Everything about AirCanada can bite my ass !!!! West Jet, when can you take over?

Air Canada really sucks. I just saw last night at Calgary Airport, the Air Canada staff screamed at two customers and one of them is a girl finally got crying out. You know what is even worse? the staff screamed was even a manager from Air Canada!!!!

Last fall the company made a mistake and put me on Air Canada instead of my usual carrier WestJet up to Fort McMurray.

We flew through some rain. Opened my luggage at the hotel. It was totally wet. Their Bombardier RJ’s leak.

Don’t fly on a RJ with Air Canada if it looks like rain.

Oh yes, as a precaution, take a packet of foam earplugs with you when flying north in BC or Alberta. Without warning AC will cancel the jet and cram you into a beat old Dash 8.

Plan for an extra 30 minutes on top of 30 minutes of jet time. Your trip will basically be double in time, you need ear plugs and have to shout to be heard, and they are cramped hard seats.

I was called a “fucking asshole” by an air canada flight attendant once on a flight from London, England to Toronto.
To file a complaint with customer resolution is a complete waste of time and they did not even mention the incident. All that department tryes to do is intimidate passengers.
I will never, ever travel AC again.

As a veteren travel agent I pride myself on arranging great holidays, business trips ect. Air Canada does not make this possible with their low levels of service and miserable staff. I will always tell people your flights will be the worste part of your trip, try to look at the bright side….. it’s better than horse and buggy, train and a steamer across the pond, better but not by much!

Absolutely, Mick! As another veteran travel agent, I NEVER… repeat NEVER suggest Air Canada to anyone requesting Business Class or
“a comfortable, pleasant flight”. Working in
a near monopoly here in Halifax, I have managed to switch the vast majority of my “big bucks” clients onto British Airways or Air France. They are thrilled and now willingly request the connections via Montreal or NYC to get REAL service in real Business class cabins. I have even had many referrals from their business associates who ask WHY on earth their own agents had “saved” them the agony years ago…
Do I loathe Air Canada…? Do I wish they would just go bankrupt and spare us ALL the agony and international embarrassment?
Question: Is it just me or can everyone else spot the merged former Canadian Airlines staff a mile away? No? Easy… They are the only pleasant ones…

what can I say, air Canada should not be allowed to run by the present management. I flew return from London UK to Edmonton. They charged me £300 more than the price quoted online when I booked over the phone, and when I tried to explain that I needed to fly the next day to see an elderly father in the hospital ( who subsequently passed away) they insisted that unless I pay by credit card there was no way they owuld hold the ticket for me until 5am the following morning ( a mere 18 hours) which was when I was flying. The guy actually said they may suddenly get a customer who wants a blcok of 20 tickets! So that afternoon I had to travel 1 hour to pick up the ticket at the airport and to pay for it ( lost my credit cards and wallet frew days before and air Canada would not take debit card )

when I got there, the counter staff told me I had to purchase a business class ticket because all the seats were sold. Yet when I did get on the plane, there were at least 6 or 7 rows of empty seats at economy

Meanwhile, for reasons I couldn’t fathom, air canada changed my connecting flight from Toronto to Edmonton, which meant I had to queue in line all over again, at Toronto airport to get my baggages retagged and to get a new boarding pass. They had ONE person at the counter dealing at a queue of at least 20, and this woman was unable to answer any questions because she hadn’t even bothered to update herself on the flight situations. She actually gave me the wrong flight time, arrival time and flight information! On top of that, she couldn’t print the new tickets because none of the 7 computers at the air Canada desk actually works properly. Eventually, after an inteminable wait of 20 minuts another woman showed up, and she couldn’t get the machines to print either. Finally after trying all the machines again and agian, they managed to find one that can only print boarding pass, and another that can only print baggage tags. You’d think this was the third world.

After that,which took over 40 minutes when it should only have taken 3 minutes, I went upstairs to the normal air canada check in counter, because I was having difficulties using the payphones to reach the people who were picking me up in Edmonton to let them know that I was on a later flight. You’d think since it was air canada that changed my flight they’d give me a little assistance. Instead before I could even finish my statement to customer service people, I was shunted aside, and when I asked to see the manager, the woman manager was even more condescending. She actually took a $2 coin from her pocket and threw it at me, telling me to make my own calls as they were busy. One of the girls who worked with air canada assisting the people at the queue saw the whole scene and was so appalled she told me that the staff on duty that day were particulalry bad and lent me her cell phone because what she saw really was unmentionably disgusting.

The return journey was worse. Having made me pay an extra £80 to prebook a seat,this time on hospitality class whatever that is, and I specifically asked for an aisle seat, they gave me a window seat for both stretches of the journey.

The self service check in didnt’ work for my ticket, and I was shunted from counter to counter only to encounter sucessively more dismissive unhelpful staff. Whatever happened to ‘customer serivce?

Finally a nice air canada personnel asked if I needed help, and when I explained that my reference number didn’t work on the machines, she said with a wry smile, they don’t and added’ since air canada introduced those self check in machines, the airline actually recruited additional staff!’ She explained that it took more man power to work with those machines that were meant to be labor saving.

Surly staff seem to be a air canada feature. The woman at the boarding counter As I came to expecT was also pretty rude and dismissive wehn I waited my turn to ask questions about the flight delay. She was alone, SOLE STAFF at gate 49, and was simultaneously trying to sort out the flight to Calgary which was delayed, and board two other planes, one to saskatoon and one to winnipeg - ALSO AT GATE 49. This puts a new meaning to SKELETON STAFF@!

My 5pm flight to Calgary was delayed and delayed again so they could board also those passengers that were meant for the 6pm flight onto the same flight. mYE A FEW OTHER PASSENGERS WERE quie anxious as there was real danger that we woulnd’t make our connection to London.

They kept announcing that they would give us further info about the connections the delay created, before we board, after we boarded and the pilots assured us he was on the case but after the initial promises, we heard nothing again.

What was truly amazing was how unprofessional the air hostess was. She was the only flight staff and was so busy chatting with another air hostess ( flying as a passenger, not on duty although she was in uniform) she spent most of the flight time bending over and giggling next to the other air hostesses’ seat.

