Air Canada tried to screw me over!

[Adora]

I have to vent.... So I go online to out of badness just to check our times of arrival and such for April 19th. I figured I'm excitied, and I bought the tickets back in May so it never hurts.

We were to leave Deer Lake NL at 6am and get in Orlando at 6:30 (after going through Halifax and Toronto and 13 hours to get there). Returning we were to leave at 1:30pm and land roughly 12:30am, after once again going through Halifax and Toronto.

So I check it and I can't believe what I'm reading, and soon I'm almost in tears. It says that we won't be departing until 1:30pm and not arriving until 11:30 in Orlando. What a waste of a day huh? Then had us returning at 8am, yet still somehow not getting in until 10:30PM!!!!

I didn't know if I should be mad or just cry! I had requested flight change notification, I expect to be notified. So I spend 2.5 hrs on the phone, and after getting disconnected two seperate times I got it changed. THANK GOD!! Now we leave at 6:45 and get in at 1:30!!!! We land early enough that we'll actually get to enjoy the parks our first day. And only one stop over instead of to. I'll repeat I can't believe it and am like thrilled beyond belief. I"m exploding inside. We leave at 1:30 again except this time we land in Newfoundland earlier still at 12:00am I'm in love with the guy who fixed it all for me. And just had to share my excitement. True Pixie Dust

 

[RoyalCanadian]

So then, why isn't the title of your posting "Air Canada delivers great customer service" if the AC staffer was able to change your flights to more convenient times?

 

[wee-haggis]

So then, why isn't the title of your posting "Air Canada delivers great customer service" if the AC staffer was able to change your flights to more convenient times?

...Because they should never have changed the flight times in the first place without informing the customers.
As for AC customer service...??.....
Its absolutely deplorable (for our so called national airline)..!!

 

[Adora]

I mean as great as it is that we got a great flight, I wasn't just given it, per say. I was on the phone for 3 hours (over half of that on hold) trying to work with these guys (who barely seem to speak English). If I hadn't been online looking up flights myself and telling them the flight numbers I wanted to try to change to I don't think things would have worked out as well. It was only because I was mad about not even getting a phone call for changes to a flight I made 10 months in advance. The guy was nice enough to change it, yet customer service wasn't offering to do it, they did because they were pushed a little.
All I can think is, what if I hadn't checked it until after Christmas?! When everything books up. I would have been left with the crapest flight and people who booked months later would have gotten better.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Air Canada is (supposedly, according to my travel agent) is notorious for this "change of flight time without informing the customer (not even the travel agent)". From my mum's experience, not a single flight she took in the past 2 years (going from Toronto to US destinations such as Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, and San Fransisco) was free from this problem. On one of the flight, they actually changed the flight date to a day LATER than the original departure date (going back from Orlando to Toronto)

 

[usetheforceluke]

A short while ago, I read an article in the paper that said SWA was the most profitable airline in North America, followed (a far distant second) by Air Canada, surprisingly.

I can see SWA being profitable because they just seem to have everything together, and everything seems to work the way it's supposed to. But Air Canada?

Adds a whole new meaning to "When it's the only game in town..."



Jim.

 

[mbb]

..and I have a feeling I'm going to burst your bubble a little..

Apology first..I'm sorry..bubble bursting to follow...
You're probably going to have a few more schedule changes yet.

The most we've had was in the teens..yes, teens. Low teens, but still, more than 10. For this trip in Feb - booked in May...we've had 4..and our routing has changed every time.YHZ-YUL-YYZ-YUL...it switches from one to the other...

Keep calling(Sunday mornings are good times to get through from here on the East Coast), pack only carry-ons, and "plan" on maybe doing a little shopping at DTD your night of arrival.

Knowing your flight "preference" numbers, and any alternates that you're ok with is exactly the right idea. And we find we get better flight change notices through email...they'll NEVER call.

HTH!..and again..sorry

 

[pxlbarrel]

Actually, if I had booked a flight 10 months in advance with ANY airline, I'd be surprised if it didn't change before the day of departure. 10 months is pretty far in advance for an airline these days.

Now...Air Canada should have informed you of the change but as somebody mentioned, it doesn't always happen.

A few years ago I had a trip to Nashville. My travel agent (at that time I used a travel agent to book my flight because I had no time to figure out the connections and stuff) called me and told me that my direct flight home had been cancelled and she had booked me on two connecting flights. Great! AC had told her about the changes.

A few days later, I was at a party and a couple of friends, who were also going to Nashville, were telling me they were going back on the direct flight. I told them it had been cancelled...and their jaws dropped. They had booked directly with AC and nobody told them. They spent the rest of the party on the phone with AC trying to figure out their flights back. AC had automatically put them on other flights...other SEPARATE flights. (So much for travelling together.) They eventually got on the same flights back.

(Someday I'll tell you how United cancelled all of our trips back from Nashville ...even though I was going through Chicago and they were going through Dulles ...and we somehow ended up in Pittsburgh...<sigh>) And they say travelling is fun. bwhahahaha

 

[tmt martins]

SWA changed my flight they e-mailed and called the same day .they said it was due to the NO troubles and were deverting times .He informed me ( I'm thinking whats a few more HRS.) of the new flight # he booked us on already and that the time was 10min difference.I was shocked that they went through that much for 10mins but it was great of them to do so.

 

[sherry66]

We have traveled with AC several times and there has always been flight changes but we have never been informed.(not even our TA ). This year we are flying canjet. I was floored when they called me several weeks ago to let me know that one of our flight times had been changed. Adora, like some of the previous posts have said,keep checking the flight times as they may be changed several times before you go.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Now...Air Canada should have informed you of the change but as somebody mentioned, it doesn't always happen.

