Air Canada...the nightmare before the cruise!!!

[Danno]

I still can't believe this is happening...this airline must be run by the biggest group of morons ever assembled in one building...this is my story...my TA is having a nervous breakdown just trying to deal with these people.

 

i) Book cruise to Bermuda...:D

ii) Book air from North Bay to Toronto to NYC...:D and return.

iii) get cruise tickets...:D

iv) air ticket info... ...we return to Toronto from NYC at 3pm...we fly home at noon... ... is changing planes 3 hours BEFORE you land considered risky??

 

v) Air Canada customer service takes over...we can take a non-refundable cancellation of the ENTIRE flight package (yes...both ways, 4 legs) or wait for the next flight...16 hours later, but we are welcome to sleep in the terminal :( .

 

ok...tough decision...Jill will drive down on Wednesday, she has business to do in Toronto and this will give us a car to drive home (4 hours). I will fly Friday, this allow me to work until late afternoon....I'm not happy but life goes on.

 

Not solved yet...because Jill is not taking the flight down, Air Canada WILL NOT gaurantee her a seat from Toronto to NYC...even though we have paid for it...if she is not on the flight from North Bay to Toronto, they will resell the second half of the trip and refund us nothing.

 

So here is where we are now...Jill will travel to Toronto for meetings that now cannot be cancelled...she will race home Friday...we will fly to Toronto...when we return from NYC...we will have no flight, no car and no way to get home.

 

Please, please, please...let this airline go bankrupt. To imagine that anyone thinks this is how to run a business says more about the management than 5000 consultants ever could.

 

Bermuda...Oct2/04...starting to look like it may not happen ... I'm really at a loss to figure out how to pull this off??

 

(before the question is posed I did not, for the first time ever, let the cruise line book my air. Simply because, when we booked 7 month ago, it allowed us to fly from home...best laid plans...)

[Texed]

Danno,

 

Good grief! No wonder the airlines are having a hard time staying in the air. They don't know which way is up.

[CaptData]

Who booked this you or your TA. Someone was not paying attention to the details here!!! I always check before I accept. Read twice, sign once.

 

:mad: Sorry you are having problems.

[ABoatNerd]

Dear Danno and other CC Members:

 

I also live in Canada.

 

My sympathy to you. My husband and I will not choose Air Canada unless there is absolutely no other option. We will travel many more hours on train just to avoid that airline.

 

As another poster said, the airline business is extremely difficult and I most certainly feel sorry for airline employees around the world. They labour in the most demoralizing industry weighted down by 9/11 impacts, skyrocketing fuel and angry customers.

 

However, I can assure you Danno and other people reading this post that Air Canada has no issue providing time and money to their irrelevant Canadian policies such as french first language (voice and print) and their out of control union employment context (which of course guarantees your most productive employees are paid the same as the useless). It is no wonder that WestJet (owned partly by employees and not unionized) is beloved by many.

 

_______________

 

If my husband and I can not use WestJet, we then travel down to Buffalo to catch flights. We then have a choice of service providers.

 

Danno, just get to Buffalo and get your flight. You can then also avoid the Toronto airport which is also a hassle. Spread your business around to many airlines and give a slap in the face to the federal Liberal Party of Canada who just loves to maintain useless and uncompetitive unionized monopolies.

 

Cheers, ABoatNerd from Toronto

[Kami's pal]

"Oh man!" as my grandson would say:rolleyes:

 

Of course this is exactly the nightmare we try to avoid by having air booked by our cruise line. Why did you get punished for only trying once to arrange it a tiny bit more comfortably? Not fair!

 

So, what to do? I wonder, could the cruise line help? Could you go back, and promise to never, ever stray again if they would now sell you the original air package. Seems to me that if the cruise line wants to keep good repeat customers happy, they might. But I wouldn't go to regular customer service with this. I'd find out who the biggest cheese is. Maybe your TA or some savvy cruise critics might know.

[cruiseyguy]

I'm not Canadian so I don't understand all this. How did such an itinerary come about? I have assumed "Air Canada" is the national airline of Canada and therefore a source of pride. Am I wrong?

[Danno]

Who booked this you or your TA. Someone was not paying attention to the details here!!! I always check before I accept. Read twice, sign once.

