FlY2XS

I think that is the root of the problem. There are too many new everything. To beat a dead horse, I think this will only get worse.

Similar thing happened to DW back in January, when website dropped her AE number from my favourites and I didn't notice. Angry text to yours truly when she saw Zone 4 on her boarding pass at the gate. When she asked at leg 2 why she wasn't the Zone 2 she was supposed to be in, she was told that "Zones are all about the fare... and you probably didn't upgrade". Hilarious part was after adding her AE# the gate agent started falling all over herself to be gracious. " Oh... yes..., there is a mistake. Will you be heading up to the lounge then?" Luckily we didn't have to chase down $$ spent for no reason.

bcnfish

Had an interesting one the other day. Tried to change a revenue ticket from BER-BRU-YUL to BER-VIE-YYZ and was told by the agent on the phone that routing can't be done because AC "isn't allowed to sell flights in Europe so can't book BER-VIE"....."only flights that touch Canada"

The fact that I was already booked on a flight that "didn't touch Canada" did not sway her and it was clear I wasn't getting anywhere so HUCA and had it done in a few a minutes.

For people like us this is just a minor inconvenience, for others, getting false information like this can severely disrupt and/or increase the cost of their travel plans.

canadiancow

"Do you know what interline means? Do you know what codeshare means?"

mathemagic

There are published benefits, and there are published benefits. This is the former.

ride red

I've only done it a handful of times but I think I'm batting 100% as far back as I can remember.

I'm sure it's part of their procedures, since otherwise there's going to be very unhappy customers who prepay, sit at the very rear, don't get any food, then have to be refunded after the fact. Nevertheless I'd bet there's been cases where procedure hasn't been followed.

canadiancow

Yeah my understanding was that prepaid must be asked first for that reason, and that stuff might run out.

"Give us $7 and you can have a pizza" is poor marketing if they get to you and say "we're out of pizza".

yyznomad

Sure, but IMHO, sometimes we give AC too much credit. No pun intended.

Adam Smith

Couple good ones at YVR today.

Concierge asks to see proof of vaccine before giving us paper BPs. Shouldn't need to, because we already uploaded it electronically and docs were approved, but this is a system issue, not a concierge issue.

But then she tells me we should have downloaded the federal vaccine proof thing, because that's what you need for travel

At the MLL, very rude agent told my wife that our flight was already boarding and
she was going to miss the flight because it was leaving in 10 minutes. Despite departure boards not showing boarding and no text alert.

I asked a few minutes later. Didn't get told I would miss the flight, but was told it was definitely boarding. I asked if she had checked DCS and how many were left to board. She claimed it was definitely boarding, and they would never disclose that information. Despite other agents having given it to me 100+ times.

Actual answer: I got the text shortly after I left the MLL, and they hadn't even started Z1 boarding when I got to the gate a few minutes later.

I rarely write in to complain about staff, but her crappy attitude and complete unwillingness to take the 15 seconds to actually check frigging DCS are going to earn her a note to customer relations.

anishm

Other than making us feel good when we send off our strongly worded letter and getting a coupon for 10-20% off, does it do anything? I've sent several notes for YTZ agents over the past month but nothing seems to have changed or improved.

Adam Smith

I've been told by people at AC who know these things that they do pay attention to customer comments like that.

No guarantee it will do anything, but inaction guarantees that nothing will happen.

anishm

That is helpful, at least that effort is not wasted. I try to be specific in the names and the behaviour that I expect to be addressed, so hopefully someone is using it in managing staff.

As a new E75k, I was impressed with the quick response from customer service who had responded by the time I landed in Montreal.

HerpaYvr

Between the fact that Covid has changed people to do dumb or strange things and the fact AC has hired a ton of people, I am pretty forgiving. I have been writing in on my positive experiences and recognizing the many good staff that has helped me.

The funny thing is when you write in on good behavior, the Corporate office calls you and says thank you when you complain they say sorry, blah, blah, and here is a reward of 10 - 15% off, lol

24left

AC may view the one who writes a compliment as someone who is likely happy and will remain a customer, whereas the one who writes in a complaint might need a small incentive to remain a customer.

My view is that the value of a compliment can often be more useful than a complaint, but only if the organization has a structure for not just gathering up a collection of compliments and filing them somewhere, but thinking about the information provided and using it. There are companies out there who use a monetary token to thank customers who've provided compliments and they do it because they see value in it.
.

FlY2XS

I think that the crux of the problem here is knowing whether the fault lies with the agent you had the bad interaction with or the system that trained them . As referenced above, the crash course for booking agents that doesn't explain codeshare in lecture 2 is fundamentally flawed.
Say 5 years ago, a company whose employees generally went beyond the expected was an indicator of a good corporate philosophy which rewarded that initiative. Others punished anyone going off script and those companies were to be avoided where possible. Given the fallout in the industry from the past 2 years, it is very hard to tell what the scramble back to normalcy has brought with it. IF the company cares, they will look at compliments and complaints and decide if they matter to the product they wish to provide. Therefore exceptional cases on both sides should be reported IMHO.
I like to stick by a philosophy that interactions succeed when people are given the power to say, "I don't know the answer to that, but I will make it my responsibility to get it for you." I have yet to see a situation where that doesn't foster gratitude from the person you are speaking to.
The permission to say that has to be set in the values of the institution you work within.

HerpaYvr

I agree with both, when flying I have to recall that there are a lot of people who are just flying again or have never flown before, thus they do not know what are the expectations. I hear people complain among themselves about things, as a frequent flyer you already know the answer too, and it's normal, but for them, it's an issue. Air Canada is a large corporate company that people like to or enjoy picking on, seat buckles are in English only, exit signs are green and not red, it's a snowstorm outside why are we late, etc, etc.

In the last two years, we have seen a lot of "ugly" from folks. I wish the corporate philosophy was that, rewarding and promote outstanding customer service, seeking out customer service "heroes" and rewarding them. The majority of the Air Canada workforce work in the field and not in the safety and comforts of their home office, so a positive corporate philosophy would be much easier to better implement, refine, acknowledge and reward.

I do see some silly or stupid Air Canada staff behaviors, after all, they are people, I like to look at things with the glass half full attitude.