[ellis379]

Here is the email I forwarded to every media outlet I could think of.

Dear sir or madam I am not sure if I am emailing to correct department , I would appreciate it if you could forward to correct department. My name is Allyson Ellis. My girlfriend and I have been here in Nova Scotia on vacation for a couple weeks, from Alberta. We booked our flights home with air Canada, and according to air Canada's website, we were to be checked in no later than 30 minutes before scheduled flight. We went to a kiosk first, but we couldn't find out confirmation number. That was 45 minutes before flight. We proceeded to the baggage drop off to check in, which was 42 minutes before flight, and we were told we were too late to check in by 2 minutes. We called air Canada and was told we would have to pay an additional $800 to fly today. I could not get a refund so that I could go with another airline, instead I booked another flight for Sunday for an additional $50.00 per ticket, for lack of better options. We have children and jobs to get back to, and I felt it important to pass this on to others . I have 30 guys From this area I book flights for several times a year, and I of course will be certain not to use Air Canada, but if you can use what happened to us today to warn others I would help in any way I can. Thank You for any help.

Allyson Ellis

[The_Judge]

Originally Posted by ellis379

............ and according to air Canada's website, we were to be checked in no later than 30 minutes before scheduled flight.

There's your mistake. Air Canada's website CLEARLY shows check-in must take place no later than 45 minutes to departure time within Canada.

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin...t/checkin.html

Send me your address and I'll mail you a spatula to pry the egg off your face.

[ellis379]

My bad sir, I never saw it on website, I saw it on itinerary sent to me.

[ellis379]

Boarding gate deadline
You must be available for boarding at the boarding gate by the boarding gate deadline. E.g. if your flight from Toronto to Ottawa leaves at 11 am, you must be at the boarding gate no later than 10:40 am (i.e. 20 minutes before your flight).

[The_Judge]

Not even part of the equation, the boarding gate deadline. You first must be checked in to get to the gate. You have from 23hrs 59mins before flight time up until 45 minutes to do that. The 20 minutes you are now trying to cling to has nothing to do with your situation.

By the way....your quote said, "We booked our flights home with air Canada, and according to air Canada's website, we were to be checked in no later than 30 minutes before scheduled flight."

Now you are changing your story to something else about an itinerary. You should have quit while you were only a little behind.

[ellis379]

It clearly states both check in and boarding on my itinerary, and you sir are not stating the truth or your not familiar with what is printed on the itinerary. As I said earlier, I did not see it on website, I was mistaken, but I knew I saw it somewhere on here. In any case I have managed to get an interview with ctv news, and maybe it will help prevent this from happening to someone else. Thank You for showing such concern for the customers that keep the airlines going.

[The_Judge]

Hahahahahahahaha........good luck with the news. You clearly stated in your initial post, and I quote, "We booked our flights home with air Canada, and according to air Canada's website, we were to be checked in no later than 30 minutes before scheduled flight."

How do you know it's not there if you didn't see it? You are now claiming you didn't see it on the website in your latest post but your first post you said you did see it. Get one story and stick to it.

To quote Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon"

P.S. Don't accidentally "forget" to tell the news what the website says about checkin time and what time you admitted to attempting to checkin.

[ellis379]

I have repeated twice where I saw the check in time. I have also compared the itinerary from today's flight, to the itinerary for the rescheduled flight and an added expense. The new itinerary for the flight I have Sunday does state the 45 minute check in deadline. Whereas the one for today stated 30 minutes. And being late is not my issue anyhow, my issue is being 3 minutes late for check in policy and rather than Air Canada exercising any customer care, I am shown the door. My interview with Ctv will reflect that. Maybe if more people would share their bad experiences with Air Canada less people would fly with them and they would realize they have customer service issues.
I am not sure what you do for a living, but judging from your attitude, vocabulary and complete lack of concern for a customer, you should fill out an application at Air Canada Customer support. Thanks.

[The_Judge]

No thanks......I dealt with enough of you people in my time. I see you all have not changed. You make the errors then blame the airline. Typical. Good luck with your vendetta.

[Survivor]

eliis379 - Have you contacted Customer Relations for a response to your concern?The policy changed April 10, and it's quite understandable there would be confusion over the numerous information emails/receipts that would have been in your possession. The Media is going to want to know what the official word was from AC so they can nail someone there as well so do some pre-work. Not being there, I can't speak to the situation but everything is electronically signed by everyone who came into contact with you and if it was a short amount of time it will be apparent. I know everyone wants to spend the least amount of time at an airport as possible, but it's just not possible in todays environment. Good Luck

[ellis379]

Yes I contacted them both on phone and via email. The email to the news media was also sent to air Canada. No response. If I was to hear this as a story from someone else I wouldn't believe it. After failed attempt to check in at kiosk, I went directly to counter to check in, there was no line up, and after a friendly hello and chit chat with agent I was told I was to late. I hope there is a digital record. I also had my brother with me, and we know it was 37 minutes before flight time After the attempt at checking in.
The real issue is lack of customer support . Turn away a customer over a policy, and then try to over charge on later flight. Over charge by $800 per ticket.
I just want others to know about it. If I had any idea something like this could happen I would have used West jet. Last year I booked 210 return flights for employees, I put an end to our company using air Canada today.