My TA booked the flight...at the time we booked it there was a 5pm flight home...that was cancelled and they moved our reservations to the flight that leaves previous to us landing...my TA did a good job. This is solely Air Canada's mess...we will have words :mad: .

[Cruise Junky]

Hey Danno, fellow Canadian here. Check Westjet's schedule. I think they've started flying from Toronto to New York. Maybe you just have to suffer Air Canada from North Bay to Toronto.

[Danno]

I'm not Canadian so I don't understand all this. How did such an itinerary come about? I have assumed "Air Canada" is the national airline of Canada and therefore a source of pride. Am I wrong?

You couldn't be any more wrong...Air Canada is a national disgrace.

[muffin]

Another Canadian here, who also sees Air Canada as a national Horror. However, I do believe that by working your way up the chain of command you will find SOMEBODY who can hold a seat out of Toronto, so Jill can just pick up that leg onward. We had a similar situation when we booked a trip to Honolulu from Edmonton, with a pick up of passengers in calgary enroute. We subsequently moved to southern Alberta and wanted to get on and off in Clagary of course. Initially it was "impossible" said all we spoke to, but I worked my way up from one to another to another by asking to speak to "their supervisor" until I reached a resonable human being who made it so.

 

I wish you luck.... keep us informed!

[Kami's pal]

I am always anxious when I see Air Canada on my ticket!

 

Westjet is prospering. Keeping my fingers crossed for it.

 

Danno,

Can you find out who is the big cheese in Air Canada and have words with that person? times like this, I never go to ordinary customer service. They don't have the freedom to make innovative solutions.

 

Actually, going to Buffalo sounds like the best idea.

[Danno]

"reasonable human beings"...none so far.

 

I am chaulking this up to an expensive lesson in dealing with monopolies....never again!! And I am prepared to tell anyone in my life how I was dealt with in the hope that I can deter anyone else from using Air Canada...in all honesty I don't expect one unhappy customer in North Bay will hurt this airline, but left to their own devices they will simply self-distruct...we hope.

[ABCruiser]

I, too am waiting for Air Canada to mess up my flight to FLL. It's too bad Westjet does not fly more often to FLL, SFO or LAX, etc. It just started last week with their flights to LAX and I believe it's weekly so far. My cruise is on a Friday and Westjet flies in on Saturday only...maybe next time!! So what choice do I have but be stuck with Air Canada, which I booked with points (can be a big mistake! I usually do a package deal!). I fly out of Calgary - Montreal - Ft Lauderdale, which will take me 10 hours to get there and 1 hr 10 mins for the connecting flight, so AC better be on time!! My return will into Toronto to clear custom with 1 hr 10 mins again (told me it's sufficient time to do this and if I miss the connecting flight they put me on the next available flight). We'll see what happens! I hate to be so negative but this is Air Canada we're talking about!!

[skyview851]

What a mess. I really feel for you, and I am going to quit complaining about USlessAir...it is a class act compared to what you are dealing with. Good luck!

[jturner901]

A couple whom I work with had a nightmare with Air Canada in the spring this year, en route to a ship. They almost missed the ship and in rushing to get to the ship, did not reconnect with their baggage until day 3. This was all due to delays on A/C's part. Apparently, it was just about as bad coming home on A/C too, but fortunately, they didn't have to be anywhere on time. I will never, ever, ever, fly Air Canada, period!

 

As an aside, they were sailing on Carnival. Carnival, in no way took part in the air arrangements. They were made by the couple's T/A. Amazingly, Carnival bent over backwards to get the couple from FLL ti Port of Miami in time to catch the Victory, gave them vouchers for clothes, toiletries and sundries, gave him a tux and her an evening gown for dinners and many other things that they did not have to do at all. All this was free of charge to them. The couple were astounded.

[Danno]

... Carnival bent over backwards to get the couple from FLL ti Port of Miami in time to catch the Victory,...

Carnival gained a loyal customer...Air Canada lost one. How may MBA's does it take for AC to understand that angry customers walk away...WITH THEIR MONEY!!!

[Cruise Junky]

My return will into Toronto to clear custom with 1 hr 10 mins again (told me it's sufficient time to do this and if I miss the connecting flight they put me on the next available flight). We'll see what happens! I hate to be so negative but this is Air Canada we're talking about!!

