i actually believe the OP.

the FA had no reason not to provide you her card and only refused since there was a chance that her bad attitude may get her into a little trouble. i suspect she knew that and did everything she could to make sure you were in the wrong. funny, but staff is believed 100% of the time and pax are not. sad sad sad and the reason why i only fly AC when there are no other options. as i noted in another thread, i would rather fly through ORD than with AC.....

i think that it is fair to say generally that long time service staff at AC and for that matter most airlines where staff are part of a union pay less attention to service. why do they need to? who cares. the less work the better and god forbid you get lippy with them.

they are all looking for the juicy 24 month packages to move on and in this economy, AC would not give it to them since they would rather make them quit by giving them the YYZ, HK route when you are 50.

why bother putting in any effort on their end. if i was them, i would not bother either. better to do nothing and get a bridge to retirement.

in my opinion, the unions have really done a bad thing to airline travel customer service. working with a union makes one consider themselves untouchable to the customers they interact with (esp. the ones with the knowledge of how it operates and are actually travelling in the class their salary would not entitle them to but for their jobs)

also the Canadian TA can do nothing about employees and can only enforce the tarriff etc. with the airlines. employee issues are AC and good luck making any difference by making a complaint. staff will lie and lie.

also, AC can really do nothing with long time union people since you need to get warning after warning after warning and then have graded discipline and then suspension with pay, then without and all that time, the employee could file a complaint with their union rep etc. and go to arbitration only to have a arbitrator award full back pay and reinstatement. i am sure some management side labour lawyers can chime in but it is a joke from my work in the area and i must say, really fosters no effort from employees. sure there are exceptions, but in my opinion, they are exceptions and the norm prevails. the older they get the worse. the 55+ crowd on the YVR YYZ, man o man o man.

it is no wonder that marginal persons at AC can stay so long. any other non union business would not tolerate this from staff.

sad but true, staff is right and you are wrong.

a little saving grace is that the J on CX is just as crappy for two that travel together. that said, AC does not even come close to CX IMO.

oh well, i must say, i have heard many stories like this. i have enjoyed my time with one world and love flying CW with BA and found J on CX to die for....nothing beats the lounge in HGK for CX. i would love to be proved wrong on this one.

i am sure you will get all sorts of people supporting AC etc. and I can guarantee you that 50% of the people will tell me i am off my rocker. that said, you know what is right and you vote with your feet. i keep telling myself that one day it will matter...one day i will be able to fly through ORD to get to YVR.......one day. then i will never have to fly AC again!! crossing all fingers.

Rather bizarre story. And if I were on the "trip of my life" I would certainly not book AC in business class but rather take SQ or LH or NH in real First Class. Which is what I've done on several occasions in the past with my wife or SA.

:)

Meanwhile, I'm trying to reroute my YYZ-NRT on any airline -- any airline -- so that I don't have to connect in ORD! Unfortunately my travel dates don't have good flight availability, but I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the day that ORD is razed to the ground. :D

I believe the OP too. Some AC FAs are terrible, with an attitude. And they love to scold you like your mom did. They sure have the same age as your mom!

I wish I were like you. But I also hate going thru the US where I cannot lock my bags. If JL flies to YYZ, then I will switch to OneWorld for SURE. I can use BA to go E, and JL or CX to go W.

Sorry, but this is Canada!!! Union rules, worse than communist China!

I agree 100% ^^ OneWorld is way better than *A in terms of airline quality. But their coverage is not as favorable for us YYZers.

Let's hope so. But I still won't fly through ORD if I don't have to. Fortunately for me, I seldom have to do N American trips.

i would pee my pants if JL starting making flights from YYZ...literally!! i know i know, unions rule in Canada. it is sad that OP had built things up only to have one person wreck it all. the right thing would be for AC to make it right by going through the facts in the letter and getting to the bottom of it. they could. they knew who worked etc. will they, nope. i know most hate ORD. i agree i am not that fond of it. it is lesser degrees of not ideal.

DFW but add 4 to 13.5 to NRT on AA....i know it sucks....but that is what ativan is for.

[email protected]

Sorry to hear about your unpleasant experiences.

A simple question by the OP took until the 22nd post to get the answer.

(i know, Iknow,I asked for clarification:cool:)

You're holding back on us. Exactly why and for what did you apologize? Unless they forcibly extracted a confession from you, you must have had some idea for what you were apologizing.

Since I wasn't there, I have no way of confirming or denying what happened on the OP's flights.

Others may be able to provide contact info.

The only thing I can add to note that you sit where the airline tells you what your seat assignment is. You can ask for the seat you want, but if they want to move you they can, and if necessary, will do so. They will generally try to play nice with you, but if push comes to shove, you will get the BP they want you to get, or not fly at all. This is true of all airlines in every alliance.

The OP is a seasoned flier (Super Elite) and already knew that. I merely note this for the benefit of other less experienced travelers.

Re-reading post 3, it seems that the OP did sit where the airline wanted them to sit (i.e. the seats for which they were issued boarding passes). My read of the post was that an airline employee was trying to get the OP to voluntarily switch seats. Seems to me he is perfectly in his right to agree or not.

FWIW, it always boggles my mind that a family of four would travel in J but not pre-reserve seats. (Unless of course these were two status passengers who upgraded themselves and their kids).

Since I nearly always travel alone, I'm frequently asked to change seats in J. The request has always come from passengers who've been successfully upgraded at the gate, but who then find themselves not seated together. The FAs have never asked me to switch seats in that situation, nor should they, IMHO.

That the OP had a less than pleasant experience on an AC flight is not to be denied. But there are elements of the story that are lacking detail - the forced apology for example - and therefore lead to more questions than can be answered.

Having said that, the link for general complaints is here:

https://aircanadacustomercare-en.cus...p_sid=RP8PHN7j

I'm merely AC E so I wouldn't know, but is this a situation where the SE concierge can weigh in?

This really isn't a situation where a concierge could do anything...

The OP's best recourse would be to send an email to senior management with lots of details...

So true ...

I can so relate ...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wMD7Ezp3gWc

I think this is now officially off topic! :D