j_the_p

Mess of a mess at YYC tonight. I've been on hold trying to get through to the concierge for 1 hr and 25 mins so far. Does the central Concierge office close? Am I sol?

Thx

canadiancow

It does not close. That's one of its main benefits.

However, I suspect IRROPS has them a little overloaded. Have you tried to see if res can help you?

BarrieTravelGuy

Ever since they have gone to this "central line" it's absolutely horrible. I have been on hold for 45 mins at YUL today trying to change to an earlier flight as their is a travel alert for both YYZ and YUL .The agent was telling me at YUL that there is no travel alert so they wouldn't confirm the change without a fee being paid. I gave up on the line and sent an email to the private YUL concierge email and they got back to me right away. They have also taken away the ability to leave a voicemail for the central concierge line .This thing just continues to go downhill .

Transpacificflyer

All AC service centers were overwhelmed yesterday with a special message for reservation call lines from the head of AC's operations apologizing and saying to call back later.
Very grim. Air Canada has a very weak response anytime there is a disruption, and operations slowly grind to a halt. I believe this is part of the operating dynamic and that someone made a case that it is more profitable to just ignore customers, fly late, not deliver bags etc. than to operate otherwise in such times.
IMO, the cost motive is that unlike other jurisdictions, the financial incentive to take care of customers and to provide a quality of service does not exist in Canada. As a result, AC pax flying from the EU and USA are less likely to experience lengthy delays than other AC pax.
A quick review of OTP performance supports this view with the worst results associated with Asia and domestic Canada. I am certain that if Air Canada systemwide was subject to the same rules as in the EU, we would see a stellar improvement in OTP.

j_the_p

I ended up emailing the concierge while I was on hold with them. They responded to the email before they connected my call, which ended up being just a shade under 2 hours. lol The on-hold music is burnt into my brain.

@canadiancow - the res line wasn't helping much; concierge was fantastic (just took a long time)
@sjhanlon - I agree, since going to the central system, it's been harder to get in touch with them. Not sure why they don't have a call-back option (or at least voicemail).

RangerNS

I'm not sure that I've ever called the concierge, though they have called me.

Email seems to be the way to go.

yvr76

Called the central line a couple weeks ago. Had a rookie agent that told me to use online check-in to do a SDC; then she told me to go to the airport; then she told me to call Aeroplan as it was a reward ticket.

I asked to be transferred to someone else, she said that I'd just have to call back as everyone else was busy. Called back and next agent processed the change within 2 minutes.

FlyerTalker70

Isn't there an online rebooking tool that will take care of this free of charge? I'm surprised if the priority customer support/transfer desk be able to handle this (if that the "agent" you were referring to). Failing that wouldn't this be something that could be cleared up at the MLL? Worse case, I'd just pay the fee then get AC to refund you later (or if you're too lazy just deny the charge on your card later)? Seems a little crazy to wait more than 5 minutes on hold if you're an elite.

Safe Travels,

James