segacs

Yeah, Porter has declined in service a bit these past couple of years, introduced bag fees, and had some mishandled weather issues and understaffed phone line issues. But even despite all that, for my money it's still head and shoulders above AC. At least Porter doesn't go out of its way to make me feel like a lesser human being just because I don't rack up a hundred flight segments a year.

Called AC call centre and sat through "we are currently experiencing higher than average call volume due to severe weather in some parts of Canada and the United States" followed by a long message about the online rebooking tool and a promise of a 20-25 minute wait time.

Hung up and called Porter. Long menu options spiel, but after that I got through to an agent within about 2 minutes.

Yeah, no contest.

DrunkCargo

Perhaps the OP was on a paid J fare, but not SE? I will note that as a AC*NO guy (meaning currently not able to credit miles to Altitude, holding no status) when I call concerning a J booking it goes to the same 50+minute queue as a Tango fare I suspect. I'm pretty certain other airlines, upon identifying the upcoming fare of the caller, reprioritize the caller into the appropriate queue.

I think someone who flies J constantly and is too lazy to even bother putting a silly AC* # on the ticket is a customer that AC wants to keep? Or is this bird so rare that AC just feels it's not worth chasing...

eigenvector

My friend just had his Porter flight tomorrow morning from MDW cancelled and guess what - their call centre isn't 24/7. Their tariff entitles him to rebooking on another carrier but the flight he wants to get on from ORD will be past check in cutoff by the time they open up again in morning. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.

IluvSQ

I received an itinerary change email. No matter how much I stare at it, I cannot
see any difference between the original itinerary and the revised one. So I tried
to call the number provided in the email. Since I am now in China, it was a Skype call.
I was greeted by a message that said the current wait time is between 30-35 minutes.
I hung up.
When was it that the Bens promised this would be fixed??????

24left

Let's see.....October 14 and 15, 2014

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23675929-post4.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23683061-post61.html

.

YOWgary

Booked a ticket on United.com this week, with a mix of UA and AC metal.

Called UA to get the PNR for the AC flights; as a member with no UA status, I was connected, my problem solved and off the phone in 90 seconds flat.

Called AC to select seats for AC flights; as a 35K member, heard a recording projecting hold times of 30-40 minutes. Gave up.

So, AC's strategy is working!

Jumper Jack

at least they told you it's 30-40 minutes of wait tbh..

montezume

Reminds me of how big I thought the Mona Lisa was, since by expectations going in were that it was tiny.

Jumper Jack

I have encountered so many times when I have to wait 30-40 minutes and they don't even tell me it was going to that long.

My expectations of AC is as tiny as their 17 inch Y seat.

Other companies like BMO and Footlocker should be happy that companies like AC have lowered the expection so much that even trash level service is now acceptable.

Imagine how surprised and happy I am when Footlocker picks up my phone as soon as I select English option with zero waiting times and how flexible/helpful their agents are when UPS delivered to a different address.They are not like AC who pretty much tells Y pax to pound sand when things go south.

Thankfully I don't really fly that much and can use E75K line to book tickets for said family member and usually that line has a 5 minutes wait but agents are super uninformed... at times.

canadiancow

Imagine if you could do most reasonable things online.

I'd never have to call in.

For example, the majority (well over 50%) of my calls to the concierge line are for same day changes.

Reservations is to handle schedule changes, select seats, get partner booking references, etc.

As a result, by improving the website, they could reduce hold times.

Marlin240

Jumper Jack

And think about the all of the cost saving that could bring.

Jumper Jack

AC execs when talking about:
Their new website
Their OLCI
Their ground crew service level
Their call center
Their IRROPs procedure
Their agent knowledge base
Their Company Consistency
Their AQD introduction

Marlin240

^

Pretty much this too (except no one appears to notice/care/do anything about it/ till someone says "oops, maybe we should do something":

agjil

It's been 2 years since the post from Ben about AC's effort to reduce call center wait times, and IME, the average wait time has actually gone up since then, for both the elite line and the regular line.
Some of the foreign AC ticketing offices don't even pick up their phones...ever. (e.g. the AC office @ICN)

I sometimes have to call UA, AA, DL, and other airlines, and their wait times are not even a fraction of AC's.
And I don't even have elite status with most of them.

Air Canada as a whole is a total disaster when it comes to call center operations.