Comments on: An “amazing” experience on Air Canada — what the heck is going on?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:56:21 +0000

I had a fantastic experience with AirCanada too! I was coming back to the US from the UK on Air Canada connectiong through Toronto. Our flight out of Hethrow was just very slow getting out – a lot of time spent waiting in line to takeoff. When we landed with only 30 minutes to make our connection (and go through US customs which you can do in Toronto apparently) we were a little freaked out. But while waiting for our bags to show up to go through customs there was an AirCanada desk so I went to ask what I should do. He asked my name and said, “Yeah I saw you weren’t going to make that one so I re-booked you on the next flight an hour later, here are your new boarding passes and when you get your bags bring them by and I re-tag them.” I was almost speachless that an airline employee had pre-emptively fixed my problems for me. I thanked him profusely and the next time I fly internationally I will certainly try to fly AirCanada.

By: david c

david c — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:06:41 +0000

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.

By: Barry Graham

Barry Graham — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:19:24 +0000

Interestingly enough, Air Canada used to have a reputation as a really great airline.

By: heather

heather — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:38:28 +0000

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

By: Dang

Dang — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:04:15 +0000

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.

By: Ronda

Ronda — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:49:24 +0000

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!!!

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:03:34 +0000

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.

By: CC

CC — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:43:26 +0000

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.”

By: Duke Nukem

Duke Nukem — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:50:39 +0000

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?”

By: Steve Westman

Steve Westman — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:28:40 +0000

@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.

By: Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:11:20 +0000

@Steve, the plane had an on-time departure, as the customer noted. Yes, I think that’s good customer service. No one was inconvenienced.

By: Steve Westman

Steve Westman — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:54:37 +0000

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.