hoangb

I used to fly to Eastern Canada regularly, and have used all the major (legacy) US-based airlines as well as Air Canada. One thing that stood out for Air Canada was that it was the only carrier that flew/fly direct from several major cities in US West Coast to some major East Coast Canadian Cities, i.e. Toronto and Montreal.

However, I have not flown Air Canada in over 10 years, and yesterday I did because I booked a United award ticket and was put on Air Canada as the leg from Montreal to San Francisco and then a connection to my final destination.

I must say that I can't recall a time when from start to finish, there were so many little "glitches" or "miscommunications". I can't say that based on this one experience in over 10 years that it is fair for me to conclude that the AC employees with whom I encountered seemingly had a very nonchalant attitude about my concerns and well-being as a customer.

First, I checked in and informed the gate attendant that I would be checking a bag and that as a United Gold member, I am entitled to Star Alliance recognition, namely first bag free.

The representative responded, "United does not pay us, so I have to charge you manually. But you can show them this receipt and they will reimburse you."

Weird I thought, but I figured I could deal with $25 fee on an award ticket. Once at my gate, I was about 3 hours early, I did ask the gate agent at the gate that would eventually be my departing plane's gate, whether I am entitled to a free bag as a Star Alliance Gold. She said, "I think so," and then asked a colleague, who had the same level of confidence.

I explained that I was charged and if she could help me get the $25 refund. She stated that it would have to be done at ticketing and that it would be too much for me to have to go back outside security for that and that I should call the toll free number. She handed me a customer care number to call. Since I had plenty of time, I figured why not.

I called and waited on hold for awhile. I explained to the rep who answered that in reviewing my United Gold benefits, my understanding (and I am not 100% sure on this) was that the wording on United's website indicated that I am entitled to one free additional baggage up to 40 lbs (if my memory serves me right) as a Star Alliance Gold benefit.

The phone representative stated that she agreed with me but had no authority to reverse my charge. Annoyed, I replied, "Each of the other AC employees have passed the buck, and I would really want you to help me and not pass me on to another department as you are preparing to do."

She replied, "Well, I can help you fill out this form for customer relations and they will get back to you." I said, please do. She did complete the form on my behalf.

TWO
While waiting for my flight, I observed the gate agents appearing to have boarded the 2 flights prior to mine at or around departure time. No biggie, I figured since they most likely built in the extra time to ensure on time arrival.

As my flight was about to board, I recognized that I had 45 minutes of connection in SFO. However, once I noticed that it was T-18 and not mention of us boarding, I approached a male agent and asked him, "Hey should we be boarding already since it is only 15 minutes before departure?" The plane has been at the gate for quite awhile, so no waiting for an arriving aircraft.

He responded, "Oh, we board very quickly."

We finally did board and while the departure time has passed, and we were sitting there the pilot finally came on and said that we were just waiting for maintenance to do their duties and then some paperwork and then we will be on our way. He said that is should be about 15 minutes. About an hour later the PA announcement was that they are just finishing up paperwork and that they are waiting for a ground crew to help us depart.

Another 20 minutes before an announcement came and said that they ground crew should be here any minute.

I do want to be safe and I am glad that they were doing routine (???) maintenance check on planes. Why did they not inspect and check while the plane was waiting for about an hour before our departure I do not know. Then again, we never really know all the details behind the scenes so I get that.

THREE (this is trivial)
Once on board, the flight attendant was very apologetic about the delay and thanked us for our patience, which I thought was very nice, and she sounded very genuine.

I did get up to use the restroom while they were passing out free headsets, so I missed my opportunity to get one. Apparently, the TVs in the row behind me were not working so one of the flight attendants was talking to those people there. I asked her if she could get me a head set. She said she needed to finish with those people first, and I said OK.

Not sure if she forgot but then she got a menu and went to various people on plane and asked what they wanted to eat (must be similar to what United is doing with Global First, etc.). When she passed by me, I reminded her, and she nodded. Then she continued with her task of asking the various people. Then she went to the drink cart and was preparing it. I rang the bell in hopes that another flight attendant would come and I could ask her if I could get a headset so I could enjoy the complementary movies. No one showed up.

