s great when restaurants do this.

You complain that the server was rude and inattentive, they were out of the menu item you wanted, and you later got violently ill after eating the replacement dish. No problem - here’s 30% off your next meal with us!

43

Well, I’d have argued that United is the worst airline ever (ignoring, as you did, Spirit, Ryan etc. where you’re almost literally ASKING to be mistreated) - as every awful flight experience I’ve ever had was on United. OK, the terrifying flight from NY to DC, where even the flight attendants had to strap in as it was too rough, may not have technically been United’s fault given that they do not (as far as I know) have supernatural control over the weather, but I still count that.

Of course, I have never flown Air Canada so I will admit they might be even worse than United.

Closest thing I’ve ever had to the experience you describe was 30+ years ago. when I was flying back from Hawaii to DC. My CONUS flight was from DC to San Francisco as the result of being voluntarily bumped; I purchased a round trip from SF to Honolulu. On a different airline - which was admittedly risky as if the flight was late getting into SF, I’d have been out of luck. I made sure to have a long layover (3ish hours) each way.

So arriving at Honolulu to return back to SF, I was worried when I saw my flight was likely to be 2.5 hours late. I went to the ticket counter in a panic, and they actually booked me on an earlier flight on another airline (this was 30+ years ago, remember, when airlines DID that sort of thing). I got into SFO - and found that my flight from THERE was delayed 2 hours - so all in all I’d have been just fine.

Did you ever find out what the issue was with your wife and getting flagged for extra-special cuddles at TSA?

Delta: Haven’t flown them in 25+ years but back when I did, it was on business, and if you paid full fare they’d bump you up to first class if space was available. That was kinda nice :smiley: (got to do that on 4 different flights). Pretty sure that never happens any more either.

44

Delta United American Air Canada, BA KLM Malaysian are all pretty much the same, some bad flights , some decent ones, some great staff and some arseholes. Emirates Qatar or Singapore airlines are the way to go, I will never fly Lufthansa again though.
The good thing I can say about Air Canada is a flight attendant suggested a Vodka, soda water and a dash of cran juice rather than a straight vodka cran. Cut my sugar intake way down and much more refreshing.

45

Here’s an article just about the burger:

It’s terrifying!

46

I hate to say this, but as a somewhat frequent traveller I think airlines have been becoming more generic for a long time. Outside of Canada, code sharing and points means that one flies United, Delta, Continental and many others. There are differences, but these are not dramatic. I rarely fly first class, where differences are likely bigger.

Most are adequate, some have exceptionally good staff. There is the occasional bad experience, which is not surprising in a complex and stressful business. On the whole, I would say they do pretty well. This applies to Air Canada too, which have on occasion shown me understanding or offered exceptional service. It’s far from my least liked line.

47

In a month we have a cruise. 3 legs to Rome. 2 legs back from Lisbon. All on Air Canada.
Pray for me.

48

When it comes to Air Canada (AC), all I can say is that when they’re good, they’re very very good, but when they’re bad, they’re horrid.

Most of my trips on AC have gone off without a hitch, to the point where if you ask me about my flight from Calgary to Toronto last October, I’ll tell you, “It was fine,” without putting a finer point on it, because it was just that routine. Nothing outstanding, nor anything disappointing, nor anything that wasn’t ordinary or unexpected to stand out. “It was fine.”

Things can happen, and they can be doozies, and AC sometimes (okay, often) either has no explanation for a delay, or refuses to provide one. It’s the latter one that bugs me the most; AC could mollify passengers with reasons for delays (e.g. weather), but it very often refuses to do so. Here’s a hint, AC: if passengers know the reasons for a delay, and it’s reasonable (e.g. weather) they’ll often forgive you for the delay.

But the other thing is that AC has decided that what it does not want to do, is to serve Canadians in smaller cities. Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, St. John’s residents, you’re fine; but Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Cranbrook, other places between 50,000 and 100,000 residents, you’re out of luck, in spite of the fact that you have perfectly serviceable airfields. AC once had service to these cities, but cancelled it and has no plans to return. AC can get you to Europe, the US, Australia, Asia, South America, but it cannot get you to a lot of Canada. So much for Air Canada. Just rename it Air International, and call it what it really wants to be. “Toronto to London? Sure! Toronto to Lethbridge via Calgary? Um, no. We think there’s some kind of bus from Calgary to Lethbridge, but we’re not sure.” That’s unacceptable for a so-called national airline that is supposed to serve the nation.

