[jenny w]

Hello Jim -
Thank you so so much - You have made my day. My week!
my husband who is a family lawyer did not want to get involved and said that I didn't have anything to back me up. Now, having read your response, this is very encouraging. He is going to write an official letter to them Although, I don't think the small claims would hold here if it is an EU complaint.
I've enclosed a copy of the 2nd letter Air Canada sent to me. Talk about a lengthy letter filled with nothing!
Thank you for your email to Ms. Welscheid. It is my pleasure to respond on behalf of Air Canada.

I am sorry to learn that you were among our passengers whose travel plans were greatly disrupted due to the delay of AC859 on August 29th from Dublin to Toronto. Please accept my sincere apologies for your continued disappointment with Air Canada. Contrary to how you are now feeling, I assure you that your support is very important to us and I regret that we let you down.

In your original correspondence to our Customer Relations Department, you provided us with a very detailed and constructive account of your travel experience. You certainly did deserve a reply addressing your concerns. However, in error, this did not occur. I am sorry for our service failure and I thank you for this further opportunity to review this matter.

We do appreciate how distressing this type of delay is and endeavour to do all within our power to avoid a situation such as this one. Although our aircraft are subject to regular maintenance checks, there may be malfunctions that are identified during our pre-departure check. Before we inform passengers of a new departure time, our Maintenance Department determined how long it could take to fix the problem. At times, as was the case for the outbound flight that was to operate your flight, it took longer than initially expected. This delay is what we refer to as a ‘creeping delay’, which is the most challenging for us to handle. Our Maintenance staff firmly believe the issue can be corrected within a certain time-frame, then find it necessary to extend this as the work progresses. I must stress that the safety of our passengers and crew always supersedes all other factors and we would never do anything to jeopardize this.

Having said that, I realize it is always the manner in which we handle any disruption that leaves the greatest impression with our valued customers. Good communication and a more efficient handling of your hotel arrangements in Toronto would have gone a long way in easing your inconvenience. Please be assured, that I have documented your comments for both the Dublin and Toronto Airports for internal review.

At the time of the delay, each passenger was issued a future travel credit as a measure of goodwill, in the amount of $100.00 CAD each. Should you not have received a copy of the generic letter distributed to passengers, for your reference, I have included a copy following this email. Your individual voucher number is:


In addition to this, our Customer Relations Department provided you with another goodwill gesture with a 15% promotional code when you contacted us. I do regret that you are unhappy with the levels of goodwill compensation provided for your disrupted flight. As you can appreciate, delays and cancellations affect customers in different ways. While we in no way discount the inconvenience you experienced, our offer was intended simply as a gesture of goodwill. Therefore, we must respectfully decline your request for additional consideration in this instance.
I appreciate your feedback and realize we let you down. Your input is extremely important as it assists us in our efforts to improve our service during irregular operations. It is our hope these gestures will be seen as a genuine desire to make amends. We look to the future for an opportunity to welcome you on board again to impress you more favourably.

Sincerely,
Sheila Pennell
Air Canada Customer Relations
Executive Centre