WARNING: Air Canada Rouge is terrible - avoid it

I just returned from Dublin on AC Rouge. Given that I have flown coast to coast in Canada several times on the mainline airline, and on Jazz, I feel qualified to comment. The inbound flight was 3 hrs late because the aircraft was late getting to YYZ from Jamaica. The flight was full and, of course, 3 hrs late returning to YYZ. This was the second time in two days that the flight was 3 hrs late and I noticed that today it was over an hour late. The Canadian competition on that route seems to be Air Transat, Sunwing, and Westjet which at least partially explains why the AC response is Rouge, they don't have any real competition . The crew was very young and inexperienced. I doubt if any of the attendants were over 30 years old. During the flight I noticed the lead attendant using a manual for reference regarding the announcements etc. My flight was a short notice change of plans which necessitated the booking to be made the day before with the result being a seat in Economy Premium. That was fortunate because the back end was stuffed. One couple were traveling with 22 month old twins, one on each lap. That was a chore for them and probably for those around them as well. One of the attendants that I spoke to was very pleasant and attentive. She was however so new that she had not done any Non-rev travel, I suspect the others were of similar experience levels. This girl may well have not known if the mayo was on the sandwich or in a packet. I can't fault the service I received but certainly can see that problems are likely. This airline is just getting started with new young staff but AC seems to be getting away with one here, Rouge is charging the same fares as the mainline AC but getting cut rate labour rates and below average customer service due to inexperienced crews. Their aircraft are hand-me-downs from mainline AC and sent to the " younger child". I'm not impressed.

Compared to the mainline Air Canada flight to Heathrow 9 days earlier, I will skip Rouge in the future.

I took a Rouge flight to Florida 2 weeks ago. The seats were cramped and barely reclined. They were very hard. I will avoid this airline in the future. Unfortunately I already have a flight to Barcelona booked this fall. After the crappy seats on their planes, I upgraded my seat for my upcoming flight. With the price of upgrading I could of booked a better airline.

Sent from my Lenovo B6000-F using Forums mobile app

We avoid all Air Canada flights whenever possible. Westjet is great and anyone else is better than AC.

Somehow Air Canada (the mainline, not Rouge) has won a "best North American airline" award for several successive years. Our experience on AC (mainline) is mixed, but with enough negatives that we also avoid AC when possible.

John

We have not had any problems with A/C except for the additional fees they are charging for bags, food

We avoid most US carriers & charter flights

Elaborating about our complaints concerning AC would be off-topic (relative to the original concern about Rouge). In general, I think that people's varying frequent-flyer status on different airlines has a lot to do with the divergent opinions about those carriers. For many years I concentrated my flying on a particular U.S. airline because its routes fitted well with my business travel patterns. That is undoubtedly a large part of the reason why we are almost always well treated on that U.S. airline, despite the fact that I see and hear many complaints about it from others who do not have high FF status there. Others tell me the same thing about other airlines (including AC) on which they have high FF status. Since I cast my lot with the one U.S. carrier (and not AC) long ago, I get no favoured treatment on AC.

John

Up until the recent past DW worked for another major European airline at their call center here in our home town. This resulted in 11 years of employee status with AC and low cost stand-by travel. Our priority for boarding was behind anyone connected with AC, actually we had the lowest priority except employees of other airlines to whom we were equal. In 11 years that was an issue once when there was a crew member from the old Canada 3000 airline. We had to wait for the next flight on many an occasion.

Over those 11 years we used the cheap flights to fly between Toronto and family homes in Moncton and Saint John as well as children living in Sault Ste. Marie and Edmonton. We also less frequently travelled to every capital city in the country plus a few other locations including USA airports. Over all of those flights we usually had to wait near the gate desk and patiently wait to see if we could board.

This presented a great opportunity to observe the gate agents in many, many airports not to mention the passengers that had one issue or another that they would present to that gate agents. I can honestly say I cannot think of a single occasion when the gate agent behaved in any objectionable manner, was rude, or unkind. I can think of a few where if that had been me behind the counter, I might have shot the idiot that was behaving like a 3 year old on the other side of the counter. I did come to appreciate that most casual travelers don't know the rules and that apply to them in the situation they find themselves. They also don't know that the gate agents have more ability to accommodate them then the check-in agents or even in DW's case the 800 number agents in a remote call center.

In Dublin ( I was flying on a paid ticket in economy plus ) this past August I met an older couple from Houston traveling to Toronto on Rouge and then to Houston on the main airline. In my opinion they were treated according to the rules governing the check-in agents, they were furious and made a scene that almost involved the police because it wasn't the solution they wanted. The gate agents did what I expected them to do and resolved the situation with new seat assignments as soon as they arrived at the gate. This couple ended up with an exit row ( the best possible seats in economy on this aircraft type ) on a packed airplane but were still very angry 3 hours into the flight and promising to write a letter of complaint. BTW, the main offense was the original seat assignments in economy had been screwed up. This couple is an example of people who will complain long and bitterly about Air Canada but they get no sympathy from me. It is true they didn't understand and couldn't be expected to understand the whole process but they were the rude and ignorant players. I tried to calm them and explain but they weren't listening.

Over those same 11 years we have flown very occasionally on United, American, British Airways, Lufthansa, and Westjet. The differences are minor. The airport staff, flight crews, etc have all been professionals. The only time I have ever been challenged about my carry-on luggage size and weight was with WestJet and Lufthansa. Had a big issue with Lufthansa but it was resolved amicably. American left our luggage in Miami and Lufthansa sent one of my bags to Zurich instead of Toronto. big deal. Bottom line, choose the airline that best meets your itinerary and price requirements. If you travel enough to get status, that changes quite a bit in the decision making process because of the perks.

We never had any status with AC and were treated the same on every flight although we did manage to get business class on one return flight from Edmonton. I have to believe that someone with status was sitting in the economy seats while we had the business class seats.

Of all of the aircraft types we have flown on, my least favorite is the Canadair RJ. Of the regional aircraft, I like the Dash 8-Q400 just fine. The older Dash-8's not so much.

As to the topic of this thread, I think Rouge has a lot of room for improvement. I hope they do that.

Well said Liftlock couple

We have no status with any airline

we are treated well by any we traveled

our friend a Rep with KLM got us upgraded to 1st class on a flight to Europe

that was a treat for us

We often will ask at check in for seats upfront & pay for them ...sometimes it works sometimes it does not

The crew have always been pleasant with the exception of a flight on delta pinnacle last summer the cabin stewardess was rude & must have been in training ..she did not have a clue in customer service

The worse flights we have had are on some charter flights ...

If you are polite I find the staff are friendly as well ..when you make demands you usually get rude or bad service

JMO