Finally we landed in Calgary a,d I had 3 minutes to run to catch my conencting flight to London.

Back in London, wouldn’t you know it, my luggage weren’t there. It transpired they never even went to Calgary. The bags were sent on another flight to Toronto, to make room for the 6pm passanger,s which led me to think what the point was for me to check in 2 hours before departure, when all those who checked in late got their luggage with them.

and there were quite a few passengers who were missing one piece of their several pieces of luggage.

So here I am typing this thing because the luggage was supposed to be delivered to my home before 11 am, and it is now 2:10, and no sign of it nor any communications. Wasting my time waiting when I should be at work.

would I fly air canada again? unlikely but I may have to because my family lives in Edmonton and the charters only opereates in the summer months. Air canada has a virtual monopoly.

A good friend of mine works for hte multinatioanl Hong Kong company that owns air canada. From what she said , current standard of service and attitude and imcompetence that defines air canada pretty well runs throughout the organisation. the top guy hires sycophants who are generally incompetent, and these in turn recruit in their own image and they all cover up for each other which is the chinese way ( and I’m chinese by the way)

I wish the Canadian government would do something to take control of what is a national airline out of the hands of these people who should NOT be running something that vital.

I am SO boycotting Air Canada!!!

I just had a flight with them last week and they conveniently lost a bunch of people’s luggage (including mine!!). It has now been almost a week and still no sign of my luggage and all they keep telling me is, “we have no idea where your baggage is so you’ll just have to keep waiting”.

Air Canada is COMPLETELY USELESS and I am NEVER flying with this pathetic excuse for an airline again.

My wife is an Air Canada flight attendant. When the company restructured she took a 20% pay cut and an increased workload of about 10-15%. Later that year AC paid Celine Dion a couple of million bucks to model a new uniform while my wife gets memos from managers about not throwing out the extra swizzle sticks at the end of a flight to save money.

She, like most flight attendants, is embarrassed by the quality of the service in-flight.

What surprises me about these comments is that people like to blame the staff at Air Canada but no one seems to criticize the management. “Customer service” is a non-issue for management, they simply don’t care and don’t give a damn about keeping the employees happy.

My favourite example - my wife was working at the airport when a retired attendant with 40+ years of service came in to drop off her manuals a couple of months after retiring. She had received no call or letter from management to thank her for her years of service. Not a word. She thought AC would want the manuals since they contained detailed information about aircraft and flight safety and security protocols.

Nothing in the corporate structure encourages good quality customer service. So the next time you want to complain about service keep in mind that most FAs have the same low opinion of the airline and you really shouldn’t blame them for the company’s shortcomings.

Air Canada delayed our flight to halifax by 3.5 hours because they didnt have a crew scheduled to fly the hard-seated A319 from ottawa.

They are officially boycotted. Management sucks, staff are improperly trained for customer service, but the are actually quite good hearted imo.

Too much money, to little in return.

Thank you so much for this site! After reading thru the comments…it just made me feel better after the horrendous treatment we had with Air Canada…I vowed never to fly again with them!!!

I hope there will be more competition…WestJet, way to go!

Air Canada Sucks……

I don’t get how Air Canada has been ranked as the best airline in North America - if anything, … credibility needs to be questioned.
I’m on a flight from Toronto Pearson Airport to London Heat…

……

Air Canada is the scum of the earth!

I’m a nervous flyer, and going through airport terminals is torture for me, let alone getting on the plane. The Air Canada agent at the check-in desk was so vicious to me about a slightly overweight bag (I only had one, when I’m allowed two) that she reduced me to a crying, shaking, hyperventilating mess [despite the fact that I was on anti-anxiety meds for the flight]. She never smiled once from the moment I approached the desk. She was cold, abrupt, rude, refused to listen to me, and started to shout at me and threaten me. Evil filth! Why on earth would a company hire someone like that to be their front-line contact with their customers?

The airport security people were much nicer to me when they saw I was upset, but absolutely no one from Air Canada apologized for the abusive treatment I received at check-in. In fact, although I was still crying and visibly shaking when I boarded the plane, the cabin crew simply ignored my distress, and not one of them asked if I were okay or if they could do anything to help.

And when I got to my destination, I discovered that my one slightly overweight bag had been handled so roughly that it had a large tear in it, making it totally unusable in future. Uh… coincidence? Unlikely!

I’m definitely going to fly West Jet from now on.

Besides, West Jet’s maximum weight per each piece of checked baggage is 70 lbs, compared to Air Canada’s paltry 50 lbs.

[…] Mother Nature: You filthy whore, how dare you drop frozen rain on me for a night and then follow up with 5 inches of dense snow. FedEx: I guess they cut costs by hiring pilots that cannot stay on a runway. AirCanada: You dare offer the trose a free flight voucher if I move my flight to a later time then, tell me later that I can no longer get to my destination anyway. […]

Air Canada robs the canadian public of our hard earned money and then requires subsidies from the government to stay operational?
-
Recently booked a charter flight from Toronto to PV Mexico. Cost 550$ (reasonable!) Non-stop.
-
Problem is I don’t live in TO. It’s a 2 hour flight from New Brunswick, which cost me 690$ on Air Canada. I would happily choose another carrier but westjet only flies out of one city and is always booked. You need to book minimum 6 mnths in advance.
I simply can’t believe that the cost of travel in our country is that high.
Canadians should take a stance and fight back. Considering the amount of subsidies that corporation already gets from us.

NO SUCH THING AS A CONFIRMED SEAT - - -
My daughter booked her flight home & return 3 months in advance, $1,400.
On the return, when she checked in at Toronto airport, all she got was a standby boarding pass for the first leg. At baggage check-in, she was told the flight had been oversold, and would get seat selection at the gate.
At the gate, it came to light that if you did not elect to pay the extra $15 per leg (in my daughter’s case, this means an extra $60) to select a seat, you are considered a standby passenger. Of course, Air Canada does not advise you of this when you are buying the ticket.
To add insult to injury, after waiting an hour for her baggage to be returned, she was sent to another baggage area, where she was advised she would have to wait another 2 1/2 hours. When she started to question the agent (whose abilities in english were lacking, and had a heavy accent)for details, and the reason, he started yelling and ranting at her.
It would have been cheaper to fly Westjet and Air North, but she paid $100 more becuase of better times and connections on Air Canada.
But it won’t be a problem from now on. It’s her last flight on Air Canada.

