100,000miler

If everything could go wrong, it did for me Oct 13, Friday. Warning, this is a long message as it was such a disaster that day for me.

Flying ABQ-DFW-YYZ. First on AA to DFW. Checked with AC Concierge who told me AA was landing in A terminal in DFW and AC was taking off from there. WRONG. TOTALLY WRONG.

AA landed at C terminal. AC was at E terminal. Departure time was 19:25 and I had 2 hours to make it to the AC check in desk except one must check in 1 hour in advance. I had 1 checked in bag.

Took 1 hour to get between terminals as I could not use the Skytrain, since you need a boarding pass to re-enter security to get the skytrain. I needed to check with AC first. Absolutely no one to help me. No luggage transfer as AA and AC are not friends. So impossible to take train.

Was forced to take the intra terminal bus but waited almost 20-25 minutes for it to term E. Heavy traffic between terminals, took another 20 minutes to get there and by this time I am in panic mode.

Terminal bus leaves me off at the far end of terminal E, which is about 0.5 mile to AC check in. If you know DFW, one has to walk outside between the interior barrades. The exterior pillars do not have any signs for AC check in, only Jetblue and UAL. Why no signs for Air Canada Checkin?? This is pretty basic stuff.

AC check in is a minor desk overshadowed and easily missed by UAL in Term E. I totally missed it and had to backtrack. By the time I got there, I am under the 1 hour check in time. Thankfully AC 7668 was late so I was able to check in, but all sweaty, out of breath and in anxiety for missing the connection.

Is there a hot meal in J class? No one on the ground knows. so I call Concierge again. After 12 minutes on hold, they checked with catering, and assured me a hot meal would be served in Buz. great it is close to 8pm and I am starving.

On board the flight I was told NO HOT MEAL. If I had know I would have made arrangements. This was a total screw up and AC concierge should have known. Second major error by Concierge that day after misinformation over terminals in DFW.

AC 7668 crew offered sandwiches from the economy menu to J class. I had not eaten since breakfast and was on the run all day between flights.

Next my ON board AV would not work. I was given a voucher which will not work when I contact AC customer relations. I need that credit for a major international flight I am waiting to purchase on AC. Another screw up!

Then on top of all this the cabin in J was subjected to a howl, as the insulation around the main cabin door had a leak. I have never experienced that before. It was very unusual and scary, to be frank.

Totally a day of disaster thanks to misinformation and below grade service from AC at the highest levels. I am a long standing SE and I have never had such bad service. I will chalk it up to Friday Oct 13 but I want AC and Concierge Service to know of their misinformation. It cost me a lot of anguish.

100K

alc

So, have you write in your complaint yet? If not, do it and let us know what respond you get.

I was also on my EYW run on Oct 13 and it was also one of the worst (in compare to the others) in term of flight delay, hold on ground, no gate agent upon arrival, etc... so, maybe everyone was extra cautious because of Friday the 13th???

100,000miler

must have been a total melt down on Oct 13. My experience was simply dreadful. Writing Calin now. Hopefully AC lurkers will pick this up.

yyznomad

While you're at it, can you ask Calin to add a 4MM and 5MM program. Please and thank you.

There are some things here that didn't absolutely require concierge assistance...

Regarding the terminals - why could have not figured that out yourself? Were you too busy? Did you book the flight literally last second and couldn't even check yourself or do a little googling, or ask FTers?

canadiancow

Based on my experience today, this is what annoys me the most.

Personally, I know that mainline and rouge have hot meals, the E75 has hot meals, and the CRA does not.

But I do not expect "normal people" to know that, and so if you put the effort into calling the concierge... ugh.

By the way, I assume you were on a CRA.

If it's any consolation, the CRAs are all getting ovens, but I was told no hot food would be catered anywhere until EVERY CRA was reconfigured, so that they wouldn't need a subfleet for catering purposes.

YHZ_Flyer

Everything you've stated there about the CRA is true, however DFW-YYZ is operated by the E75. I imagine it was just an off night having no hot meal, however It wouldn't be the first time I've heard of this problem.

canadiancow

Ugh.

Then I can understand the concierge's incorrect information.

If you asked me if a 3 hour E75 flight had a hot meal, I would definitively say "yes".

This is just AC (Sky Regional?) screwing up.

YHZ_Flyer

Exactly, would have said the same thing. Even been served hot breakfast on the 1h20min flight from YHZ-YUL on the SKV E75. Just more of AC and SKV being consistently inconsistent.

YEG_SE4Life

Yeah, I don't believe you can blame the Concierge for the lack of a meal. The last time I flew DFW YYZ there was a meal. If you check flight status, in the app, for that flight, it shows a meal in J.

yyznomad

There are so many things the OP could have found out on his/her own, IMHO. Or use other avenues to do so other than the concierge staff.

I don't expect concierges to provide such information to me unless I give them ample time to find it out. They're more for assisting during IRROPS or when you need something done in person, accompany you through security, etc.

Is this thread more about what the concierge can (or cannot) do? Because there is a thread for that.

RangerNS

It would be one thing if the concierge said "why are you bothering me with this petty question? Ask google". What happened was the concierge just up and lied. And/or confirmed the standard service level, which was not met.

Step 632 in the cycle of mistakes corrections, errors, excuses, "service" and lawyers is whipping out the tariff and saying "So You Get Nothing, You Lose! Good Day Sir!" Its the proceeding 631 steps that are at issue.

As with cow's experience out of Halifax, most of us are not annoyed at losing an unwinnable tariff case. Just the basic customer service skills we have come to expect from 16yo counter staff at McD's.

172pilot

I'm guessing a catering error? I've taken the late flight from DFW to YYZ before and there was a hot meal.

YEG_SE4Life

Aww, why do you have to just jump there, first thing? That seems a little defamatory to me.

acysb87

Flew AC YYZ/ORD last week on E90(business) and had a cold meal.It was something/
Connected to EEUUEEHH ORD/SDF on E175 (business) and had a basket of nachos/chips presented to me . I declined.(did I ever mention how much I dislike EEUUEEHH?)

I carry a few zone bars in case I miss meal or get hungry . I do not depend on concierges to tell me about meals

rankourabu

Please point me to a domestic airline within the US that will give you anything to eat on a 50 minute flight.

And to the OP, I am sure Calin will personally come down to DFW and fire the offending concierge. This is just unacceptable. There just arent any internet tools to see what gate your flight will land at, and depart from!

Also, why wouldnt one just book AA all the way to YYZ? Its not like they dont fly from DFW. The troubles some people go through just to fly AC truly amazes me.