49

Delta is the only airline I avoid due to this reason. Lots of delays whose length and reasons are not clearly communicated to the passengers. I suppose that could happen with AC, too, but I’ve only flown them once and it was without a hitch for me. The only thing wrong was that we were almost an hour late, and that was compounded by being late to be allowed to dock, both of which happen sometimes and should not be held against the carrier. However, AC did not allow passengers with tight connections to deplane first, and the person in front of me toward the back of the plane was complaining out loud that he was going to miss his connection.

50

I’ve flown AC a lot, particularly back in the years when I’d fly somewhere an average of at least once a week, and I basically agree with your assessment. Business class on long distance flights could be delightful, but short hops not so much. AC is far from being “the worst carrier ever”, but their employees still seem to have that sense of uncaring entitlement that got entrenched in their culture when they were a government-owned quasi-monopoly, as if their customers were a necessary evil that they had to endure rather than serve. To be fair, though, that’s AC at its worst. Most of the time they’re at least OK, and sometimes darn good.

If they want to confine themselves to only major cities and international flights, I’m OK with that as it gives the regionals and other competitors more opportunity. I was waiting for someone in the cell phone lot at Pearson the other day watching incoming flights. They were coming in as fast as ATC could handle them, one after another, and for an extened period every single plane was Westjet. AC is far from being a monopoly today.

51

I think this is more of an operational matter of WestJet banking their flights for connections. If you take a look at Pearson Departures - YYZ Departures | Pearson Airport (torontopearson.com), AC is still the dominant carrier at Pearson.

My office from 2012 to earlier this year was on the north side of the 401 looking directly at the runways (6/24 and 15/33 at least, 5/23 is on the north side of the airport) so I did a lot of plane spotting.

52

Sure, no doubt about it. But AC has more competition than they used to even in the days of Canadian Pacific / Canadian Airlines, mostly WestJet domestically and Air Transat internationally, plus tons of competition from US airlines between Canada and US destinatioins. There are also an amazing number of small Canadian airlines, many of them serving smaller communities in the north.

53

My God, that was a Nightmare on Elm Street! They can actually do that to people and not get fined? :flushed:

They sure did!

54

My recollection of many long-distance business class flights on AC is of wonderful multi-course gourmet lunches and dinners with darn good complimentary wines. The moral of the story here is that condemning a major airline based on a sample of one (1) bad experience may not yield an entirely accurate judgment. AC does have its faults, and I mentioned some of them just upthread, but your experience was a real outlier.

Same deal here. I haven’t had much experience with Delta myself, but my son flies them a lot internationally and it’s his favourite airline. He says they’ve always treated him really well. I know it’s tempting to blow your top after one or two bad experiences, but emotional overreactions don’t always lead to the most rational judgments.

55

I think Porter is having a big impact on AC, that’s what is driving the current free snacks and drinks promo on AC domestic & US flights. People still think of Porter as being a tiny airline, but they went from flying 29 Q400s and are now operating or have on order 50 Embraer Jets with options for another 50.

56

Yes, I had momentarily forgotten about Porter which was a major lapse on my part. That’s an excellent point. I believe they have a reputation for being extraordinarily well managed and could teach AC a thing or ten.

57

Oh my.

I am glad you’ve recovered from you recently bear trap incident and agree a cruise may be a pleasant option to recover but worry about the additional trauma. Perhaps, regardless of your religious preferences you may want to pray for a miracle while in Rome?

:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Seriously though my sympathies as I type this from my tablet at the Austin airport prior to my flight homeward. Air travel is somehow always unnecessarily adverserial and unpleasant.

58

Enjoy your overnight stay in Pearson Intl. with no hotel voucher and staff members who just turn away and ignore you.

59

Clearly the OP never flew US Airways (RIP) out of Philadelphia. I truly hated that airline.

But hey, don’t take my word for it.

US Airways ranked last out of 20 domestic airline carriers for on-time performance in March, April, and May 2007, according to figures. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics June 2008 report (using data from May 2008), US Airways ranked seventh for percentage of on-time arrivals.

US Airways was the leader in service complaints with 4.4 complaints per 100,000 customers. The US Airways rate of customer complaints was 7.5 times the rate of JetBlue (0.59 complaints per 100,000 customers) and 11 times the rate of [Southwest Airlines (0.4 complaints per 100,000 customers). US Airways had a very poor record of addressing customer complaints, answering only 50% of the telephone calls to its customer service department.

60

But just think how much worse it was for people before we had planes.