"Doesn't always happen" is very different from "Never happen". What are the odds that both my mum and her TA never, not once, received any phone call or e-mail (and she left her mobile number and the e-mail that will automatically goes to her mobile phone... she even asked me to set aircanada@____.com address)?

Oh well, I guess you can do that when you're the only airline that goes to a certain destination at that particular time. It's nice to not have any competition.

 

[princess pooh]

Air Canada has changed my flight times around completely and I've never got a call or e-mail. Thank goodness I checked on their website or I would have been screwed. And of course you have to go through a few customer service people to make changes because so many of them are rude or incompetant.

 

[Meagan]

I've had three flights with AC changed. The first change I missed as I later found out their email when into my bulk mail junker mailbox and I never read it.
The other two I received emails (I fixed my mail filter) advising of the changes.
Air Transat changed European flights on me and never did advise us. Like others I found it online.

Meagz

 

[Northstar]

Weird. I've always been notified via e-mail of changes made in Air Canada flights... I hate Air Canada anyway, for all the other good reasons there are to hate them, but that has so far not been one of them.

Any chance you have your e-mail filters set so that the Air Canada messages are going into a junk folder? Make sure to put them on your safe list.

As for phone calls... nah, it's never going to happen. They're all too busy on the phone dealing with the customers they've already pissed off!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Yup, I created aircanada@___.com to be automatically directed to my mum's mobile's e-mail account. There is no junk-mail option on her account.

 

[Meagan]

Yup, I created aircanada@___.com to be automatically directed to my mum's mobile's e-mail account. There is no junk-mail option on her account.

I'm not sure that THAT would be the email address you'd get a correction from though. I think it would be something @aircanada.com, but what the first portion would be is hard to say.

Meagz

 

[Kelly Grannell]

You're missing the point. I created a special e-mail address as a catch-all mailbox so it when AC sends an e-mail, it's not my-mum's-name@hotmail.com but to aircanada@___.com. There is no way that destination e-mail address will not catch anything sent by ___@aircanada.com because only Air Canada knows that e-mail address.

Funny thing is she received special offers, air-miles informations, EVERYTHING sent by Air Canada... but no e-mail regarding the flight changes.

 

[MazdaUK]

You've all got me jumpy now! STILL waiting for my friend in Vancouver to confirm he'll be there in August, but as soon as he does I'll be booking flights etc.

Dh prefers flag carriers or other scheduled airlines (we avoid charter flights) and still rmembers the ads we used to get in the 70s and 80s ("AC good old Canadian hospitality - so good you won't want to get off" )

Should I be looking at another airline

 

[Hodder]

we had booked a flight Nov 2004 for Oct 2005 & it had changed but we never recieved any notification (luckily I have a great TA) Our flight time only changed by about 1/2 hour either way and changed about 3 weeks before we left. My TA had advised me when we first booked that there would be changes.

 

[Meagan]

Air Canada scraps free meals
By BRENT JANG

Thursday, November 3, 2005 Posted at 5:12 AM EST

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

No hot meals, please. We're Air Canada passengers.

The country's largest airline has scrapped complimentary meals on its long-haul flights within Canada and the continental United States, leaving consumer advocates feeling rather empty.

Instead of free breakfast, lunch and dinner service, Air Canada is charging a loonie to $5 for a selection of snacks and cold sandwiches starting this week.

"The lack of hot meals over a trip from Ottawa to Vancouver is distressing, to say the least," said Harry Gow, co-founder of lobby group Transport 2000.

"As a passenger, I'm saddened. Paying for cold food on a long trip is inadequate. It doesn't cut the mustard."

Air Canada had eliminated hot meals on many of its short-haul North American routes as it struggled financially in 2003.

But its user-pay Onboard Café program has been expanded to include all economy-class seats (sometimes called hospitality class) on flights lasting more than 90 minutes in Canada and the continental United States.

The airline says its "buy on board" program boasts a "popular, innovative menu of reasonably priced items featuring brand, quality and choice."

Air Canada's website yesterday encouraged customers to "grab a snack from our all-day pantry."

The selection includes $1 for pretzels or breath mints, $2 for tuna salad or potato chips and $5 for a grilled chicken fajita sub or vegetarian pita wrap.

The website added that it's "cash sales only and taxes included in all prices."

Air Canada played down the change, pointing out that numerous U.S. airlines have jettisoned their free hot meals in favour of user-pay offerings of cold snacks.

"It's consistent with an industry trend to move toward giving customers the option of purchasing a meal when one is not provided," Air Canada spokeswoman Laura Cooke said.

Executive-class passengers will continue to receive complimentary hot meals on many long-haul flights within North America, and travellers to Hawaii, Mexico and overseas will be able to dig into hot meals as they did before.

As well, Air Canada passengers who pay higher fares will be exempt from coughing up their spare change for a cold sandwich.

Michael Janigan, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa, slammed the reduction in food service.

"There's no end to the ingenuity of Air Canada to think up things to charge for," Mr. Janigan said, complaining that the airline began asking this week for a toonie for a "comfort zone" kit consisting of an inflatable plastic pillow and polyester blanket.

A spokeswoman for WestJet Airlines Ltd. said the discount carrier never offered hot meals in the first place because it's aiming for the lower-fare market.

Consumer groups add that pet owners howled with outrage recently when Air Canada raised rates to transport animals within Canada to $105 for a one-way ticket from $40.

Industry analysts say that Air Canada, which emerged from bankruptcy protection 13 months ago, operates in a fiercely competitive industry and needs to shave costs wherever possible.

Air Canada's parent company, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc., announced yesterday that it reaped an impressive $270-million profit in its third quarter, a vast improvement from its $81-million loss in the same period in 2004.