 

I just came back from England and had to clear customs in Toronto. I had an 1 1/2 hours to make my flight, I got to the gate just as they were pre-boarding. However, coming in International I had to take that stupid shuttle service that they've set up in between the new terminal. Hopefully you won't have to do that.

[Breezey]

Sorry about your recent experience but we travel a lot and have had much worse experiences with other airlines. At least with Air Canada, many flights are direct unlike tons in the states where you need to change planes like 2 - 3 times and run like crazy to catch a connecting flight only to have the gate closed with you and a dozen people missing the flight. (Delta!)

 

Sure they have mega managerial problems and would do better given some more local competition as their fares are outrageous at the best of times.

 

But I have booked Air Canada to San Diego (Ok not direct) to catch our cruise in January with no regrets. We always find their in-flight service to be way above other airlines.

(helps that we have enough points to travel on and the customer service so far has been terrific helping us find a route that wont take all day)

[Danno]

We fly a bit (6-10 flights per year) and the "in flight" with AC has always been fine....it is the amazing lack of common sense amoungest their "customer service" people that defies all logic.

 

In a nutshell, their best offer is that we arrange with Celebrity to have Zenith dock 2 hours earlier...then we could make the earlier flight and solve this mess...no kidding!! That is the best solution so far...anyone got the Captain's phone number??

 

Talked to my TA a few min ago...we will take the hit on all the extra costs and upon my return we will sue AC in small claims court...I expect to lose (re the fine print) but at least they'll have to fly up here to respond...I wonder if they can get a Westjet flight up here ;) ???

 

Oh well...hopefully tomorrow I can begin to have pleasant thoughts about this cruise.

[Danno]

 

But I have booked Air Canada to San Diego (Ok not direct) to catch our cruise in January with no regrets.

 

It's early yet....I didn't have any "regrets" until today. Best of luck...and I really don't wish you any grief just to prove my point. We all work too hard for our short holidays to have anal retentive, political patronage hacks, make a mess of our plans.

 

Didn't Robert Milton (AC President) bankrupt a US airline before he got his hooks into Air Canada??

[dmk]

merde :mad: !!

[cruiseyguy]

Well, since I'm "so wrong" about Air Canada (per "Danno") perhaps someone could explain why I'm wrong and why Air Canada has a monopoly that so many seem to hate. Is it a government agency? So far, this post seems to be a matter of "inside baseball" amongst the Canadians and most U.S. Cruise Critics are left in the dark.

[Danno]

Air Canada was a government crown corperation...they were sold privately and our government has seen fit to protect their monopoly status in Canada...they have even gone so far as to allow AC to buy and crush any other airline that poses any threat while actively cutting "sweetheart" deal for AC...remember Wardair,and Canadian Airline...good airlines that gave superior service to AC thus were eliminated...don't get too comfortable with Westjet...I expect they will be next.

[cruiseyguy]

This helps explain why U.S. carriers can't fly domestic routes in Canada.

[Offtune Angel]

Air Canada was a government crown corperation...they were sold privately and our government has seen fit to protect their monopoly status in Canada...they have even gone so far as to allow AC to buy and crush any other airline that poses any threat while actively cutting "sweetheart" deal for AC...remember Wardair,and Canadian Airline...good airlines that gave superior service to AC thus were eliminated...don't get too comfortable with Westjet...I expect they will be next.

Don't forget the grants and tax exemptions and bail-outs AC has received from the various governments.:mad:

 

Dan, I think it is appalling what AC is doing to you. I'm not sure what part of the anatomy the customer service reps are hiding their brains in, but, I strongly suspect most of the reps are depriving their brains of oxygen by sitting on them. My experiences, while not as bad as yours, are seldom pleasant with AC ground crews or telephone reps. It's like we, the customers, are infringing on their time instead of making sure they have jobs. :( I sure hope you get satisfaction sooner, rather than later.

 

As for: "16 hours in an airport, take it or leave it". Shame on Air Canada. In a crisis, maybe. This isn't a crisis. This is poor planning on AC's part. They were happy to accept your money, way back when. This is too close to "Bait and switch". I experienced a mild form of that last year with Air Transat. From a charter, I could almost accept it -- but even they came to their senses and adjusted our schedule in a way that was of mutual benefit. From a national airline - Shame, shame, shame. No pride for AC from this Canadian.

 

Have a great trip despite AC. Terry