My first experience with Air Canada was on a return flight from California. I had got there in plenty of time to check in for the return flight and waited patiently in line but a lady at the back just decided to bypass everyone saying, :”the hell with this… I’m not waiting in line again!”… not the airlines fault. People in line harshly vocalized there dislike and the woman paid no heed and I felt soooo sorry for the young female ticket agent. She looked at me as if to say sorry and I just shrugged… ahhh… whatcha gonna do and waved her to go ahead and take care of her. Now my turn!… at that point a group of little Asian family members scuttled up to the counter and the counter agent motioned for them to wait and pointed to the back of the line because they obviously spoke no English. They just looked at her very confused and put there tickets on the counter for her to see. She looked at them and said, “OH MY GOD!”. She got on the phone, made a call and asked “if the plane was still there”…… it was! She looked at the little woman there and said, “RUN!”… but since they understood no English she did arm and hand motions for running and the little family of 4 took off. Now you’re asking yourself, so what was wrong with the flight then? Well… after the incidents were over she looked at me apologized for the delay, thanked me profusely and I said “No problem… I would not want your job at this point in time after seeing all that just happened and seeing are incredibly well you handled everything!” She looks at me and says, “How would you like to sit in Business Class?” I said, “Cool, that’d be great!”, afterall, it was a College Break vacation and I would not have ever been able to afford it, so she did! I was very pleased with myself for being patient and courteous and she rewarded me with the upgrade! I go then to business class, sit down, and this middleaged female attendant comes to me and asks, “Are you Mr. *********”, and I said “yes”. She stands straight up and yells across the entire fully seated business class section to a male attendant on the other side, “HEY TOM!, THERE IS A SPECIAL MEAL TRAY FOR MR.********* IN THE ECONOMY CLASS SECTION FOR HIM! HE WAS BUMPED UP FOR SOME REASON!”. I was mortified… thus be the result of my good deed from the flight attendant.
Second AC experience was upon flying back from Chicago. I had accepted a summer job offer from a friend I had not seen in a long while and took it for my summer job. After experiencing health problems and changing my return time 3 times because of the health problems… hoping beyond hope that i might be able to get something done down there… receiving questions and grief from the AC ticket agent/agents about changing the return flight repeatedly, then coming back in a wheelchair, pushed by an AC personell I waited in the waiting area for my pick up. At this point I must say I was literally on the verge of tears because I had lost the use of my legs and not knowing why! Now, there is standing over me a large ethnic man glaring down at me and saying, “You’re supposed to TIP me now!”, and stuck his hand out! I threw $5 into his hand just so he would leave me. As he walked away a man that was waiting there saw this and shook his head and turned to ask me “do you need any help with anything?”. I said no and thanked him but then it donned on me… a perfect stranger asked if i needed any help while the Air Canada airport attendant pocketed $5 and walked away! As a result, I have never used Air Canada again… whether it be the reconstructed Hong Kong business philosophy, the inneffeciency of the airline in general… complacency of the staff, the outcome is the same! Now I always seek alternative airlines and make a comparison of what I am willing to sacrafice if neccessary!

This was the worst trip of my life …..thanks for nothing Air`Canada. That sounded like a bit of a thespian tangent but to be honest when I left Calgary for a flight that was over five hours late due to ” mechanical problems”, I thought that would be the worst of it. But the worst of it was they lost my luggage on the way back. O and not just mine, over tweenty other peoples on that same flight. The excuse, “well there was to much luggage loaded on the plane so some of it had to be left back in Winnipeg”.

“Holy Balls,” that is the stupidest thing anyone has ever said to me. Air Canada has lost a passanger for life!

I must have been on the exact same flight as Steve!

It all began when I left Calgary and my flight was delayed for 4 hours because of “Mechanical Difficulties”. I can understand that delays happen and usually I’m fine with it, but 4 hours seemed a little excessive.

The next issue was that once I got to the check-in couter the lady there informed me that the weight restriction was 50lbs. I found this pretty astonishing shince WestJets is 70lbs. I can’t even pack one of my suitcases 3/4 full of just clothes without exceeding 50lbs! But anyways, luckily I had packed a spare bag for such an occasion. So I shuffled my stuff around and got on the flight to Winnipeg.

So I figured that the worst was over, but little did I know that was just the beginning. Once I arrived back in Calgary I went to the baggage carousel. We waited there for roughly an hour before the carousel finally stopped. There were still a number of us without our luggage and by the looks of our surroundings (there were piles of unclaimed luggage strew around the airport) I started to think that something was up. Anyways, so I got in line to claim lost luggage. The man that helped me was actually very friendly and helpful (although also noticebly frustrated with the situation as well). I asked him what it was all about and he said that for the past 4 months quite frequently the airplane would not be able to fit all the luggage on. So what they’d do is at the end of the day they would load all the leftovers on a truck and ship it out to Calgary. This is all bevcause now Air Canada is using the small Jazz planes to fly this route. I found this absolutely ridiculous how this could be happening consistently for this long! I mean they dont’ even alert you to the possibility that you might not receive your luggage for another 2-3 days! I’m just lucky that I didn’t urgently need the luggage. I can’t imagine if someone had medication or something that they needed and all of a sudden wouldn’t have it.

Anyways, so that where I’m at. Still don’t have my luggage, and I’m hoping I get it soon! Does anyone know who might be a good person to contact regarding complaints about these issue?

In Canada or U.S.:
Air Canada - Customer Solutions
PO Box 64239,
5512 4th Street, NW
Calgary, AB, Canada
T2K 6J0

Much Appreciated!!!

Love the site too!

