arf04

It does seem bizarre that after all this time, and especially in recent years when AC claims to be working on customer service, that management is unable to work out proper protocols (and ensuring that employees follow them) for communicating with passengers when stuff happens. Most FF know that stuff happens that is beyond the control of the airline and its employees, but surely it isn't so hard to communicate what is being done.

A good example of how this worked well in my experience recently was when I flew SAN-DEN-YQR earlier this week. Our SAN-DEN aircraft had some sort of mechanical problem. The gate agent got on the mic right at boarding time and announced that there was a problem, that she was waiting to hear what the remedy would be, and that she was aware that some people would be worried about connections but that if you had a connection that the DEN people were going to reacommodate you (and put you up in a hotel if you had to stay overnight). She also mentioned that anyone who wanted to be put on the later flight she would rebook them right away. Five minutes later, she came back on and ran us through what was going to happen and when (aircraft swap and gate change). Yes, it was annoying that plane broke and it was worrisome that we might have to spend the night in DEN, but just being kept in the loop was helpful.