[klopecki]

Below is the complaint that I sent to AirCanada, just to let them know of my dissatisfaction, not asking for any kind of remuneration (though I asked for a $20 reimbursement for my taxi-fare separately):



I was booked on AirCanada flight 874 from Montreal to Frankfurt for Monday, Oct 29, at 19:40, which was canceled and rescheduled as AC 2874 for Tuesday, Oct 30, at 9:30.

The on-board service was good (as has generally been the case in my experience with AirCanada), but the surrounding service was extremely bad and made the whole travel a very frustrating experience (and this has unfortunately also been quite a bit of a tendency in my experience with AirCanada). It took almost 38 hours from the time I got to the departing airport till the time I landed at the airport of my final destination -- with two unscheduled hotel nights -- for a trip that included just over 9 hours of flying time.

1. INCONVENIENT RESCHEDULING AND/OR FAILURE TO INFORM PASSENGERS OF THE REASONS FOR IT:

It is not clear to anyone why the Montreal-Frankfurt flight was rescheduled for 9:30 a.m. rather than for as early as possible, that is, for when the airport opens at 6:00 a.m. If the flight had left at 6:00 a.m., many passengers continuing within Europe would have been able to get a connection for the continuation of their journey from Frankfurt. On the other hand, scheduling the flight for only 9:30 a.m. meant that it was already accepted that almost no passengers would catch their connections and would have to spend a second night at an airport hotel. Maybe there was a reason for this later scheduling, but none was given to us, which obviously had everyone wondering and feeling that AirCanada just doesn’t care and that they didn’t do everything they could have for us to avoid a second night at an airport hotel.

2. NONEXISTENT BUS FOR GETTING FROM THE HOTEL BACK TO THE MONTREAL AIRPORT, AND HOW TO GET REFUNDED:

To leave the Montreal airport and go to the hotel after the cancelation of the flight, AirCanada arranged bus transportation. We were told there would also be buses there in the morning at 7:30, but this didn’t happen, and there was no announcement to let us know. A bunch of us waited outside for some 20 minutes before going to inquire at the hotel reception desk about the bus, and it was only then that we found out that there would be no bus and that they can call taxis for us, since the hotel shuttle that runs every half hour only carries 10 people and so there was no way everyone could use the shuttle and be there on time.

(It is possible that this was due to a passenger misunderstanding an AirCanada agent at the airport the previous night, and the misinformation then spreading among the passengers; however, if AirCanada staff had made it clear that there was no bus and that people had to find their own way of getting to the airport in the morning, no misunderstanding would have been possible.)

So I ended up getting a taxi to get back to the airport, which cost me $20. I was told at the hotel that I would be reimbursed by AirCanada; at the check-in at the airport, the AirCanada agent told me that this was true and that it would be done with an AirCanada agent in Frankfurt. When I asked about this in Frankfurt, they said that I will have to mail the receipt to AirCanada (but couldn’t give me an address at the time). It is very annoying to always be told different things by different agents; even though it most probably just has to do with their own lack of information, one comes to feel like they tell you whatever only to get rid of you.

Additional inconvenience of expecting a bus and then eventually having to take a taxi comes from the fact that the taxi driver, of course, would only accept cash. Since I thought I was leaving Canada, I made sure I spent my Canadian dollars the day before. So upon arriving to the airport, I had to run and find a bank machine, make a withdrawal (and get charged for making a withdrawal at a bank machine that is not my bank’s) and run back to the taxi driver to pay. Fortunately, I’m still partly based in Canada and thus have an account there; otherwise, I would have to make a withdrawal with my credit card, which means a big commission. This is not a direct fault of AirCanada; however, it is yet another inconvenience that normally arranged transportation from the hotel to the airport would have prevented.

3. SERVICE BEFORE THE DELAYED FLIGHT AT THE MONTREAL AIRPORT:

It must have been clear to AirCanada staff at the Montreal airport that if the flight from Montreal was to leave at 9:30 a.m., it would only get to Frankfurt around 10:00 p.m. (close to 8 hrs for the flight plus the time difference) and most of the passengers will have no chance of continuing on their connecting flights the same day. The AirCanada agents nevertheless made no effort to suggest to people that they might want to take some clean clothes, etc., from their bags before checking them. Indeed, some people’s bags were checked all the way, so they ended up at the hotel in Frankfurt without access to clean underwear, their toothbrush, etc.