Finally, the original flight attendant whom I asked was backing her drink cart up toward the front and passed my row, and saw that I was shaking my head. She then returned to my row and pull out a pair of headsets and "passed" it to my neighbor. Yes, finally got my headset. I get it. Most people don't care about the cheap headsets. In fact, many people did not want one as they wanted to sleep. Still, it would have been nice if she did not wait for so long to get me one, or that I was ignored by the other flight attendants as well when I rang the call button. I know that they had other more pressing issues, but I am selfish, what can I say.

FOUR (This is the kicker)
I figured I have missed my connection and that I was going to press them to put me up in a hotel. Once we landed, I checked my connection, and saw that it was delayed. "Yes!!" or so I thought. However, once we landed, somehow, the pilot came on and said we would have to wait ten minutes as they had no ground crew and that there was a plane ahead of us. Of course his 10 minutes was really 25.

Once I deplaned, I asked the gate agents where customer care was so that I could check about my rescheduled flight. There were a slew of us who missed our connection. The gate agents were actually very nice. They pulled up my boarding pass on my originally scheduled connecting flight and attached it to a paper that something along the line of, "We are happy to confirm you on the following accommodated arrangements."

The representative who was helping me with hotel voucher asked me to step aside and said, "We don't have enough rooms tonight to accommodate all guests, so I did not want the other people to hear."

He then directed me to where to take shuttle to hotel. It was late, so I rushed out and caught the shuttle right on time. Elated to arrive at the hotel, I happily handed the front desk agent my room voucher. He looked at it and said, "There's a little problem. AC did not provide us with any payment information, i.e. a credit card. We can't check you in."

He went on to say that he and his general manager were trying to call AC but have been unsuccessful. I asked if he could call again. He politely agreed, and we stood there waiting on hold for about an hour before an agent came on.

By then, the rest of the AC folks arrived at hotel and could not get room as well. We were all just waiting in lobby until it was resolved.

One other thing. It was good I called United to check about my seat the next morning. While the note on AC's letter attached to my room voucher said something about confirmed, I learned that I was on standby for an 8:30 a.m. flight. Luckily, the United rep was nice enough to confirm me.

I finally went to bed at 3 a.m. and woke up at 5:40 to shower and eat breakfast before my 8:30 am. flight on United.

Sorry for the long rant, but I was just a little annoyed with this experience.

imverge

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Your post just highlights that AC employees are consistent in being nonchalant.

canadiancow

1. I'm actually shocked this happened. *G benefits should be standard enough that they know how to handle this.

However, you are wrong about what you're entitled to. United's rules don't matter when you're checking in with AC. You are entitled to THREE free bags (70 pounds each), not one. http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin...e/checked.html

Once you were charged, I'm not surprised everything else went the way it did. It's a shame, but the refund form on the website is the only way to handle things once you've handed over money.

3. If they were hopping around economy asking passengers what they wanted, those would be people who had prepaid for food, and would be unrelated to status.

4. I'm curious how this works. Last time I was given a hotel voucher, the hotel never asked for it. They just needed my name, as I'd already been "booked" a room, and the voucher was more of a receipt than anything else.

djjaguar64

Inconsistencies are why people bash AC, it cannot be consistent in whatever it does.

CanadaDH

Actually, I find AC to be very consistent (unfortunately) on the baggage allowance problem and the lack of *G benefits when travelling on an award ticket, since they can't seem to attach the FF#. I've always been able to get the bag fee refunded afterwards, however.

djjaguar64

If they use their brains they can see the star gold status on the card.

hoangb

This was probably because the airlines had already sent the necessary information, including payment information, over to the hotel, either by fax or email. Apparently, the fax the hotel got was that there would be 5 rooms required, but no information with a CC to be used to pay hotel was included. Agent had to call the number on fax, and was put on hold throughout the night. I finally asked him to be on hold until they pick up, which they did after one hour. I also called the 888-247-2262 number to see if I could reach someone, and shockingly, it was busy tone every time I called. I called the local number 514-393-3333, and it was also busy.

