Excellent point and a question to raise, PointWeasel...where, exactly, was this phantom Station Manager, if, in fact, there is one. Who was in charge??? When Ops knew about this fiasco, did they bother to notify the local District Manager, Cristina Vazquez, and, if she was aware, as AC's point person in Mexico, why wasn't she coordinating efforts with the airport and the outsourced contractors to provide better communications and more effective compensation?
I'm not sure it's appropriate to name someone who may or may not be at fault for your nephew's issues...
PointWeasel seems to have recovered fully with rest and reflection from this incident; if nothing else, I have to respect the length and consistency of your indignation.
Another thought - if AC indeed has a MEX station manager (no one has confirmed yet I believe) then where the heck was he/she during this 8.5 hour delay?
8.5 hours? Hah, that's nothing. Once, while flying home from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on LH/LX, I was 48 hours late getting home. Another time, flying out of YRB (Resolute Bay), we were delayed 5 days due to weather. In the 8.5 hour mark, that's grab a drink, and grin and bear it territory.
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Management
When one accepts the position of Manager, one accepts the responsibility for one's underlings...and the fact that her position and contact info is public knowledge on several websites, she's not in the Witness Protection Program.
I would hasten to assume that at least some of those who shrug off delays and time wasted are what the Japanese refer to as "salarymen", because, I, too, when I was an employee, a delay was often the same as a snow day when I was in school...a day to sit in the MLL, surf the net, read a magazine, watch tv...perhaps take my hotel voucher and use the pool and jacuzzi.
I reiterate...a delay that is handled well in communications and in compensation, no problem, I will accept...IF the delays were regularly announced, IF a minimum of $200 compensation was offered, and IF the flight had been catered on the return instead of the further nickel-and-diming...this thread would never have been started. Instead, to get any information, which was KNOWN info, not hidden and secret, we had to contact YSJ Res, and the CorpComm holiday duty agent...while the UA staffers talked amongst themselves, laughed, giggled, and read their newspapers, without, as PointWeasel states, any sign of any representation from an actual AC staffer, if such exists.
I'll see if I can get the Station Manager's name for MEX. My friend no longer works for UA MEX but I just pinged her on blackberry IM. I'll let you know what I response I get.
There is definitely an AC station mgr - at least back in 2002. He was originally the Canadian Airlines station mgr and when AC took over CP...became the AC station mgr. I do remember being introduced to him however it was some 7 years ago.
Some random trivia: I recall roughly 6 or 7 years ago that AC announced YVR-MEX nonstop service but it didn't last or even start (I recall the ads in the Vancouver Sun) and now the market has essentially been handed over to MX and the JL tag-on.
I remember a presentationthat Milton gave in the late 90s. For some reason I think he was talking to parliamentry committee or something but I remember the news clip of it. I remember he specifically mentioned YVR-MEX as a route AC wanted to start as he was trying to get more liberal routes for AC. However, as you mentioned, it never did ... err.... "fly" . The service was cancelled.
Edit:
I went looking for Milton's presentation in which he referenced YVR-MEX as support for more liberal routes for AC however I could not find it. AC's Investor Relations only has posted speeches back to 2006. The YVR board of trade has a summary of Milton's speech from Feb 2003 but nothing that goes further back to 1998 or 1999.
From what I remember he made reference that without liberal access to routes AC (and Canada in general) is losing out by having non-Cdn carriers providing transportation from Canada (YVR) to MEX.
I did find this link http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/article/40001942 which announces routes that AC was introducing back in 1999. In the International section there is the reference to the YVR-MEX route.
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Bear in mind that AC flts are double-catered to MEX, and crews do not layover. Not sure if this has always been the case, but AC has no catering arrangement there. Lets just say that my salmon was as dry as a hockey puck by the time it was served and the buns did not make an appearance for some reason (although the butter WAS on our trays).
During the major snowstorm this past winter, I couldn't get thru to AC agents here so I called the MEX CTO and they answered and were fairly helpful, although a supervisor had to assist. I just might call that office this morning to find out the station managers name for my letter to AC.
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Catering
Yes, it could very well be that there is no catering contract for MEX. However, it is not unusual, my friend at Cara YUL says, that during IRROPS, they will get a call from a non-customer for a one-off service. Since there was a 9hr lead time on this, 1 of those newly-"empowered" employees from Calin's video COULD have contacted LSG SkyChefs or Gate Gourmet, both of whom have facilities at MEX and with whom there is feasibly a working relationship in another market, and submitted an order. I am sure that either Javier Rojas or Eduardo Swiderski, respectively, would have been happy to oblige.
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AC
Of course I have sympathy for the aggrieved pax of AC 033/034, because, coupled with the reported 9hr delay for PVG, the 3hr delay ex ORD -- all mx, not wx, it starts to show a serious trend...The flight scheduled for 03Jul at 2350 ex YVR and its turnaround now appear on the AC Flight Status as "Temporarily, for latest Arrival & Departure Times, call..." and were not updated, an indicator of a complete scrub of the flight in its entirety. These pax should be starting their own thread and documenting how they have been treated (or not!).
Eh, I had a 13 hour delay last summer going from YHZ->YYZ via YUL. All kinds of communication mess ups (the worst of which being no one told YUL there were a dozen or two misconnecting pax that would be spending the night.. actually no one told them a flight was coming in at all). But I figure you take it for what it's worth.. These things happen, it's upsetting and annoying but they happen at least in the end everyone got where they were going healthy and all that. Communicating and compensation has never (in recent years at least) been a strong suit of ACs.
But I suppose this thread shouldn't descend into who's had the worst delay (although I'm sure there are some horrific stories out there).
Of course I have sympathy for the aggrieved pax of AC 033/034, because, coupled with the reported 9hr delay for PVG, the 3hr delay ex ORD -- all mx, not wx, it starts to show a serious trend...The flight scheduled for 03Jul at 2350 ex YVR and its turnaround now appear on the AC Flight Status as "Temporarily, for latest Arrival & Departure Times, call..." and were not updated, an indicator of a complete scrub of the flight in its entirety. These pax should be starting their own thread and documenting how they have been treated (or not!).
Serious trend???? Do you have statistics to back this up or is this hyperbole?
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Trends
It is certainly a serious trend amongst those being reported on this board...I don't remember so many extended delays for mx rather than wx being reported here or elsewhere. Of course, we could all be little meek Canadian accomodationists and take it as we do from the banks, the credit card companies, and the separatists, while Americans complain about more important issues like the horseradish on the roast beef sandwiches served on CO (as per a thread elsewhere on FT). There will always be shelties trying to keep the sheep in line.
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As Mozarella stated: where are the statistics to back up this trend?
There is a grand total of ONE thread on the first 5 pages of AC FT threads which covers this AC 992 flight, and a couple of others mentioned here. That's it.
So this is the most that you've seen on this board since ...June 2009, when you joined?
Trust me, if there was a "serious" trend of mechanical failures on AC flights, the long-time FF on here would have this plastered all over page one.
Simon
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2008: AC 181539; DL 75700; CO 52794; UA 51414; BD 1700
. The service was cancelled.
