Air Canada - So Much to Complain about - Part two

At the end of my last post on the above subject, I said that I had been told that I had been upgraded to a better seat. I also said that I had no choice but to believe the person I spoke to as there was no way of confirming what she said. I was wrong to believe her.

As I was leaving on December 26th I, with some trepidation, entered Air Canada's on-line check-in system early Christmas Day. I noted that I had been demoted to a regular seat halfway down the airplane. That was not where I wanted to be or in fact where I had paid to be. I called the number given, fully prepared to wait an hour to get a live body on the line. Much to my surprise, I only had to wait five or ten minutes. Apologizing to the Air Canada representative for my frustrations, I went through the whole story again. She could not help me as she had no access to the system that looked at what seats were available, neither could she talk to anyone for assistance. She did say, however, that it appeared as if I had been given a preferred seat. I did express my concern about not knowing for sure, but I had no alternative but to wait until the airport the next day. I should not have believed her.

I was at Sudbury's airport before 5:00 AM the next day. Fully prepared for another round of "I am sorry - I can't help you", I was surprised when the check-in attendant looked up my reservation and said that I did have a preferred seat. I was somewhat skeptical that a seat in row 17 would be a preferred seat, but again I had little choice other than believe her. Again, I was wrong to trust her as when I finally got on the plane from Toronto to Vancouver, I was squished into a seat that was uncomfortable, where the LCD screen in front of me was 10 inches from my nose (which made watching a movie impossible) and where every move or shifting in my position meant that I touched the passenger beside me. It was an uncomfortable five hours.

At the Vancouver Airport, the person at the Air Canada "help desk" said that I would get an automatic refund, but that if there were any problems - I could go on-line and apply for the refund. Oh, goody - more fun on an Air Canada site!

If I had a choice, I would not ever fly Air Canada again. If they cannot figure out how to manage reservations, which strikes me as a low tech problem....how can they be trusted to fix an airplane?