Originally Posted by
warrens
IMO this is reflective of Canadian service industry quality as a whole.... we aren't consistently good at it. it's not in our national character.
Canada is indeed not as consistent as countries like Japan, but I think the service industry isn’t bad overall, probably top tier around the world in fact. While I really don’t have much nice things to say about AC right now, I enjoyed AC till 2016/17 or so, and crew was definitely a factor. Even today, while I have had my fair share of experience with clueless junior crews and senior crews who probably picked the wrong career, I still find that it’s much easier to have a casual, genuine conversation on AC, than premium carriers such as BR, SQ, NH, etc, where I am constantly being reminded that they are there to serve me, especially in premium cabins. This is really down to culture IMO.
And I think brands like Four Seasons, Fairmont (at least on Gold Floors) definitely have top tier service. I also have had many amazing crews on VIA Rail who clearly love their job, seeing them doing their job is quite inspirational to be frank. I don’t really like the restaurants in Toronto or Vancouver, but once I am in smaller places such as Windsor, Halifax, Yellowknife, Winnipeg, or even some small towns around Montreal such as Contrecœur or St-Hyacinthe, I am reminded what Canadian hospitality is.
Originally Posted by
EdmFlyBoi
Status is an interesting game, one you could easily argue is not worth playing. Whether it’s been worth flying all these years to maintain status is likely measurable, but since I tend to use a lot of my rewards on family and friends, I do get a fair bit of joy out of sharing what I have accumulated, which is less easy to measure (although likely could come down to dollars spent if I wanted to track it). Being SE does have its perks, in particular access to the concierge. I would imagine other carriers have a similar service. I also have flown and will fly reward flights in J and F that I likely wouldn’t pay for out of pocket, in particular NH and LH F and soon EK F, although again this could be measured in dollars spent if I had measured it. For those of us that love flying and are interested in the industry, there are endless hours of entertainment (part of the reason we are on these blogs),which is also difficult to measure. What would we complain about if AC was perfect all the time?
For me, at the end of the day, it’s all about how to keep myself happy. I wouldn’t go through the hassle of mileage runs or EYW to earn points for flights that I don’t plan to take anyway, but from what I can say, people who do EYW are quite happy about it, and I am happy for them. I had lots of joy last year flying B732 into Arctic, landing on gravel runways, but I know not everyone will enjoy that trip as much as I did. And yes, I certainly get lots of joy redeeming J/F flights for families, and they get lots of joy too.
I will keep flying and playing the status game as long as I am happy about it, but by no mean do I think I have to have X status with Y airline, or will I plan unnecessary trips to use certain benefits from any loyalty program.