After 2000 flights in the US and now at least 300 Air Canada flights, I see a huge contrast. In the US I almost always see flights held for connecting pax when the airline would otherwise have to pay for a hotel. (I am OFTEN inconvenienced by this). I can say that every time I have ever seen AC hold a flight it has just been 'dumb luck". Maintenance, boarding delay, waiting on crew, inbound plane was late, a late pax with checked bags already onboard, or deep cleaning. (one of those reasons may be a joke).
Even the concierges, running with Super Elites, are convinced they are nearly powerless besides 'trying to make it.' I did have one recent incident where the gate agent told a concierge she would give us ONE extra minute if she radioed the gate after we ran past a certain point.
My take is they are all doing their jobs, with clear boundaries to their work duties and what they can/cannot do.
I also suspect there is a deeper issue than AC wanting to be punctual.... Maybe crew rest times at the destination are kept as short as legally possible, or maybe pilot unions have negotiated a best efforts basis of keeping their rest time in tact.
Last edited by expert7700; Dec 23, 2017 at 11:32 pm