I don't understand the antipathy towards AC that many Canadian FTers seem to have. I fly AC a lot, mostly in Y, and I've never had a bad service experience with them. I find AC's service and comfort levels to be on a par with that of AF.

I agree that US airlines are almost wholly awful, and I agree, at least in part, with those who've blamed the complete focus on $$ by both passengers and companies.

However, there's also the union situation - employees, especially many of the older ones, are often just going through the motions and refuse to apply themselves to their jobs. The nasty attitude that you get from many FAs on US air carriers is like the attitude you get in a US post office. It's very annoying. Of course, this isn't a universal occurrence - many FAs and other employees are wonderful and friendly - but I think the gratuitous nastiness happens far, far more in the US than it does for, say, AC or most other international carriers.

Why there should be such a difference between US airlines and AC, which is also heavily (and unhappily) unionized, I don't know. In general I always have found Canadians to be a far nicer people, though - maybe it's the climate. If historically you've had to rely on your neighbors to ensure you didn't freeze to death during the winter, perhaps that bred a culture where people are more community-minded and less egocentric. I'm sure we could have a great thread about that sometime