4. SERVICE FOR PASSENGERS ON THE RESCHEDULED FLIGHT AT THE FRANKFURT AIRPORT:

When we landed in Frankfurt, there were some agents waiting for the few (I believe it was three) individual passengers who were still in time to make their connection; providing agents to lead these passengers to their gates was nice. But for the rest of us, there was one agent (possibly two). And what this agent did was explain to the first group of passengers who got off the plane what the plan was, and then led this group away; other passengers, who were still getting off the plane at that time, had no idea where to go, whether they should claim their luggage at all, whether they should first claim their luggage and then go to the counter or the other way round, etc. Why were there not more agents there? Or why did the agent that was there not wait for everyone to get off the plane before making her announcements, and then lead everyone off to the claim-baggage area and/or the AirCanada counter? And why not use the public announcing system at the airport to make sure everyone can hear what she is saying?

Some people asked this agent whether they should claim their bags, and she said no, they’re set to go all the way. If it wasn’t for some passengers who pointed out that their bags are only tagged till Frankfurt, all those who did not think of checking their baggage tags might have left the bags unclaimed at the airport, unknowingly. Thinking of things such as checking the baggage tag in such situations is precisely the job of AirCanada’s agents, and shouldn’t be left to the coincidence of whether there are or aren’t alert passengers around.

At the AirCanada counter, there were two agents to rebook almost the whole plane (and a third one pre-checking the people in the line); I waited in line for over an hour. Why did AirCanada not make sure that some more agents would still be at the airport when the plane arrived, given that they knew almost all passengers would have to be rebooked?

AirCanada made arrangements with a Frankfurt-airport hotel, but misinformed the hotel on the number of beds needed; the hotel therefore had to make further arrangements for the last passengers with another hotel. This, of course, took extra time. I arrived at the hotel at close to 1 a.m., for the second night in a row.

At no time did any AirCanada representative ask if anyone needed any assistance with the luggage; I happened to have 60kg of luggage, which I had to get from the Montreal airport to the hotel and then back to the airport the next morning, and then from the Frankfurt airport to the hotel and then back to the airport the next morning. No AirCanada representative ever showed any concern.

5. AMOUNT AND QUALITY OF FOOD AND ITS DISTRIBUTION:

The Montreal-Frankfurt flight was delayed a couple of times, before finally being canceled and rescheduled. At some point during the wait at the Montreal airport, AirCanada staff served pizza and drinks. Firstly, the distribution was badly organized, with only two agents distributing the food to 140 or so passengers. Many passengers were annoyed, having to wait in line for the slice of pizza for an unnecessarily long time; I ended up deciding to go and get some food at one of the airport restaurants. The annoying line-up could have been avoided with a food voucher for the restaurants. Secondly, for many people, a slice of pizza is hardly enough and hardly the quality/type of food one expects for supper if this is supposed to be the only meal before the next morning; after the flight was canceled and we got to the hotel (after midnight), there was no food available, not even for purchase, as the hotel restaurant had closed.

Food/supper was again an issue the following night. After landing in Frankfurt and after going through the rebooking at the AirCanada counter, my group of passengers was brought to the hotel close to 1 a.m. There was no food available at the hotel at that time, and the last meal we had had was on the plane; AirCanada agents never bothered to ask if food might be an issue for anyone.

(The one time AirCanada did take care of the food in a normal way was the morning after the first airport-hotel night; when we came back to the Montreal airport, we were given 8-dollar vouchers for breakfast. However, we had already had the chance to have breakfast at the hotel, so on this occasion, food was a lot less of an issue than on any of the above mentioned occasions.)

6. TRAVEL VOUCHER:

In view of the inconvenience for interrupted travel plans, AirCanada gave us vouchers for CAD100 to use towards our next booking. My ticket cost EUR750, roughly CAD1016. The voucher is thus worth under 10% of the ticket I used for this travel. I suggest that AirCanada either doesn’t give out vouchers, or it makes sure their worth is such that they actually feel like a compensation. For two unplanned nights in airport hotels (disregarding all of the other inconvenience mentioned above), giving a voucher of under 10% of the original expense is, well, cheap.