Do airlines suddenly care about their customers? Well, it may be a bit premature to say they all do, but some of them seem to be making a serious effort. And I’m not just talking about British Airways, which has promised to compensate victims of its latest fare error.
Air Canada is in the game, too. Just listen to Yang Hermes, who was on a recent Air Canada Jazz flight from Norman Wells to Vancouver with a connection to Asia, and had — his words here — an “amazing” experience.
By the time I got to the airport I realized I forgot my mobile and I could not do without it.
When I got to the check-in counter at a bit past 7 p.m., I asked politely if I could be put on the last flight of the day instead (which was at 9 p.m.) so I could have someone bring the phone to me.
The agent found my reservation and told me that I checked in for the flight already and if I would like to change my flight there would be charges. Then, amazingly, instead of looking at me impatiently and asking for how I would like to pay for the change fee, she asked me how come I wanted the change anyway.
I was totally surprised by this since Air Canada Jazz has a monopoly on this route and they, in my past experience, did not really care what or why a passenger wanted something; the answer was always NO or “How would you like to pay for that?”
So the counter agent calmed me down and wanted me to make sure there was someone to send the phone for me, then she radio’d the gate agent and said that she would be changing the flight for me. Then she printed my boarding pass and checked in my luggage without saying another thing. “This way you’d have more than ample of time before your flight,” and she smiled and handed me my boarding pass.
How nice. In an era of “no waivers, no favors” not charging a change fee was a meaningful gesture. But there was more.
When I called my friend who was supposed to bring me the phone on a pay phone, he said he was already close to the airport. Then he suddenly realized that he was in such a rush that he forgot to bring my phone with him.
“Oh my God,” I thought. I really panicked because I was already on the last flight out and if I missed that flight too I would also miss the rest of my flights out of Vancouver on the same night. So I cleared the security and went to my boarding gate to find the agent. She saw me and she sounded like she was worried for me too! She asked if I got the phone yet and I told her the situation.
She calmed me down and she promised that she would hold the flight for as long as possible for me, since it was the last flight. Usually they have a policy of 25 minutes gate cut-off, but she held the flight until five to 9 p.m., and amazingly the flight still left on-time!
She even communicated my situation with the airport security staff so they could help me speeding things along, and she even made special flight announcements for me so I could hear her outside waiting for my phone. When I got on board the flight attendant gave me a genuine smile and congratulated me and escorted me to my seat. I would not have been as impressed by all this had it been a regular day flight, but being the last flight of the day it meant that these amazing people were actually working outside of their time to help me.
What great people.
It is so unusual to hear about going-the-extra-mile service on an airline that I had to publish this story. Hermes agrees.
I know Air Canada has a relatively low reputation in Canada as people — myself included before — usually sneer at them for poor service.
It really made my day, and not just because I saved the 50 dollars change fee, but our entire exchange was sincerely personal and caring. I know the airline industry makes a lot of money from ancillary revenue, but it is nice to be reminded that the agents that we face everyday are just people too, and since they’re not pocketing whatever fees we pay to the big company, we should not treat them with the attitude we have for their employers.
How true.
(Photo: Eric Begin/Flickr Creative Commons)
✓ Get the latest travel news, tips and commentary from Elliott’s E-Mail, the subversive newsletter from industry gadfly Christopher Elliott. You’ll travel like a pro. Sign up here. It’s free.
Sign up for my 
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
You mean they actually held up the flight for one customer? And you think this is great! Then I must have a strange view of customer service. They gave one customer exceptional service, but what about the other people on the flight. I’d be mad as hell if I was booked on that flight and they held up the flight for one person, especially if was just because he forgot his cell phone.
@Steve, the plane had an on-time departure, as the customer noted. Yes, I think that’s good customer service. No one was inconvenienced.
@Chris. Sorry, I missed that it left on time. My fault! I thought they held everyone up since he said “they were holding the plane for him as long as possible”. I had this happen last year. They held the plane for 20 minutes for a man to find his wife who had gone to the restroom. Needless to say, the rest of the passengers weren’t too happy.
It’d also be nice to know what kind of fare did he pay…was it something close to Y? Or was it a simple online “cheap” fare? If so, that’s EXCELLENT customer service, but if it was close to full-fare, although it’s still good customer service, you can’t help but wonder, “how about those of us who book on a lower class fare?”
I wish American would catch on the bandwagon of better customer service like the last few blogs I have read. I’m having surgery in a few days and the person who needs/wants to take care of me will have to fly in. I called AA to see what the least costly option would be. 75,000 miles and $150.00 later, they had booked two round trip tickets. Usually these tickets are 25,000 round trip, with a $10.00 fee. They (my mother and brother) booked the flight using Advantage Miles, then the next day both came down with the flu, and were unable to fly. Again I called American Airlines…these tickets are not refundable, but are usable up to a year. I rescheduled the surgery for early next week, and only one person will be able to come. I called American Airlines again to see what the best option would be, and it seems it would be best not to use the original tickets, because only one person would be flying. So 37,500 miles and $100.00 later, my mother has another ticket. I asked AA if they would waive the second $100.00 and just charge the $10.00 booking fee. Yeah right, like that was going to happen. I wasn’t expecting it considering it would have been just a good will gesture, but it would have built a little more loyalty to the airline. BTW I asked if they had an emergency type ticket, and there “were not any available during this time.”
My wife and I were on Air Canada yesterday. We flew into Newark, which had all but one runway closed due to winds. The pilots landed the plane safely in these challenging condtions, we got in about 15 minutes early. My wife and I paid to upgrade to business class, and the service was excellant. The in flight services were what you would expect in business class (unlike American, which gave us a cookie when we upgraded last year on a flight from N.O. to Dallas). Air Canada did everything absolutly fine from reservation to check in, to boarding, departure, inflight service, etc.
omg!!! there must be a good costomer service appedemic!! this is what, the fourth or fifth time in the couple weeks that an airline did something nice without getting the media involved?! world gone crazy!!!
Air Canada know where the money are.
Air Canada always make a extra effort to provide better services and cares to international destinations specially to Asia to be able to compete with others Asian airlines like Thai, Singapore Airlines, Asiana, etc… I travel twice a year to Asia with Air Canada and always went smoothly. When Air Canada took a new delivery of airplanes, they used its on the Asian routes first.
I think the exceptional level of service he received might be due to the location and size of the airport not a change of policy at Air Canada. I’ve never had a bad experience with Air Canada, but I have flown through Norman Wells, and the only people who fly through there either live up there, or are working. http://www.normanwells.com/get_here/index.html
Interestingly enough, Air Canada used to have a reputation as a really great airline.
I recently called into Air Canada to book a flight for my parents and the customer representative was great! She was patient and explained everything to us. She even told us which flights were cheaper to take and recommended them to us.
I realize that in the past Air Canada has had its issues with customer service. However, I recently heard that the company was restructuring their policies and how they basically do business, regarding pricing and service, to make them more competitive against WestJet, who were awfully rude. Anyways I would highly recommend this airline for any Canadian.