Diabeetus

I agree.

There are a number of details missing here.


I know some people in occupations with high academic requirements (med, dent, law, PHD) that really know their profession well. But know very little outside of their job and their main hobbies. If their hobby isn't travel, then they won't know what an FT-PHD with thousands of posts will.

Interestingly though, as an ex-lawyer, even if she does feel strongly that AC is at fault, then she may not feel that she has a legal case against AC. She's gone to CBC for attention rather than the court of law to sort it out.

YYT82

This. As a retired lawyer I would have expected her to read through all the documents and T&C before agreeing to purchase. The fact that she didn't go to court shows that she knew she couldn't win. The more I read these stories the more angry I get at the CBC for taking taxpayers' money and spend it on piss poor quality reporting.

mapleg

The article mentioned she did extensive research to pick that travel agent. While the agent maybe good at the cruise part of it, they sound inept in not advising her to get to Miami a day or two early.

Not sure why some cruisers arrive on such a tight timeline for boat departure. She is retired so presumably not bound like some who only get so many vacation days per year and has to squeeze in what they can.

Northern Canuck

Maybe it's time AC educates its passengers and TAs during the booking process. It would be simple to post when purchasing a Tango fare that with that fare the chances of being bumped is x% and if you don't buy a seat assignment y% and if you do not key in your aeroplan number z% and if you are not an SE v% and if you are not connecting w% and if you have not handed over your first born child to AC well then you might as well forget it, fly WestJet... lol
Isn't it time for AC to take some responsibility since it is their rules and it is their staff who apply the rules? Can you imagine running our hospitals like AC is run??? "Oh sorry about your cancer surgery, the OR is overbooked. You're going to have to go back to your doctor and get back on the list. Good luck!" lol I know it happens (rarely) but it's usually an emergency, not an attempt at a surgeon trying to make some extra cash.

rankourabu

Except there are other options on YYZ-MIA (including nonstop). Rouge, especially statusless tango fare rouge, would be my very last choice on this route.

If I m dropping $10000 on a cruise, I m not flying in 29" rouge to get there.

seadog83

Poor planning such as selling 110% of available product? While I personally would fly a few days early, you shouldn't have to. As far as I'm concerned she was in the right. But she also missed her cruise. In a perfect world AC should be on the hook for the missed cruise. So I'll take cowering to their BS and making my cruise.

How much does overselling flights really add to the bottom line? It's along the lines of offering or not offering free snacks. Across all passengers, it likely works out to the order of a few dollars.

There's no problem with over booking, but like computerized algo fares, sometimes the system screws the airliee and you get mistake fares and fuel dumps which aren't honoured. You want the good, you take the bad too, which in this case would be upping compensation until there's a bite.

Is it even possible to get a contract for carriage now? As in, I need to be at this place to drive an oil tanker, if you don't deliver, I'm suing you for the $100k/day fee that this ship was waiting on me. Similar to what would happen if a builder fails to complete on time. Why should airlines get a free pass not to honour what they've promised? Try what the airlines do at work. Shut down a production line because at the last minute you wanted a "me-day" but then just tell you're boss he can keep 2x your daily wage and that "we're cool right?"

In any other industry, failure to deliver what you agreed to when other people are counting on it would result in you being sued for damages.

The issue I have is with the BS contract. It's 50 pages of legalese which boils down to "you pay now, but have zero rights for travel or compensation" where as most people reasonably consider it to be (and it's almost advertised as) "you pay, we're obliged to move you from A to B at time X".

It's really no different than Aeroplan. The message is Fly, Earn points, Take a trip for free. Where as the reality is, Fly, Earn points, fly ...... schedules to airports and pay more than the cost of a regular ticket in taxes/fees.

Diabeetus

Most people don't know or don't mind the implication of a statusless tango fare rouge on a 29" seat. They just want to save $20 because they can (irrespective of dropping $10k on a cruise of a lifetime).

tcook052

As mentioned earlier the article only she says she booked through the tour company and doesn't mention a travel agent at all so why the eagerness to assess blame without evidence?

kop84

Don't get too mad, there is even worse privately funded "reporting" out there

YYT82

LOL, I suppose. I can think of a dozen just off the top of my head.

smallmj

The article made it sound like she booked her flight and cruise through the tour company.

In that case I would consider the tour company her travel agent. They booked the ticket with a too tight connection. Did they warn her that this was a bad idea? If not, then they should take at least some of the blame. Perhaps that is why they are giving her a replacement cruise.

Diabeetus

Regarding overbooking:

1) CBC is pushing a lot of AC overbooking stories (with varying degrees of legitimacy).

2) The UA incident fall-out.

3) Westjet publicly states that it doesn't overbook


Perhaps AC SHOULD stop overbooking. Reduce the number of ultra-low A & K class Tango tickets available. And drop the guaranteed reservation benefit for E75/S100k (though I think it is rarely used).

People are going to complain about how "expensive" airfare is regardless of how cheap flying is now. I have coworkers that complain that round trip fares from YYC to YYZ/YOW/YUL at $450 is highway robbery.

YYT82

For those that want overselling and IDB to disappear, you are all barking at the wrong tree. Legislating them out isn't going to help the public as fares will rise. No one has been able to challenge me when I posted in other threads about fares generally rising immediately after the $800 IDB compensation rule was brought in, and AC also moved more booking classes into Tango, effectively raising Flex fares. Go back and have a look at your ticket purchases before and shortly after September 18, 2013. Don't forget the domestic free checked bags were eliminated shortly after that date as well for Tangoers. Correlation doesn't equal causation I know, but you can't say the timing didn't make it suspicious.

The true answer is Open Skies. The more competition there is in the domestic skies, even from foreign carriers, the more consumers will benefit. Overselling practice can still continue but the consequences of losing customers will be real. Right now, there is no competition and the fares are high. For the Tangoers or once-a-year flyers, it's not noticeable. But for people that fly once a week like myself, 10% fare increase means at least several $k hit to my pocket. I don't get reimbursed nor can I write them off.

MSPeconomist

The post I quoted suggested that the travel agent be blamed for the fiasco.

tcook052

It's mixing up terms to say 'travel agent' when it should be 'tour company' and if that's overly pedantic so be but it appears this error wasn't made by a travel agent but rather some staffer at the tour company with an unknown amount of experience and expertise with international air travel. And yes, I would agree that oversight could be why the tour company was eager to make amends with a make-up cruise at their expense.

The puzzling part however was why the tour company only heard about the passenger's plight from the CBC and not the passenger herself?