Let me just add here that you Americans may not realize the depth of passion that Canadians reserve for hating AirCanada. Nobody I know will fly AirCanada unless they are the only option left. And everyone I know who flies AirCanada regrets it and comes back with horror stories of incredibly bad service.
Go WestJet.
WestJet rocks. Unfortunately, they don’t go to Europe. I flew from Vancouver to Paris on Air Canada in September, with a connection in Montreal. My first mistake was choosing Air Canada, rather than, say, any other airline that might possibly get me across the Atlantic. My second mistake was believing them when they assured me that 45 minutes was enough to make my connection in Montreal.
The day of my flight arrives and I am, naturally enough, really excited at the prospect of a month in Europe. Everything is going smoothly, and the flight is listed as being on time. I clear security, get to the gate, and settle in to wait for boarding. The instant I put on headphones, an announcement is made, out of which about the only word I catch is “delay”, so I head on over to the desk. As it turns out, the flight will be “slightly” delayed due to, you guessed it, the late arrival of the inbound aircraft (coming from Beijing apparently). The woman at the desk assures me that it will be no more than 15 minutes, and I’ll have no trouble making my connection. An hour later, we finally get to board the plane. Soothed by assurances that the plane to Paris will be held for me and the others making the same connection, I settle in for 5 hours of bad food and bad movies.
All goes well for a time, and I am lulled into a sense of false security. Then, as the plane is making its final descent into Montreal, the pilot makes an announcement that the flight to Charles de Gaulle has just departed, and there will be someone waiting at the gate for those people who had tickets for that flight. At the gate, I am told that there are no more flights until tomorrow evening, and that we’ll all be put up in a hotel for the night. The woman sent to placate the dozen or so passengers who have just been stranded looks stunned when I mention that the crew in Vancouver assured me repeatedly that the plane would be held. I understand that they can’t hold flights indefinitely, and that the schedule might strand people overnight, but I’d appreciate not being lied to.
I get to the hotel, in the middle of nowhere (well, Dorval, same thing) and am unable to get to sleep until around 3 am, what with the time difference and all the stress of the previous few hours. That’s fine, until the power tools start up at 6. From what I could tell at breakfast, the other stranded passengers and I were the only occupants of the hotel, and Air Canada probably got a cut rate because the place was under renovation. Oh, and the meal allowance they gave wasn’t even enough to cover the cheapest item on the menu.
After that, things got better. I got an afternoon in Montreal, which only would’ve been better if any of my friends had been available, and I didn’t have too much trouble from the Air Canada agent at check-in, when I presented a boarding pass from yesterday’s flight. I even made it to Paris in one piece and with most of my sanity left, and mercifully had a direct flight home.
Mild as it is, compared to some others’ experiences, the moral is still the same. Air Canada sucks, never fly with them unless you have no choice.
That sounds about par for the course for Air Canada, Ms Macphisto, except there’s usually more Air Canada personnel going out of their way to not help you. I guess when you know your employer is going to go toes up soon, you don’t care very much about your next employee evaluation.
Is it really? Or are you guys just wishing it to? Some cite would be nice, even with this being the Pit and all.
Really didn’t mean to stir up a storm. I’ve been in Toronto with no net access (hotel charging 9.95 a day for a connection - I know, I’m cheap). Update on the OP, having spoken to an AC Pilot, and an AC res agent - to paraphrase again, from both of them, “nobody knows what goes on in their world”.
To address things I’ve just now read.
AC won’t throw any miles or upgrades at anyone right now, for my flight this eve, which was oversold, they didn’t even offer a “bump”. On the plus side, the woman sitting next to me was a Non-Revving Flight Attendant, and she was in economy class.
To Featherlou, “I miss CP!”
Maybe I have just been lucky, but every flight I’ve had with them has been at worst average, albeit I do only fly about once/twice a year. Last summer on my Toronto-Halifax-Ottawa trip I found everything from check-in, to flight attendants, to the flights themselves perfect. My sister who flys monthly, if not weekly, also has found AC to be better than average; usually.
I think that once somebody has had an evil experience with any carrier they nitpick at every future transgression. I admit Air Canada will never be able to recover their customer service reputation, but only because of the very nature of air travel which is prone to pissing off customers.
When traveling in Europe I learned a very important lesson that has always proven itself to be true: "Changing transportation causes frustration.