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?

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.