I flew Air Cabda from NYC JFK to Calgary and then on to Prince George BC via Vancouver on Jan 1 2007.

It will be the last flight I book with them.

They lost and damaged a brand new pair of skis and refuse to take responsibility for this. I have been treated like a criminal by everyone I have talked to since this occured.

I can only hope bankruptcy or an open market will change them because as a monopoly they have nothing but their own interests in mind at the expense of every customer that flies with them.

RE: Travel in December and January to and from Rome from Dallas, via Toronto.

I ordered tickets in July for myself and my wife and infant son to fly to Rome.

We hate the big US airlines and hoped AC would be better. What a mistake.

WHAT HAPPENED:

1) I ordered tickets online and they mailed me an itinerary only, no paper tickets. I assumed I had e-tickets and that we’d be taken care of at check in in Dallas. No such luck. The check in people informed me I had to have paper tickets for my son. In Dallas, they just put us on the plane to Toronto and said we should go to the main ticket counter there. Someone would call ahead and explain and tickets would be waiting for us, we were told.

2) We arrive in Toronto and go to the ticket desk and wait 3 hours in line. 3 hours. Thank God we had a long layover before the Rome leg of the flight. Nobody has heard anything about our predicament, so I had to explain everything again. They tell me I have “lost my tickets” and have to pay a fee for new ones. I explain they were never mailed. Nobody believes me. So I have to be a complete ass in public to get any action. Finally, after about 30 minutes, I get a higher up manager to agree to issue us paper tickets without the fee. It was a fight, however.

3) We enjoy Rome, but get to Leonardo da Vinci on the day stated on our itinerary for our return flight and are told that the flight DOES NOT EXIST. In thier system, we are recorded as no-shows for the previous day. Infuriating. I had checked my email throughout the trip and never recieved a note about the flight change. And in fact I called their customer service that morning to confirm the flight and was told it was on time, set to go, etc. This was about 5 hours before the departure time listed on my itinerary.

After some work with a VERY unhelpful Lufthansa ticket agent (I actually had to remind her that Air Canada and Lufthansa are in Star Alliance together before she would offer to help me - AC had no ticket counter) it was determined that the lady back in Toronto had in fact changed our return tickets for one day earlier. SHE NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THIS IN TORONTO!!! She had worked directly from our original itinerary, handed me the paper tickets and said “you are good to go.” Unfortunately I had believed her.

4) Air Canada, once the Lufthansa lady agreed to help contact them, informed me that they could no do anything. As far as they were concerned, we had missed our flight and they “might” be able to get us on a later flight, several days later. Impossible, I argued, as we had no place to stay and my wife had to be at work in two days. They made ZERO APOLOGIES, made NO OFFER TO GET US A HOTEL IN ROME. Zilch.

So, once again I was forced to do my best pissed off customer impression and be a complete ass in public, yelling into the phone at the Air Canada person to pick up the ball and find a solution. After some minutes, she relented and said she would find a solution.

5) So we end up getting a flight to Frankfurt on Lufthansa and then on to Toronto, where we will have to spend the night. We are told in Rome that the Air Canada people in Toronto will be ready for us with a hotel voucher, etc. Of course I doubt this seriously, and I’m right. When we finally do get to Toronto after a terrible flight on a stinky old AC crate, once again, NOBODY HAS HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT OUR PROBLEM, NO RECORD IN A CUSTOMER ACCOUNT DATABASE, NOTHING. So for the umpteenth time I have explain the whole situation from scratch to an AC agent to get her to give me a voucher.

She tells me it’s for the Sheraton Four Points just outside the airport. We get to the hotel and its like 12:30am, and we are beat. And the hotel tells us they won’t accept our voucher. I had to spring $200 for the hotel and some room service and I was informed by the front desk of the hotel that AC would definitely not reimburse me. I was so tired of AC at this point that I’d have paid much more for a room just to get some decompression.

6) Finally, as if this were not enough, this horrific airline also lost our baby stroller. It wasn’t that expensive, and I hold out no hope of a reimbursement. It’s just the icing on the cake.

We are glad to be home and will NEVER EVER be using Air Canada ever again. I’ll also be telling several colleagues who are business travellers and who also oversee the travel of their sales force all about this, as well as anyone else who will listen.

What was most depressing about this entire affair was a near total unwillingness on the part of AC to ever admit they had made a mistake, and the hoops they made me jump through before they would budge and do anything. Clearly, if you do not become irate and demanding with this company, they won’t offer to take care of you.

Ok Jeff Dalton… you win first prize for AC stories in my book! Oiiii!!!

The bastards run the airline on their own schedule and at their own convenience. They don’t give a flying crap about their customers.
We seriously need some competition in this country. Call or write your member of parliament
OPEN UP THE SKIES !!!

I flew them a few years ago from Vancouver to Montreal. Worst first class service I have ever had. They wouldnt allow me to have a second meal. Seats were old and worn out. Possibly the worst first class service in the world. I have flown better in British Airways economy class. Down with this airline, thank god Westjet is taking over the Canadian airline industry; atleast they know that a paying customer deserves respect and a pleasant flight.

Out of 7 flights with AC, they’ve managed to lose our luggage 7 times. Today, we are boarding a ship, going on a cruise without our luggage. Has anyone ever thought of a class action law suit?

