lonman

took my first flight up to yyz from lga on cp in years. anyway, a friend and i were traveling, and i wanted to use my aa (platinum) upgrades, since i don't really fly very many domestic flights. i talked to the aa agent 72 hrs before, and they SUPPOSEDLY upgraded both of us, and had set up computerized upgrades for our returns. when i check in on friday, agent at lga counter has major difficulty because SUPPOSEDLY i'm upgraded, but someone else is also assigned the same seat. after discussion with aadvantage, my upgrade comes through. my friend arrives later than me, and gets stuck in a crazy long line. when we finally arrive at desk, they inform him his reservation is gone EXCEPT for the upgrade. (interesting concept: upgrades without reservations) she puts his ticket back in, but then says she can't upgrade him because first is full, and the flight is closing momentarily.

we rush to the gate, get fed some attitude from the guy at the counter for being late(thank u, check-in!) and then run onto the plane to see my seat empty in first as well as THREE other empty seats. we both start to protest about the error and confusion, and proceeded to get attitude from a third ground staff person. my friend, who is a staunch ua and anti-aa person chalked it up to his previous experiences. i, who have been quite loyal to aa, was miffed.

then, something i never dreamed of happened. the flight closed, and we were in control of the cp in-flight staff. three wonderful ladies asked us both what had transpired, decided to use their common sense(something obviously rare in the airline business these days) and sen my friend up to his pre-reserved seat next to me. i complimented them immensely, tried to give them my aa employee service cards, but alas, they were of no use to them. when i offered to fill out a canadian card, they also insisted it wasn't necessary. as one of them put it, "it was obvious to us that you guys had been screwed. they(aa) seem to have a different way of doing things down here. they are, after all "american". national pride aside, i had to agree with them totally.

i only wish i had more opportunities to fly them. most int'l flights to europe are premium priced when routing through yyz from nyc, and with no service to yul except aa eagle code shares, i'm gonna have to create reasons to fly to western canada.

if aa owns a huge chunk, how come some of the customer service issues don't rub off on aa? or is it just the statement "they're canadian, so they're just nicer in general", soooo true.

god, please save this airline!!

BlondeBomber

Let's hear it for Canadian -- hip hip hooray! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif (even though I fly AC mostly)

KenHamer

Hey lonman -- western Canada is all the reason you need to come here. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

But it sounds like you have discovered what many AC and CP FFers have discovered, but don't talk about in polite company. While the alliances hold many benefits (and CP and AA are joined at the hip -- take upgrades, for example) the service we endure on US carriers is abominable, and made worse by the fact that we receive such good treatment on our home airlines.

Don't really know why this is, but I suspect that it has something to do with cutthroat competition between Canada's two main carriers. We're all hoping come this time next year, life will still be as good.

Shareholder

With the 100K promo on oneworld, I called AA to reactivate my old AAdvantage account which I hadn't used since I was able to credit all my mileage on AA flights to Cdn+. I found the AA customer service reps very polite and they went out of there way to set up my newly reactivated account. When I called the other day to register for a bonus on the JFK-BCN codeshare (I couldn't do it automatically on the phone system as my PIN hadn't yet arrived) I'll be flying later this month, the agent was again friendly and helpful. When I asked about the Gold and Platinum challenge, she quickly transferred my call to yet another friendly and accommodating agent who went through the rules and enrolled me. This means the mileage I earn for the 100K on AA (I will also be earning the bonus on Cdn+) will also get me at least to Gold, and possibly to Platinum on AA for the coming year.

I certainly agree about the indifferent service I have experienced with AA inflight and to a lesser extent on the ground. But for the most part, their phone staff has been very pleasant and helpful. As, of course, have Cdn's.

hsi.chang

Shareholder: I thought that you had to register for either "Gold" or "Platinum" challange ? If you've registered for Gold, and flew enough for Platinum, you're still only made Gold ?!?

Same sentiments regarding AA staff. I "negleted" to register for the Gold challange. When I e-mailed them regarding getting a retro-active enrollment, the agent who answered just upgrade both myself and spouse to Gold. Way to go !!

PS: Has anyone made an in-depth comparison between Canadian Plus and American AAdvantage ? On the surface, the AA program seems superior with regards to rewards. CX rewards on AA is cheaper than CP, and AA seems to have quite a few more options.

lonman

i agree with you all about aa phone reps. i find them quite courteous and polite. i have much better experience with them than the cp folks. partly i think that's because at least one call center for cp is based in TEXAS! i had a huge fight with a woman who proceeded to tell me that i did not have a reservation or even a ticket for a certain flight when i had the ticket in my hand!!! training on cp phone staff(as least, the us based staff) is horrendous.

but ground staff in general seems to be the most difficult. i guess phone people can be nicer, because they don't see you and don't necessarily feel the urge to strangle a surly customer (moi?) over the phone. ground staff are the only ones that have that option.