dr_torch

Good morning,

So I'd like people's opinions here to see if I am overreacting. I flew back from ICN yesterday on a paid business class ticket (P fare)

Yesterday I flew AC64 from ICN to YVR and connected onto AC116 to YYZ.

At that point I was scheduled into AC467 to YOW. We took off but there was bad weather in YOW so we were diverted back to YYZ. I have no problem with this - safety is important to me.

At this point it's a little after midnight. I go to the priority line at the customer service desk and they tell me since I have a bag checked I cannot take the 00:30 flight but they will provide a hotel. I'm fine with that. I ask the agent if they can confirm me onto an early morning flight.

The gentleman that was seated next to me on AC476 gets confirmed into the 07:10 flight. However, I am told that she cannot make changes to my booking and I will be automatically accommodated into the next available flight. If I have questions I should call reservations. Basically I feel like she wanted to go home and she wanted to get rid of me.

At midnight I'm not really looking for a fight and after traveling for 24+ hours I'm really just looking for some sleep. So I take her at her word, go to the hotel and get a short sleep.

6am I'm up - no emails, no changes to the booking. 45 minutes on hold on the priority line. Best they can do is 11:10. I'm in the lounge now.

I find this totally unacceptable customer service for an international business class passenger on a $3000+ ticket. I spoke with the customer service manager at YYZ and his attitude is, well all the flights must have been full. If I have any more concerns I should write to customer service. Basically he just fobbed me off.

So - my question - should I lower my expectations here? Should I write in and ask for compensation?

Even before compensation I'd really like somebody to explain why they could not confirm me on anything last night at midnight.

Cheers!

knotseh

Here's the info from EF:
AC467 is a YOW-YYZ flight no? Did you mean another one like AC464 or AC 466?

AC0467/27JUN EQU ACA321L01
CTY TML ARR DEP GRND AIR CABINS J Y
YOW - 2050 - 01.03
YYZ 2153 TOTAL TIME YOWYYZ 1.03
RMKS/WAS E90 NOW A321 TO PRO PAX OFF CANCELLED AC394 VIA YYZ IN
TO YOW. AC467 FIN 461 DLYD OFF AC464, REQUIRES LONGER MTA IN YO
W DUE TO EQMNT CHG.
YOW 2057 00:07L YYZ 2200 00:07L 321 EQI AD AA
DEP TML GATE --/16
ARR TML T1 GATE --/-----



AC0116/27JUN EQU ACA789P01
CTY TML ARR DEP GRND AIR CABINS J O Y
YVR - 1315 - 04.20
YYZ 2035 TOTAL TIME YVRYYZ 4.20
RMKS/DLYD AWAITING LATE IB AC841/27 ACCT LATE TRACK DUE AC874/2
7 YUL WXX 26JUN THUNDERSTORMS.
YVR 1334 00:19L YYZ 2054 00:19L 789 EQI AD AA
DEP TML M GATE --/C49
ARR TML T1 GATE --/-----

songsc

RangerNS

Not to put it on you, but being in international business, you should have tapped the concierge for assistance. @ YYZ they may be new and making minimum wage, but you could have gotten face time by walking into the office, and avoided the muzak while on hold.

dr_torch

That's ok. Where do I find the concierge though? I would have preferred that to listening to the same 2 songs over and over while having coffee at the hotel.

RatherBeInYOW

Recently I got a terrible response from an AC gate agent in YYZ when I missed the 12:30am flight due to my other AC flight being monumentally late.

I went back landside, upstairs to the Concierge office, and they had me in the Sheraton and on the 7:10am in J (I was flying Y) in about 5 minutes. Flying international J you should have had access to the same service.

Jebby_ca

I don't think concierge service would have applied in this case, since OP was not connecting to another Air Canada Signature Class flight:

Wouldn't have hurt to try though. For future reference, the YYZ concierge office is outside security, at the end of the premium check-in aisle. Just before the security checkpoint.

canadiancow

The point at which you left the airport without dealing with the issue was when it became unrecoverable.

In the morning, I suspect the flights were all booked up until the one you got on.

The customer service agent should have been less stupid, but YYZ is one of those places where you can "HUCA" in person really easily.

dr_torch

@canadiancow. I don't disagree with you. If I had asked the agent to do her job last night then it would have resolved the situation. All I can say is that after traveling for so long I just wanted to sleep.

But my point here is why is it the customers responsibility to make sure that Air Canada employees do their job correctly? Should their not be an expectation, especially for customers flying in premium cabins, that when issues happen they will be dealt with professionally and efficiently and that the customer should not feel like they are causing an inconvenience to the Air Canada employees.

I'm sorry if I sound entitled - but I spent thousands of dollars and what I got was an agent that basically said "here is a number to call - now go and get lost". I understand in the grand scheme of things I got home and all is well in the end but I find the whole interaction last night to be rude and unprofessional and nobody from Air Canada seems to want to take any kind of responsibility.

​​​​

canadiancow

I completely agree with you. I would write in a nasty complaint about the poor service you received, which resulted in an extended delay.

But my advice for future situations is do not leave the airport until you have a confirmed flight.

Symmetre

MSPeconomist

expert7700

OP--I hope you wrote down that CS rep's name
.
oh....on second thought DON'T EVER write down an employee name at an airport. This happened to me in FRA yesterday:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/lufthansa-austrian-swiss-brussels-lot-other-partners-miles-more/1975928-wrote-down-lufthansa-cs-nametag-security-called-me-gdpr.html

KenHamer

More over at YYZ you can do it repeatedly.

KenHamer

Too words two many.