[…] was good, there was one part of this trip that was total crap, the trip home from Air Canada. Well Air Canada has done me wrong in the past, and they did it again this […]

Why we won’t fly with Air Canada-it sucks. After a discouraging trip that we had planned to Miami we simply flew to Toronto and turned back. We sat in Calgary for over 1.5 hours waiting for de-icing and the de-icing truck was in plain view the whole time. The captain’s response was they’re busy on the other side-no one to run this truck-they were servicing West Jet.
Since we left late we missed our flight to Miami and subsequently the conference that started early the next morning. That cost us over $1000 US loss. Air Canada offered a flight out the next day that would have arrived mid day and by the time we would have reached the conference centre it would be over anyway. We tried to retrieve our luggage from Air Canada to return to Calgary as an Air Canada employee in lost and found said it will take a couple of hours to get it out of the customs clearing area to return to Calgary. He has been with Air Canada for 26 years and he said its never been worse than this for moral and service-I agree.
Our previous attempt to use Air Canada was a joke too as the international connections were booked too tight and we missed our flight out of LA. To make matters worse my wife’s medication was on the checked bags as per the new rules. She cannot handle the pain of her disease without the meds. That fiasco made us stay overnight in LA and wait for 6 hours to get our luggage.
One thing we were told in LA by Air Canada is that a minimum of 2 hours is required for international connections.
On this past flight to Miami with connections in Toronto the automatic flight scheduler left only 1.5 hours. Then when we went to the Air Canada desk in Toronto they insisted that Air Canada’s policy is only 1 hour and 10 minutes for clearing customs on international flights. Who’s lying??
Very poor online service resulted in a loss of $1000 US for the conference that is held once a year. The Welcome Aboard Pass cost over $1600- that’s gone. We’re offered two vouchers for $200 as compensation. Big deal. I asked for a credit for the amount of the Welcome Aboard Pass and didn’t even press for compensation for the missed conference.
Air Canada’s service is getting worse.
Do not use Air Canada-the best thing that could have happened to Air Canada was to have folded up business. Be warned you are treated like a criminal and will not be able to speak to anyone about any of your troubles. They offer a fax number and email. What a joke-your inquiry is probably sent to a third world nations’ call centre (if it goes anywhere at all). From there its the party line-we’re not responsible for anything. So sorry you chose to fly with Air Canada. Please fly again-yeah right. Beware Air Canada. It Sucks.

…this is a letter of complaint i wrote recently….looking at blog posts and articles written,I’m not alone in frustration…

My partner and I recently used Air Canada on our trip from Toronto to Zurich (via Frankfurt on #872 outbound/#873 inbound) on Feb 16-26, 2007. We experienced major inconveniences on our outbound and inbound trip.
The first problem we had was when we checked in. I know how busy Air Canada flights can be so I made sure to pre booked our seats. Unfortunately, I guess Air Canada changed planes so we were bumped from our pre-booked seats and made to sit apart. We tried to ask other people to switch seats but there were no single travelllers willing to change. My partner is uncomfortable flying so you can imagine the inconvenience of an 8 hour flight alone.
My baggage was delayed on the return flight. After wating 2.5 hours for my bags, I was asked to fill out a delayed baggage report. I called the next day, 2 days later, 3 days later, 4 days later, and 5 days later and was told by your toll free number that my baggage was still delayed and waiting to clear customs. When I asked if I could speak to somebody in Toronto to find out what the delay was, I was told that there was no number to call, that the toll free office was actually in India, and that it would be easier if I went to the airport myself to pick up the baggage. At no time in the 5 days that I was waiting for my luggage was I contacted by Air Canada to assure me that my delayed baggage was in any way a priority. I returned to the airport after 5 days of waiting on March 3rd, and after sorting through hundreds of bags, I was able to finally get my baggage. I have no idea how much longer I would have had to wait if I hadn’t gone myself.
I feel I deserve an apology and financial retribution for the time and extra money I have spent for these inconveniences. I had to pay for at least 4 hours of extra parking ($24) because of the delay in my luggage. I also had to take 4 hours out of a Saturday to drive to the airport to pick up baggage that I was promised to have personally delivered. I also had important items, like contact lenses and clothes, that I had to buy replacements for.
I would appreciate it if I could be contacted so that I can receive an explanation and repayment for what I feel were circumstances that were beyond my control, and in my opinion could have been handled in a much more professional and curteous manner. From speaking to the the dozens of people who also experience delayed luggage, I don’t feel like I’m alone in my frustration. In fact, the article written by ctv in January (see link below) echoes the same frustrations.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061221/whistleblower_luggage_070111/20070111/

I would like to see some comments from employees of AC just to see how and why the ailine has sunk so far down…. from what it used to be!

I saved Air Canada aeroplan miles for 15 years then I went to cash them in and they told me they were ALL expired! I hate AirCanada and I will NEVER fly with them again.

They told me that my Aeroplan account was empty and that all my miles expired even though i see commercials on the TV everyday about how their miles Don’t expire.

As an emplyee of AC, I am truly embarassed to be associated with such an imcompetent and amateur first line operation.
Staff shortages, mediocre service and arrogant attitudes are a direct result of AC upper management patting themselves on the back for completing artifical objectives and treating employees as foder.

I am an elite customer…what a joke. I only travel 1st class on any airline and it’s always a nightmare with AC. I recently had about $1500 worth of items taken from my luggage and my $1200 suitcase was distroyed. Nobody would do anything and when you call, you get some helpless but polite person in India, nothing wrong with India but what can they do, besides pass the buck, which seems to be the way this airline operates.

I did everything I could to retrieve my items and even had a jerk at the baggage counter yell at me and point his finger and call me names, he was a total looser! What a disgrace.

They make you write to an office in Montreal for a claim then they don’t respond and nobody will return you calls. This is how they treat first class customers that pay full fare. This Airline has a culture is discontent and it really sucked when they took over Canadian. I was a Canadian Ariline Customer and always noticed how rude and grumpy the old hags are that work at air canada, it’s painful to fly.

Now they are using these small E90 planes charging the same price when economy on united has more room….it goes on and on. Star alliance should drop them and i could care less about the one million points I have, you can never use them anyway. Unlike most other airlines you can’t upgrade with points and they gouge you if the 2 seat per plane are not available.

I hope they go out of business and the Canadian government should in no way whatsoever support this lame company.

Hope you read this Mr Milton you arrogant bastard.

There’s no point me relating all of my outrageous experiences with AC to you - by the looks of this site, we’re all on the same page and have resolved to never fly with AC ever again - unless we have no choice.

Air Canada, you’re a loathsome entity and I’m looking forward to the day you finally go bankrupt. Canada deserves better and you’re a disgrace to the maple leaf. Canadians, you should know that AC is owned by a Hong Kong billionaire – stop defending this poor excuse for a company and start demanding an end to the tax funded subsidies we are all contributing to that keep this abomination of an airline in business.