[jimworcs]

Judge....

Policy changed April 10th....not quite as black and white as it seemed eh?

[The_Judge]

Very black and white. OP mentioned rebooking on Sunday. I'm going to infer that was last Sunday, the 21st of April. I believe that is 11 days after the changeover.

[mars6423]

Originally Posted by ellis379

I have repeated twice where I saw the check in time. I have also compared the itinerary from today's flight, to the itinerary for the rescheduled flight and an added expense. The new itinerary for the flight I have Sunday does state the 45 minute check in deadline. Whereas the one for today stated 30 minutes. And being late is not my issue anyhow, my issue is being 3 minutes late for check in policy and rather than Air Canada exercising any customer care, I am shown the door. My interview with Ctv will reflect that. Maybe if more people would share their bad experiences with Air Canada less people would fly with them and they would realize they have customer service issues.
I am not sure what you do for a living, but judging from your attitude, vocabulary and complete lack of concern for a customer, you should fill out an application at Air Canada Customer support. Thanks.

if they change it for you they have to change it for everyone, thats why they have policies in place such as deadlines

they still have to do flight manifests, standby passengers, etc so to you while it may be a few mins, you were still late while others were on time and the seats may have been given to a standby passenger

[The_Judge]

Save your breath. The passenger was admittedly late. Saw the error when I posted the policy and STILL doesn't get it. Even if an itinerary says 30 minutes, who in the hell shows up 37 minutes before a flight who has not even checked in?? Certainly not me. I just flew last weekend domestically and was at the airport, after checking in the night before, 2 hours early.

[Survivor]

One of the Values of Air Canada is "to make every Customer feel Valued". It is well within the job description of the person behind the desk to take the necessary action "at the time you become aware of customer dissatisfaction" to fix the problem. It is not policy to have the customer call to fix the problem on the day of flight when the airport is already empowered to fix the problem. She never should have left the airport unhappy - someone got lazy.

[jimworcs]

The point is this. If Air Canada emailed an itinerary to the customer stating 30 minutes, then changed their policy April 10th, to 45 mins, they had two options. 1. Honour the agreement made at the time of booking, or 2. Email the customers to advise them o the change. As they did neither, I think they have a point.

However, i would never arrive at an airport with such a small margin for error. Airline employees are notoriously obnoxious and take pleasure in exercising their "power".

[The_Judge]

When an impending change is made, a disclaimer will be written on any correspondence to passengers. Airlines have legal departments and they have half a brain so they know to plan ahead. If a ticket is purchased by and documents are mailed to a passenger before the April 10th change, the disclaimer will read something like, "Minimum check-in time before Apr 10 is 30 minutes. Check-in time for all domestic flights on and after April 10th have a minimum check-in time of 45 minutes"

Airlines have no heart but they are not stupid. They legally cover their a$$e$ to the best of their ability and I will assure you that this disclaimer was published.

[jimworcs]

Judge, the customer is telling us categorically that their documentation does not say this, and their journey coincides with the policy change. If it does, then you are right, they have no leg to stand on. However, they are adament their documentation does not say this and I think that would make it a legitimate complaint.

There may well be a generic clause hidden in the T&C's on page 251, sub clause 50 which says that these T&C's are subject to change, however the courts have repeatedly found that where there is a significant or material change to a contract, the onus is on the company to notify the passenger.

[The_Judge]

Jimmy,(which by the way is the name of of one of my sons), I think you realize this particular situation favors the airline, thus your generic response. I challenge you or the OP to contradict me and if so, I will be MORE THAN HAPPY TO BE BANNED from this wonderful board.

[A320FAN]

Originally Posted by jimworcs

The point is this. If Air Canada emailed an itinerary to the customer stating 30 minutes, then changed their policy April 10th, to 45 mins, they had two options. 1. Honour the agreement made at the time of booking, or 2. Email the customers to advise them o the change. As they did neither, I think they have a point.

However, i would never arrive at an airport with such a small margin for error. Airline employees are notoriously obnoxious and take pleasure in exercising their "power".

What is this "power" you think the airline employees have, aside from yes and no. Do you know that we are judged based on our performance, and how quickly we can process the passengers, and turn the aircrafts around. Before you consider typing your reply, put your self in our shoes for once, and think about how you would perform given a 150+ seat aircraft and a limited amount of time to perform the turn. I have closed cabin doors, and left people only to have then get ticked off, and some use the lame excuse trying to park the car thinking that the airlines are responsible for that, or for what happens on the roadway leading into the airport. I take no pleasure in that, but I can not explain any delays unless it is out of my control like maintaince, or GDPs etc........

[jimworcs]

A320, you respond not by addressing this problem, but instead by citing unreasonable passenger behaviour. A passenger who expects a flight to be delayed because they needed extra time to park their car has no excuse. I have already criticised the time allowed by the passenger in this case too.

My point is a simple one. When the passenger booked the flight, they received written communication from the airline which stated that they must check in 30 minutes prior to departure. The airline subsequently changed their policy and increased this to 45 minutes. The passenger claims they received no further notification of this. In this situation, the airline employee should have allowed the passenger to check in. It is that simple