[Captian Ronn]

Because these bastards DESERVE it.

First, some pictures for you:
http://www.dunnett.com/AC875/ac875.html

April 1, 2008

Air Canada Customer Service

RE: AC 875 / AC2875

To Whom it may concern:

I am writing today with regards to Air Canada flight 875 and 2-875
from Frankfurt to Montreal on March 21 and 22, 2008.

The flight was scheduled to leave Frankfurt Germany at 11:10 AM on
March 21, 2008. The boarding of the aircraft was routine and without
incident. Following the completion of the first boarding, passengers
- including myself - remained seated inside the aircraft for
approximately 90 minutes after which the Captain of the aircraft
(Mason) advised the passengers that there was a mechanical malfunction
(ignition failure) with the port side engine and that we would be
deplaning. Captain Mason stated that the aircraft would be deplaned
because of the inability to cool the inside of the aircraft during the
repair procedure. We remained at the gate for another 60-90 minutes
before reboarding. Once we were back on the plane it took another 90
minutes for the plane to be de-iced. The aircraft was then pushed back
for departure whereupon we were told by Captain Mason that "this plane
will not fly today." and that the aircraft was being towed to another
area of the airport for deplaning. By this time the temperature
inside the aircraft had become unbearable. The aircraft was then towed
to a holding area. At that time Captain Mason had changed his mind and
decided to try to salvage the flight, advising us that a part was
coming from Lufthansa and that after the part arrived and the repairs
were made the flight would depart. By now the temperature in the cabin
had peaked causing passengers - especially the infants and elderly on
board - extreme discomfort. The air inside the cabin was stale and the
odour from the toilets was overwhelming. At one point the cabin crew
opened the aircraft doors to try to alleviate the heat and the stench,
but this did little to improve the conditions in the cabin. I saw one
mother with her child move past us - the child's head was flush from
the heat. A female passenger behind us barely made it to one of the
cabin crew for water - she was very close to passing out. At this time
I removed my video equipment from the overhead cabin and began to
document the scene and conditions on the aircraft. It was obvious that
in addition to the extremely uncomfortable conditions, the passengers
- myself included - were experiencing anxiety over the manner in which
the situation was being handled and about the integrity of the
aircraft itself. At this point myself and at least 2 other passengers
approached a flight attendant and expressed our concerns about our
circumstances and in integrity of the aircraft and the hurried repairs
that were being made. We made it clear to the flight attendant that we
did not wish to travel on this aircraft and that we wished to leave
the aircraft. At that time the senior flight attendant in charge
approached both myself and the other passengers who wished to deplane
and went into what must have been a very well rehearsed speech
designed to intimidate those who may want to exit the aircraft under
adverse circumstances and delivered loudly and forcefully in such a
manner as to be heard by all of the other passengers in the cabin. It
was evident that the senior flight attendant was trying to bully and /
or humiliate us. I felt at this point that we were being both stalled
and held against our wishes. I was becoming physically ill and I was
stifling the urge vomit. Withing 30 minutes of the the senior flight
attendant's diatribe, Captain Mason informed us that he could not
obtain permission from NavCanada to operate the aircraft and that he
was officially cancelling the flight. That announcement came at
approximately 4:30 pm. We were then kept on the aircraft for
approximately another 30 minutes waiting for buses to arrive to take
us back to the terminal.

When the buses arrived we were allowed to deplane. We were taken back
to the terminal and given insufficient information with regards to how
the cancellation would be dealt with. It was mayhem. We finally
learned that we would be staying another night in Frankfurt. In spite
of the sketchy information that was provided to us by the cabin crew,
most of the passengers located the hotel representative who lead us
through the terminal to more awaiting buses which in turn took us to a
local hotel for the evening. Upon check-in we were told that
information on the rescheduled flight would be provided later that
evening. We learned later that night that the flight was rescheduled
for 9:00 AM and that 5:00 AM wake up calls had been ordered for all
passengers by Air Canada. I did not receive such a wake up call. On
the morning of March 22, 2008 we boarded buses that took us back to
the terminal at Frankfurt where we made our way to the Air Canada
check-in counter. At 6:15 AM I was one of the first in line at the
counter. At 7:05 AM only two Air Canada ticketing agents were present
and only one of those was actively attending to passengers. At that
time the number of passengers waiting to be processed included all of
those from the cancelled flight plus the passengers from a regularly
scheduled flight. It was a scene of utter kaos. A male Air Canada
agent busied himself by slowly loading labels into the luggage tag
printers while the other female agent tried to process a growing,
frustrated group of passengers from two flights. The female agent had
a large stack of pre-printed boarding passes. As passengers pushed
forward and presented themselves she would attempt to flip through the
stack of boarding passes one at a time looking for that passengers
name. At least twice she moved from behind the counter out into the
mass of passengers waving the boarding passes around and shrieking
that the passengers must get in line - even though they were in line
and had been since 6:15. The actions (and inaction) of the Air Canada
counter agents caused even more agitation amongst the large crowd of
passengers. At one point a frustrated passenger continued to ask the
make agent who was loading the baggage tag printers why he was not
helping process passengers. The Air Canada ticket agent did not reply
or even acknowledge the question and continued to load the printers
while ignoring the passenger. At approximately 8 AM I received my
boarding pass. When my flight landed in Montreal I had less than one
hour to catch the connecting flight I had been re-booked on.
Throughout this connection I found the Air Canada staff to be both
unhelpful and unfriendly. As part of my luggage I had a case that
contained two valuable musical instruments and as per the instructions
of the Air Canada gate agents, these were submitted by hand to the
"special" baggage handling areas. One both occasions when I collected
my luggage the instrument case was delivered with the regular luggage
which, in Montreal, almost caused me to miss my flight. One of the
instruments was damaged during handling.

In air travel, it is completely reasonable to expect delays due to a
variety of reasons and as a reasonable person and a regular air
traveler, I can accept that. As a reasonable person and regular air
traveler, I also have certain expectations. I do not think it is
unreasonable to expect that Air Canada would anticipate scenarios
such as flight AC875 and that contingency plans would be in place and
would be designed to minimize the stress and discomfort a passenger
might experience under such circumstances.

Nothing - nothing I experienced on AC875 or AC2875 would lead me to
believe that the Air Canada representatives involved in this situation
truly cared about Air Canada's customers on AC875 or AC2875. We were
all treated like cattle. Nothing I experienced would lead me to
believe that any contingency Air Canada might have for such incidents
was practiced or properly executed. The senior flight attendant was
nothing less than abusive in her attempts to bully and humiliate
passengers who voiced legitimate concerns. The agents at the Air
Canada check in counter were unhelpful, unfriendly, abusive,
unprepared and incompetent. As a photojournalist, I want Air Canada to
understand that my experience on flight AC875 and AC2875 is well
documented in both photo and video.

You may view some but not all of the images by following this link:

http://www.dunnett.com/AC875/ac875.html

[vanylapep]

Hi Captian Ronn,

I was on the exact same flight as you, and am currently writing a complaint letter regarding this flight and another which was much worse. I was really unlucky, on my flight from Montreal to Germany, situation were much worse, with a flight from montreal to toronto lasting 8 hours with no food (!!) then sleeping at the airport, then the same incompetence, rudeness and lying from AC's staffs, one giving me a flight but didnt register me on the passenger's list so i was not even in the flight! and much much more worse stuffs.

I'm wondering, did you send ur letter to AC and did you get any reply?

Maybe we can talk more about this via email?