Incidentally, I’ve emailed Monte Brower (CEO of AC) on 2 occasions expressing my disgust with his airline – never got a response. Hardly surprising given the company doesn’t have a VP/SVP of customer service and only receives customer service complaints via fax!!!

OK – Rant over….As you must all know, getting anything resembling direct assistance from AC is nearly impossible. However, after a recent experience that just about trumps any of those posted here (can’t be bothered to relate it in detail but suffice to say it involved a cancelled flight followed by an indirect alternative offered 2 days later followed by luggage that was offloaded from my plane before my very eyes followed by a 10 day wait with no information before its final return to me).

Through this experience and after becoming possibly the biggest pest in AC’s history (tying up call center lines and berating any member of staff I could get through to – it made me feel better knowing I was making their day as miserable as their company was making mine (childish, but satisfying!!) - I did make contact with the only half decent AC employee I’ve encountered….her name is Shiela Hakim and her email address is Sheila.Hakim@aircanada.ca

I suggest you drop Shiela a line if you need to rant/find a resolution to anything. She’ll probably pass your case onto a sour puss named Milena Marchetti in their claims department. Milena typifies AC’s lack of interest in customer care.

Anyway, Shiela was (against all odds!!) helpful and responsive, so give her a whirl if you need some personal contact with someone at AC.

I work for Air Canada, and thay treat there employees like crap. All this company thinks about is money, and not the people who makes the company run.
At this point in time Air Canada is selling most of the departments that make this company work. Other company’s that will take over our jobs have no idea how to run an airline.

And the money it goes to the ceo pockets and not to some peoson who needs a good job.

GOOD LUCK TO PEOPLE FLYING AIR CANADA, service will be on a down turn in the near future.

Thanks Jake! That is the confirmation that I suspected! The new owner is from Hong Kong I believe… a billionaire and now we know how & why! I recall that area being the birthplace of SARS due to slum lords for the sake of a cash grab… West Jet now is the time to jump up and take control.

Canceling everyones aeroplan points as of July 4th seems like a deliberate slap in the face for Americans. Is it time to launch a class action against a company that clearly learnt it’s customer service from Joseph Stalin? Who is with me?

I need to get to fort Lauderdale and even though I have a voucher for air canada, I’m taking the train. I do not want that horrible air line ruining my vacation again.

Staff is fine, it’s their shitty aircraft, like flying in a cattle car with wings :0

Pardon my french!

Air Canada can go to Hell. They are a disgrace to the world of quality airline service. They should be liquidated. A bunch of old and crusty good for nothings, and that’s just the frontline staff! Management is worse

It’s not just AC its al of the airlines. They all suck,I am willing to pay more for better SERVICE, I’LL PAY FOR FOOD if it decent. I don’t need to be pampered but just treated with human decency.

Flew from Winnipeg to Heathrow in June on AC. It totally sucked. Cramped, exceptionally unfomfortable seats, many overhead lights didn’t work, had trouble breathing at one point, crew were miserble. It was gawd-awful. Next time, I’d rather crawl on my hands & knees over broken glass, than fly with Air Canada.

even worse, we made a reservation and watched as the price changed…dependent on whether their was two of us going…one got the cheaper price, but if we tried to book two people, we both were given the higher price.

Waited on line until it dropped, still only one could get the cheaper price…the minute we made the booking the prices firmed up….at the higher of course.

Just bizzare, I mean you should be able to book both people at the same price.

I’ll sum it up this way….fly only because you have to.

If you can make other arrangements for vacation, do it. Vacation locally and avoid the flying cattle cars of the sky. They either charge you wayyy to much, or the price is so low they’re crowded.

I don’t blame them really, it’s part of life now…everyone is flying. BUT WHO WANTS TO!

2 hours of flight time equals 1 day of ruined vacation for stress.

Please, please if anyone knows about a class-action suit against Air Canada over this whole cancellation of aeroplan miles thing, I want in - please tell me how to sign up!!!

I Just got fired from my Job at AC yesterday for being the opposite of everyone else there. The company wants simple/stupid minded people to run the company….they like lazy, old and un-educated people to run there airline. I was the type of employee who would answer all your questions, help u in anyway possible and feel for you when things didnt go your way. When head office found out that I did my job right….they botted me. Managers at AC last very shortly there…Its a White man company. Even though its the outsiders of this country who make the company live….Im sick to my stomach for investing so much time into that airline….shame on them.

Stupid, stupid, stupid airline. I fly at least 8 times a month with my job. Sometimes far more. I flew 16 segments in October alone, mostly Air Canada Jazz and sometimes Westjet. Recently Air Canada Jazz has started only rewarding 25% Aeroplan points for Tango purchases. Calgary to Winnipeg return $500.00 bucks (min) 570 aeroplan points. If you fly to Vancouver on the real Air Canada for $200.00 return you get a 1000 Aeroplan points! STUPID and not enough to keep me loyal anymore. So I am flying this Sunday to Regina from Calgary, the flight was $370.00, I called Air Canada to change to an earlier flight that was listed for $159.00. I changed the booking and then was asked how I was going to pay the difference. WHAT!!! If anything I would have a credit! $40.00 to change the flight and $25.00 for the phone call!!! $25.00 for a 5 minute phone call. Anyway I did not end up changing it. I have never tried changing reservation with them before, but by chance I have on Westjet! Westjet you have no problems and they cerate credit files for you! So after flying Air Canada weekly….although I am the ONLY one in my office that does so, I have finally been converted. All my buisness travel will be on Westjet. Good bye Air Canada!!! Hello Westjet!

