fin 645

Great to see this thread, and I long ago formed the opinion that the ex CP and WD crews could be picked out fairly easily. And they are always happy and amused to be asked. My first ever AC experience back in the 70s left me with the impression that they thought the passengers were a nuisance, and I flew CP after that whenever possible and until its demise.

I also remember an ex CP FA saying to me;
Toronto makes the rules, Vancouver follows the rules, Montreal says "what rules". I always thought that was a neat summary of the AC situation.

Sunny Day

Is there a better more direct way to encourage, put a spot light on, and reward those "Stars"? Certainly writing in afterwards to compliment is one way. But an email from management a month later sharing a customer's positive feedback is a bit too removed. Which flight? What did I do? Where? There is too much disconnect.

I have an idea and that is every Altitude member with some status are sent as part of their yearly renewal package, a pack of 20 reward certificates, to be given out "on the spot" to those employees who demonstrate those "can-do" attitudes described above. Employees can turn those certificates into some kind of reward and the company can further recognize those "stars" at the end of the year. A trend will quickly develop and flush out those "repeat recipients". On the spot recognition really puts the focus on those front line employees who have the greatest impact on our flying experience - on the ground or in the air. Thoughts?

24left

There used to be cards of some sort a few years ago. I don't recall what they were called, or how they worked.

My choice is to express my thanks in person to the crew prior to arrival. If the experience was outstanding, I write a letter of compliment.

I don't like the way AA does it by mailing me those little coupon card things and asking me to fill in crew name, flights etc and hand it to them. I find it childish in comparison to other methods.

I also know that even with compliments to AC, not all of them trickle down to the cabin crew. I once wrote in many years ago about a fantastic crew. I flew with one of them again a few months later, asked if they had received the compliment letter and was told no.

I think the process may have improved since then and there is now more than one way to communicate with AC when wanting to thank great crew or other employees.


Love this quote.

CZAMFlyer

This golfing anecdote could have been the same with retired pilots from any airline, anywhere. It's not an uncommon sentiment amongst flight crews; it's general refection upon the airline industry as a whole. Can anybody name a field of work in which the old-timers don't lament the 'good old days'?

Chalking up blame to "lingering government employee attitudes" is grossly inaccurate. The privatization of Air Canada was in 1988; doing simple math indicates that a) very few current frontline AC staff were members of the company during the Crown Corp days and that b) if so, they would have likely spent very few junior years as such - hardly enough time to build a pervasive attitude of whatever it is that government employees are accused of reflecting. We know there are hundreds of thousands of government employees across the country and they must ALL share the same negative stereotypes...(insert eye-roll emoji here).

As for "I work at the airport, you're wrong", this is a tale about interpersonal conflict. Two people shared a testy exchange, the account of which we have only heard from one party. It does not reflect upon the generalized attitudes of workers at any particular venue, location, company nor whether they are publicly, privately or self employed. Details could have been changed to mirror unfortunate customer/staff exchanges in pretty much any industry, anywhere.

I know we would all like to believe the theory that the backgrounds of a segment of a large company's personnel can be identified by their general demeanour today. But most of the above posts are based upon anecdotes. One customers "shining star" is another's "lounge dragon" and vice-versa. Consider the inexorable advance of time, and all the staff turnover, personal life events, corporate restructuring, management changes, industry constraints, seniority, and the evolvement of individuals, the company, the traveling public and indeed the industry. How likely is it that we can neatly categorize shiny happy staff as former CP and miserable old bats as AC?

DrunkCargo

Tldr. You're all racist/ageist/culturilist. An AC employee is an AC employee.

yyznomad

Yes, I remember you mentioning this previously. It's always nice to get some of the ex-CP FAs.

JTXC

Sigh. I remember Wardair from my childhood. What great catering (better than F on most airlines).

canadiancow

I mentioned that idea to a senior loyalty person at AC, which led to a discussion of concerns over bribery. "I know you're out, but if you give me the veal, I'll give you a reward certificate".

My impression of AC at many levels is that they're really concerned about what the 0.1% of "bad people" will do, and therefore are less willing to implement policies that can be abused, even if they likely wouldn't be.

CZAMFlyer

Yep, that was what crossed my mind too. That and distributing 'happy chits' as a popularity contest. I can see more than just bribery being employed by well-meaning (and otherwise) passengers. Surely we can simply say thank you to people doing their job? Do we also feel the urge to similarly fawn over staff at other places of work?

yyznomad

Is there an airline that does this already? If so, comparable to AC as an airline?

canadiancow

AA does it. Unsure about others.

I'm not trying to express an opinion here, just to say that whether or not it's a good idea, I don't see AC doing it.

yyznomad

Ha. I didn't think there was one. I'm only aware of these in the hotel industry, like Starwood.

Medhatter

My experiance in life is, those who feel everyone will steal from them are the ones to watch.

DrunkCargo

Does what? offers certs customers can give to employees for good service?

longtimeflyin

Singapore Airlines does.