I came to flying on airplanes fairly late in life. I was in
my mid-fifties before I ever flew. During the past ten or fifteen years I have
only ever flown between Ontario and British Columbia. Clearly I am not an
experienced air traveller. It is not that I am, or ever have been afraid of
flying - in fact I quite enjoy the sensations - I just never had a reason (or
the financial resources) to fly when I was younger. I am not however, a fan of
the whole experience - getting to the airport 90 minutes before your flight leaves, having
to partially disrobe for the security check and the following awkwardness of putting
on my belt and shoes afterwards, the endless walks- sometimes done in panic as
the connecting times between my flights has been shortened by mechanical
difficulties, de-icing and other assorted delays; a walk exacerbated by the
fact that the runways for short flights are at the opposite end of the airport
from those of longer flights. But now I have a new thing to be worries about.
Getting kicked off of the plane.
It may be because people losing their seats on airplanes has
become a story to watch for that the media are reporting it more often; it may
be that I am just more aware of it, but it feels as if, almost on a daily basis,
someone, somewhere has been asked to leave their seat because the airlines have
overbooked. Airline travel is already surprisingly inconvenient. It is quite
clear that the airlines, at least for those of us who travel economy, see us as
cash cows who willing can be squished into ever smaller seats and who require minimal
services. When things do not work out according to schedule - there is barely
an apology. For example last November when I was making my near semi-annual
trip to Ontario, in Toronto, at sometime around 10:30PM I was informed that the
fight had been cancelled due to weather conditions. I was not to fly out until
8:00 AM the next morning. I was offered $20.00 in food vouchers to compensate
me. While I could appreciate the fact that the weather is beyond the control of
Air Canada and that I did not want to fly if it was too dangerous to land, at
the very least giving me a suggestion as to what I could do for the next ten
hours would have been nice.
I find it absurd that I, who bought a ticket months ago,
have no guarantee that I will get on my chosen plane. That some airline
employee who is dead heading - to get to another airport to work on another
plane - can get my seat. The seat that I paid extra for so that it does not
feel as if my knees are being forced to
rest somewhere near my chin might go to someone else. Yes I will be offered
some financial compensation. But how much would be enough for me to waste
hours/days in waiting for a next flight. If I wanted to spend 24 hours flying
the 5,000 kilometres - I could have chosen a series of flights that did that. I
chose a more direct route. It would be nice if the airline companies respected
my choice.
I understand that airlines over book on some flights because
there are some cancellations or no-shows on some flights. For the airlines,
they can only maximize their profits if the plane is full. I get that. If I
were a share holder of Air Canada - I too would want my returns maximized. But
I don't understand why I should be punished or treated badly because other
people cancel their flights. It is not my problem.
To make matters a wee bit worse - my daughter has just sent
me a message from the Greater Sudbury Airport that flights maybe delayed or cancelled
due to runway maintenance at Toronto Airport. Lovely...they have know about the
repairs for months....perhaps Air Canada could have told us.
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