So to continue with how Air Canada sucks….I had booked a flight from Halifax to London Ontario with a return…Well I am suppose to leave the 17th of this month but on my reservations it says that I was suppose to leave the 10th of this month…They fucked up and now I have to call them and see what they can do and by what I have read here I am going to be paying more than I should…So whoever does fly with Air Canada just make sure that you double check your flight to make sure the correct dates are what they are suppose to be…

I am missing some things out of one of my suitcases from a trip to Singapore. I know one of the bags, a small duffle bag was packed to the gills. When I lifted it off the baggage carousel in T.O. it was strangely empty. I am missing 1 1/2 pairs of sandals. I called today, but the woman at the lost baggage claim barely spoke any English. She kept asking me what the bag I lost looked like. I kept explaining it wasn’t the bag I lost- but some contents. OMG very very frustrating. I doubt I’ll never see the 1 1/2 pairs of sandals I’m missing. I spent quite a bit of money on one of the pairs in Singapore and the other pair is now completely useles and they were Mephisto’s worth $155. Do people now steal stuff out of the bags?
Very disgrunted. I loved Singapore Airlines. I forgot what having a real “stewardess” who cared, smiled, took real care in their appearance. In other words - took some pride in their work!

[…] werty.net […]

I’ve flown with AC on several occasions and the times we’ve had unpleasant experiences were within the last year and a half. The change in management and its lack of managing skills must’ve finally took its toll on the front end of the operations.

What I’d like to add is although the CEO is a Hong Kong billionaire, please don’t associate his incompetence in this area with all Hong Kong people like a poster above has implied. The appearance of SARS was due to several factors and if I know nothing else about how SARS transpired I saw how brave the doctors and nurses were during the devastating crisis. These people risked their lives (by choice of remaining in the hospital) cause they believe in their work.

Well having said that, I am also waiting for the day AC goes bankrupt or management is changed for the better. In the meantime, we will not be flying with AC.

What implication? I believe that was something that you added. Dr.s, nurses and ordinary citizens were comendable I agree. As for lumping all into the same category… that would just be an uneducated individual stance I’d say. The blog referred to the Air Canada owner as a billionaire from South Korea and SARS being existing due to unliveable human conditions and slum lords charging rent for these “garbage dump” rental units. Therefore, the phrase “cash grab”! I have friends from S. Korea so I think that the “implied” section of the blog is something that you read into the SARS comment posted.

Air Canada is a great airline. You people are all ignorant. It is one of the finest airlines in the world operating in very tough times were it is tough to stay profitable in such a small Canadian market. There are assholes everywhere you go, don’t let a bad experience ruin things for you.

I hate it when people bitch about baggage. Most often the baggage is lost/mishandled/rifled through by security, and not the airline.

Just completed a 24-hour Air Canada flight from Boston to Toronto — or should I say “flight from hell.”

To be fair, there was a big snowstorm in Boston. Snow causes delays — especially for smaller planes on short-haul routes. I get that.

What rankles, though, is the way this delay was handled by AC and the many system failures and manifest incompetencies that I saw at every stage of the journey.

The flight was scheduled to leave at 1:35 pm. During the afternoon and evening, we were boarded and deplaned twice until the flight was finally cancelled nine hours later.

The second boarding was a joke… it was around 8:30 pm when we were hustled onto the plane. We were told that a short letup in the storm was anticipated in the next 30 minutes and the crew was trying to catch the window. We then sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half because the loading ramp was jammed. The snow never let up.

As we deplaned, the cabin crew apologized and (love this!) disavowed responsibility for the decision to board us in the first place.

The lineup to rebook took a ridiculous amount of time. Why can’t this process be simplified? Or, if you know you’re going to have to cancel flights because of very obvious snowstorms — hello! — put extra staff on the job and open a couple of additional ticketing stations so that passenger inconvenience is reduced a little.

Down in the baggage hall, ten passengers, including me, were hanging in limbo because their baggage had not come off the plane. Two baggage agents were chatting merrily to each other and basically ignoring passengers asking for information. They stated repeatedly that this was not their problem — that they couldn’t understand why the turkeys outside were not bringing the baggage in. Once again, lots of blame-shifting going on here.

The other passengers’ baggage eventually arrived; mine did not. I had to get forceful with the baggage agents in order to get them to make the appropriate phone call, which produced the information that my bag had been put on the wrong flight.

Next morning the snow has cleared. The plane is at the gate. Should leave on time, right? Nope. We’re 90 minutes late getting on board, and then the plane has to be towed back to the gate becase the nosewheel is stuck.

And then, on landing, the terminal dock is stuck again and we sit for 15 minutes waiting for ground crew to fix it.

At all these failure points Air Canada staff apologized to us in cheery voices. On my way out of the plane I looked the pilot and purser in the eye, and told them at, after a certain number of failures, apologies do no good whatsoever. The cabin crew once again told me that it was not their decision to re-board us the previous night.

Finally, when I took my lost baggage tag to the agent he spent 10 minutes fumbling around trying to locate my bag. Eventually a supervisor had to intervene.

This airline is broken. The people may be trying hard, but the systems supporting them don’t work. Bad service decisions are being made. The high number of small mechanical failures I saw on this trip makes me wonder about overall safety. And most importantly, people are pointing fingers, blaming others, and generally ducking responsibility when things go wrong.

I’m switching to WestJet.

The last post pretty much describes any mechanical or weather delay at any airline. If AC staff had not apologized to you, you would have complained even more. When 100-250 people need customer service, and there are 2-5 gate agents, you will have to wait. Any company staffs for average conditions only.
Travel is time consuming and degrading at the best of times. The alternative is to hire a private jet!! Commerical air travel is not much different from riding the Greyhound bus.

As always saftey comes first. If AC or any other airline tried to take off in bad weather, you’d be the first to sue them in the event of a crash.

Daniel J. W. of Vancouver, B.C. works for Air Canada, at Vancouver International Airport. He scopes out unsuspecting victims, to borrow money. He should be avoided at all costs, as he is a sociopath.

I am an Air Canada Elite member, have been for several years unfortunately! For my work I fly about 4 segments a week. I go out of my way to fly on alternative airlines such as Westjet or Northwest. I would even rather take a connection than deal with Air Canada.

Not only does Air Canada have the rudest customer service agents, they also treat their so called “Elite” members like crap!

I would overload this site with the beefs I have had with this airline over the years.

What I am really confused about is all these posters Air Canada has up at the airports every year saying they were “voted best airline” every year? Who is voting? Do these people only fly AC and not know any better? I do not get it!

