I have been shut out by Air Canada's Customer Service Department, Reservations Center and Ticketing Department over a booking I had with them.

This booking had unused flight credits from three earlier cancelled trips

1.Nov 2007 Toronto to Victoria
2.Oct 2008 Toronto to Washington DC
3.Oct 2008 Washington DC to Toronto

The combined value totaled $1359 + taxes and change fees.

NOVEMBER 2008
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In November 2008, I have decided to use the unused flight credits to visit my family in Singapore for February 2009. The fare via Nartia to Singapore on aircanada.com at that time was approximately $1560 taxes inclusive. Base fare of $1100 + taxes.

Because this was a flight credit, I had to call Air Canada to match the same fare and was told the fare and tax difference would be $450 less $50 US tax refund. Most of the $450 pertained to the taxes and a change fee of $105. I received this E-ticket several days later indicating it was issued on November 24th.

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2008
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In my follow-up conversation with Air Canada reservations staff, I understand the base fare portion of the ticket was under-utilized and because the booking was not ticketed yet, I can make changes without penalty. So I made a change via Hong Kong on the way home, specifically indicating to the staff on the basis that there is no net impact on the fare. I was further told that with a stopover in Hong Kong I was told there would only be a $52.50 change fee but no difference to fare or taxes. I agreed to the $52.50 change fee and no net impact to the fares, so the ticket was sent for processing.

10 - 12 DECEMBER 2008
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On December 10th I received a revised ticket from Toronto - Narita - Singapore - Hong Kong (as temporary transit connection and not stopover) - Toronto, with a fare total of $1674, additional taxes of $450, an additional surcharge of $759 and change fee of $105 and stopover fee of $52.50. This also reflected on my credit card bill between December 10th - 12th 2008 as $759 + $105 + $52.50.

13 DECEMBER 2008
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I called Air Canada reservations staff on December 13th and spent an hour and half over the phone over the $759 + $105 + $52.50 charges. My concern was their initial quote in November 2008 was $450 inclusive of change fee but it appeared as $759 + $105, plus the $52.50 stopover in Hong Kong that was never represented on 10 December ticket. Staff suggest the higher fare was due to the re-route to Hong Kong, however they were willing to honor their initial (lower) November 2008 fare if i retained the initial itinerary via Nartia both directions. As for the $52.50, this particular staff suggest it was a surcharge to revalidate my November 2007 credit (worth over $200) from Toronto to Victoria. At the end of the phone conversation I was told the fare + tax differences should be around $350, awaiting their ticketing department for finalization.

16 DECEMBER 2008
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I filed a complaint to Air Canada, through their Customer Care website expressing my concern and frustration in dealing with reservations staff in honoring their phone conversation fare commitments.

17-28 DECEMBER 2008
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I never received the E-ticket from my December 13th conversation and attempted following up a few days later. However, due to the North American weather-delays during Christmas 2008, I cannot call through their reservations center and was advised by their automated call system to postpone non-urgent calls. I understood they had more urgent calls to get people home during the holidays, so I waited patiently until the first opportunity.

29 - 30 DECEMBER 2008
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I called Air Canada reservations again to follow-up on my E-ticket and fare adjustments, but was told my conversation on 13 December 2008 was not recorded.

Upon request, I received the revised itinerary Toronto - Singapore - Toronto via Narita both ways, but the fare and surcharges were exactly the same as Hong Kong on my December 10th ticket.

When I asked for more detailed information, I was further told off by this particular staff that I should have call immediately and corrected the problem when I saw it, but the fact was their phone was busy and I never received any ticket since.

I was told that because ticketing, reservations, rates, customer service and several call centers got involved their department has refused to help me, provide any comments but to say the fare was correct, allow me to speak to a supervisor, provide her name and provide any indication on who can help me.

I escalated to several reservations staff, supervisor and rates department but was told there will be no more discussion and resolution to this booking due to its complexity and the fact I exhausted all avenues of discussion with their staff. I asked for a detailed price breakdown, but was refused.

CONSEQUENCES
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As a result of this incident, I have spent over 3 hours on the phone for a simple transaction. In addition, I now have to pay a total of $916.50 less $125 refund they provided me on December 11th. The initial quote back in November 2008 was approximately $450.

My concern is that all the discussions with Air Canada were telephone conversations because their reservations are call center based. My credit card company cannot do anything about these transactions because it was verbal.

I am very lost right now. I am a frequent flyer and Elite (Star Alliance Gold) member with Air Canada and even with that status there is no avenue to speak to anyone. I hope you frequent flyers / staff / media / anyone with Air Canada call center troubleshooting experiences can provide me some insight and assistance into this matter.