Air Canada - So Much to Complain About

There are a few topics that I usually don’t write about only because it is just too easy to point out the issues. For example, I avoid discussing Trump because his failings are, at least to me and most intelligent people, just too obvious. I don’t complain about the weather, the economy or bureaucrats because everyone has the same comments (too warm, too cold, too slow). I never complain about Air Canada for similar reasons - there is just so much to complain about and everyone has the same complaints. As well, as with the above, no one cares what I think and certainly, no one can or will do anything about it.

However, it is difficult to ignore the bureaucratic nightmare that Air Canada’s new reservation system has created. Example: I booked my return flight to the Island the third week of October. I paid $60.00 extra to reserve a seat with extended legroom on the flight from Toronto to Vancouver. I got an email earlier this week from Air Canada telling me that there had been a seat change. They had moved me to a regular seat ten or so rows towards the back. I was not a happy camper to be told that I would have to spend the five hours in a cramped seat with my knees around my chin. So I called the number Air Canada’s website gave me. The first thing I hear is that their new reservation system has caused extended telephone wait times of over an hour. I dutifully sat down and waited my turn. 80 minutes later I gave up. I had other things to do.

I called early the next morning. The first four times I called, I was informed that the wait time was so long, that the system was no longer taking calls. Finally, I got through and once again was informed that it would be at least an hour.

The frustration over the long wait before I could speak to someone was amplified by a frequently played recorded messages telling me that Air Canada had a great on-line reservation system and that I should use it, that if I wanted to change seats that I could not do it until 24 hours before the flight and most annoyingly, that Air Canada kept on winning awards for being a great airline. To make it all worse, there was this terrible music, mindless, robotic and irritating. If I was a cynic, I would be inclined to suggest that the whole process was designed for me to give up and hang up. I was getting so angry that I was worried that I would just start yelling at whoever did take my call whenever that happened.

The good news is that after about 70-80 minutes, a real human came online and after digging around for a bit, she said that she did not understand what the email that I had received meant, but that there had been a seat change and that I had been upgraded into the “rich people” seats. I have no way of confirming this (because I can’t access this until 24 hours before the flight), but I choose to believe - I don’t have a choice.

Air Canada - get your act together. If you want me to book online then you need to create some sort of systems that allows me to address questions or mistakes. And please, for heaven’s sake -stop bragging how good you are and take some of that money I give you and buy some decent music.