Steyr,

Sorry to hear about your experiences on the two AC flights. Please help us out by writing the company a complaint letter when you receive this kind of service. What you described is totally unacceptable. The only caveat that I have, is that the announcement "must return to your seat" is verbatim from the company announcement manual and is dictated by Transport Canada.

In answer to your question regarding the crew origin, the crews in question, were former Canadian airlines crews. During the recent cutbacks, all flight attendants laid off were original AC flight attendants. The former CP flight attendants had a no lay off clause in their contract. As most of the aircraft which are being parked are former CP metal, the CP flight attendants were left with very little flying. (the two groups are still not flying together until the arbitrator merges the seniority lists) Air Canada has elected to transfer most of our long haul international flying to the CP flight attendants, ostensibly due to cost considerations. Needless to say, the AC flight attendants are not very happy. With twenty four years of seniority, I am no longer able to hold overseas flying and would relish the opportunity to offer you top notch service on a Zurich or London flight.
Once again, I sincerely appologize for these shortcomings and hope to see you onboard one of my flights!