The FD agent did say this is the first time he had seen it like this. I did not know that it was like that either. The only other time when I was put up in hotel, all I had to do was give the voucher and no problem.

I implored the FD agent to just check us in as it was late and deal with payment with AC later since he would have "proof" in the forms of the vouchers issued by AC. He said he could not and that he would get in trouble.

After about 2 hours, we finally got our rooms.

canadiancow

Not suggesting that this should be necessary, but I'd probably just hand over my credit card and say "Here's a guarantee of payment. Please try to get AC to cover this. I'm going to bed."

DrunkCargo

To defend the agents, perhaps the computer won't let them do it. I've had YUL agents not be able to do things to then have the concierge to it airside. Same station, same PNR.

I think AC doesn't want their checkin agents to be able to help? This is the best charity I can grant, because the rest of the post I could have an amazing time with, which I won't. My wit is extra-dull at the moment with a few woodford reserves in me, which means it's a knife with which you could board a plane.

To the OP: My condolences. The form CanadianCow was referring to can be found here (for English), just go here and select "Baggage Claim" for your Issue. https://help-aircanada.com/aircanada...ue.do?lang=ENU



btw, I love how it's "createIssue.do" and not "reportIssueCreatedByAC.do"

flyme2

I would like nothing better than to love AC. find their hard and soft products to be above average. Unfortunately, I also find that when things go south, their adamant denials of culpability to be completely off the charts. I attribute this attitude to senior management hierarchy's experience being aligned to their previous service culture as a Canadian crown corporation mentality of 'we know what's best' attitude. When problems arise on AC, don't expect the same level of resolution that you may receive on UA as a *A gold. At least that has been my experience. Yours may be different. If so, please illuminate me.

jbb

Re: the hotel- This is why when I have a missed connection which forces me to stay overnight at an airport, I use my travel insurance to cover the stay as opposed to rely on the airline. This saves me the hassle of waiting for a hotel voucher from a frazzled agent and allows me to choose my own hotel which is likely to be closer and better than the one the airline is offering. Although it does mean that you have to contact the airline after to send paperwork confirming your missed connection so you can pass it on to the insurance company.

YYCowboy

This type of experience by the OP is why I switched to UA MP and bid my farewells to Aeropesos. The service recovery is night and day when things go sideways at UA. I've even resorted to flying WS occasionally when doing Canadian domestic itineraries.

DrunkCargo

BA has the same smell of prior crown corp attitude. My experience this year with AA/UA/DL has been precisely what you state of UA: Resolve issue. Don't worry about blame or correcting the customer.

I think the finger-pointing attitude emanates from the top, where management has openly played games with unions in the past (and vice versa), and everyone is just super defensive. Childish really...

AC's hard product is above average. Soft (onboard) has been hit/miss for me, but as of late a real attitude shift towards the positive. Soft on ground is a pathetic joke.

ffsim

I've never been in such a situation, but I've always wondered how the credit card insurer would get "proof" of the delay. What specifically do you ask for when you call the airline and what does the "paperwork" look like?

jbb

Happened a few months back when I was flying back from Boracay in the Philippines to SIN on Philippine Airlines via MNL. Massive delay at the local airport caused me to miss my MNL-SIN connection.

PAL wanted to put me up in some no-name hotel 20km from the airport. I called up my AMEX concierge who booked me into the brand-new Marriott across the street and confirmed that my insurance would cover it.

I e-mailed PAL customer service once back in SIN and while it took a little back and forth to get them to send the right information, I did get a letter from PAL in a few days stating that I had missed my connection because of mechanical problems and late incoming plane and specifying my actual MNL departure time. The PAL agents were surprisingly helpful (always replying within 24 hours) and made sure that I agreed with the content of the letter before they signed it to finalise it.

My AMEX travel insurance took that letter, my claim form and Marriott receipt and reimbursed me the full cost of the hotel, airport transfers and a nice Australian steak dinner with wine for two. I think my insurance benefit in the event of missed connection greater than 6 hours was $400, so that was enough to cover it all ($250 for hotel, $150 for dinner, $50 for transfers).