Actually, given my occupation, I am even more surprised that I got the letter - very nicely typed, very professionsl, on Air Canada letterhead.

But, it was a very "customer-focused" letter, not just a personal note - the Captain wrote "We realize that you have a choice of airlines, and appreciate that you chose Air Canada" - which impresses me a lot.

I think that there are a lot of Air Canada employees who are very concerned about delivering very good customer service, and increasing sales for the airlines - but they don't work in occupations where they normally have a lot of customer contact. For example, pilots. Or, AC Avionics Guy, who posts here on the BB.

I made two domestic flights earlier this year (uncommon for me) - in each case, the flight was slightly delayed getting away from the gate (ca. 20 minutes) - and in each case, the pilot was on the PA before the scheduled departure time, explaining the reason for the delay, telling us what was being done to solve it, and generally keeping us well informed. Although that didn't make the plane depart any faster, it did make us all feel like we were valued customers, not self-loading freight, and it certainly made us aware that the pilot was concerned about our trying to deliver on-time service.