Can anybody answer this question for me?

After reading this forum, I think to myself I am glad that I did not book Air Canada to travel to Vancouver in May. I got lucky that the flight had sold out!!!! Last time I went on Air Canada was in 2004. I had no meal fron Heathrow to Toronto. They did not bring in the special meal I had requested and confirmed and did not offer to make amends during the flight. Once I got off the flight I did the mother of complaints and they promised me that my special meal was booked for the vancouver leg later on in the week. Again like a fool I believed them and as soon as the meal service came along, the meal was not there!!! I had to sit hungry on the flight on each leg and became severly ill as I could not take my medication unless I had the meal. To top it off the flight from Vancouver to Heathrow again had no meal for me but this time the Air Canada stewardess got me something from First so i could take my medication. Now reading that Air Canada has become even worse, i’m glad I chose British Airways. Even they cannot match Air Canada’s service skills!! They may be the butt of most jokes in the UK but BA is respectable compared to the views of Air Canada!!!

Just booked a flight from Edmonton to Beijing. When I tried to select my seats, their system only gave me a few seconds to select the seats for two passengers for 4 flights! Since there is no further instruction that if there is any charge invloved or not if I go back to select my seats, I think that the smart thing to do would be to ask them first. So I called their customer service to inquire that if I could still select my seats through onlin booking. The agent said that she needed my booking reference no to confirm that wherther there is any charge invloved or not. I told her my reference no then after a few seconds, she said no there is no charge involved I could select my seats free but she just assigned my seats for me. The best part is that she just assigned me two seats close to the wing, even if there are still plenty of seats available then I asked that if I still can change my seats through online service or not, the answer of course is no! Obviously, they intend to limit the customers’online booking choices, cause they could charge 25 bucks for each ticket booking if I ask a customer agent to do that for me!

Air canada sucks!

RED EYE!
You are a completely insensitive moron. I hope you lose all of your bags in all of your trips on your so called “great airline”. Make sure you include all of your favorite stuff in there!

Regardless of who loses the bags, be it security or airline, when bags are checked in under the care of your “so called great airline” the responsibility of making sure your bags our safe resides in your airline. They should take ownership of that at the very least.

Try not to take his/her blurb too seriously… I can see this person asbeing part of the upper echelon, trying to silence or give less credibility to the multitude of grievous experiences with the company which proudly uses our countries maple leaf flag as a symbol!

AIR CANACRAP

Worst piece of shit airline on the planet. Nobody gives a shit about you. Lost my luggage and you call their hotline in India to be read the same script for 2 days solid every hour. Then they put you on hold while they CHECK ( LOL ) you status when actually all they do is come back with the same speech. Saw in Toronto an Air Canacrap employee talking on the phone to her friend in front of 20 exhausted passengers that needed help fresh off of a 17 hour flight. I wanted to wrap the phone cord around her neck and force feed her the shit they served me on the plane.

I am leaving tommorrow on a month long photo essay and all my bags are mysteriously lost from my arrival home 2 days ago and I am panicking.

FUCK AIR CANADA, I have flown third world airlines that make Air Canada look like a 3rd class bus.

Great site!

Changed plans, paid the fee, showed up at the airport in Yellowknife and no record…30 minutes later, get on - problem sorted out.

Get to Edmonton, board plane to Calgary, wait 30 minutes for connecting passengers. Get to Calgary 35 minutes late, run to the connection to Winnipeg as they close the doors. No dice.

Go to customer service and encounter an evil bitch. After we get done with that and the line is gone I go back to explain a couple of points to her. She does not care and gives me that stupid customer complaint fax number…

4 hour delay

Get to Winnipeg - guess what? Get 2 out of 3 bags - imagine that?! Will I get any satisfaction? Probably not. Will I fly them again - I have to…but man it sucks…I hope that lady ROTS.

I must say Air Canada sucks. I was in aisle waiting for washroom and one female stewardess was serving food and was in way and told me to sit down and that shed reserve the bathroom when it was ready. I was appaled. She did reserve the washroom and then told me it was ready. But she was simply rude about it and acted like she owned the eisle! I was flying from Vancouver to Montreal.

Air Canada also had Turbelence Alerts every 5 minutes!

Just looking at a first class flight from Seattle to Buffalo with Delta….$820 usd…..from Vancouver to Toronto with air canada first class….over $3400. Are they serious? Why would anyone pay that? Ive had so much bad luck with AC, they’ve lost my bags 3 times in 2 months and all 3 times I was on business. Nice to show up to a meeting wearing the same stuff i had on a whole day ago! Air Canada’s compensation was $50 usd…..USD????? I thought it was Air CANADA…..not Air USA.. How can a canadian company offer american funds for compensation? Makes no sense to me.. If West Jet had a points program like aeroplan, id switch in a second.

Here’s another…..I can understand if the weather is bad in the city you are flying into but if AC is going to board the plane and not get clearance to take off…why not let people off th e plane? From Vancouver - San Fran we sat on the plane for ohhh about an hour and a half as they wouldn’t let us off and upon landing at SFO, we had to wait another 40mins for ground crew to finish their breaks. Nice to see where priorities are in the company.

Lost Baggage:

When ever my bags got left behind, the guy behind the counter says to me that it is because of space availability. Well don’t you think it is Air Canada’s responsibility to inform their customers that there might be a chance that their bags won’t make it? They don’t seem to agree with my comments….and speaking of the call centre in India, Ive been hung up on about 4 times. Great customer service jack asses!.

I must add my name to your list. I just discovered that all the 49,000 we had accumulated were stolen by AeroPlan just 2 weeks ago. To get these back I must now pay $500. How can this be legal? Is there a class action suite anywhere?

My suggestion would be to acquire legal advice to see if a class action is possible and at the same time maybe put up a website with a form for people to leave contact info if a suit should become a reality. I will say that as soon as A.C. gets wind of this… there legal experts will be informed as to action to take to stop it if it is a possibility as trying to make some kind of damage control… P.R.!
( no time to proof read, pls excuse any typos )