Air Canada: for $35, we'll let you talk to customer-service reps who can actually help you with a cancelled flight

Air Canada continues its slide into self-parody with a new optional service for fliers: for a mere $25-$35 per trip, the airline will sell you its "On My Way" service. What's "On My Way" service? It's a special number you can call that's staffed with people who aren't anaesthatized, script-reading drones, in the event that the airline loses your luggage, cancels your flight, or otherwise screws you over. This is the same airline that charges coach passengers two bucks for a "pillow" that's actually a ziploc bag you blow up and slip into a paper doily (business- and first-class passengers get their ziploc bags for free), so I guess it's all in keeping with business as usual at Canada's flagship air-carrier.

Air Canada said passengers who opt to pay an additional $25 one-way on short-haul flights and an extra $35 one-way on long-haul routes within North America will receive "speedy" access to "specially-trained" customer service agents who will help rebook flights on Air Canada or other airlines, as well as pay for hotel stays and meals, if necessary.
Air Canada said the program, which applies to any flight cancelled within 48 hours of the scheduled departure, goes beyond the industry practice of assisting customers affected by schedule changes deemed to be the airline's fault, such as mechanical problems with aircraft, scheduling glitches or crew members failing to show up for flights.
But while Air Canada is touting the program as an industry-first, at least one observer said it was once common for big North American carriers to go out of their way to help inconvenienced or stranded customers – free.

Link (via Consumerist)

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trr

I flew Air Canada once to Vancouver from Portland. I got delayed in the Vancouver Airport due to some terrorist threat, IIRC, but otherwise it was an unremarkable experience.
In a few weeks I will fly a long trip on Lufthansa, and I expect the service to be much better – it better be for $2000 a ticket.
crankyflier

Wuss912 (comment #15) – Airlines will put you on another carrier if the delay or cancellation is their fault (mechanical, crew problems, etc). But if it’s out of their control (weather, air traffic control, etc), they will not as policy. If an agent did put you on another airline, then that person went above and beyond what Alaska’s policy states.
trr

#8 and #15,
Alaska Airlines bought me lunch (OK, a $6 voucher) when a recent flight was delayed about 2-3 hours and gave me a certificate for $25 off or 1000 frequent flier miles.
chrisrawk

I occasionally fly Air Canada between east Asia and Canada. AC always gives inferior service compared to Korean or Japanese carriers. The Air Canada flight attendants are old and grumpy. They don’t speak Asian languages, and they seem to think that speaking louder helps non-English (or non-French) speakers understand. It’s embarassing for me as a Canadian living in Asia to see how they treat Asian visitors to Canada.
alethos

-Pleasant service: Firstborn child
Giving a flight attendant a baby will help things how? :-)

Seriously, though, this is ridiculous. Is the difference you’re paying for a matter of keeping more service reps available per customer when flights are cancelled, or do they really just not give the magic Speedy-Training ™ to their normal–free–service reps?
gnp

On Air Canada’s web site, if you want to purchase your tickets online with a credit card, you have to agree to Verified by Visa or Mastercard SecureCode. Of course, if you don’t accept the fine print of either of those systems, you have to call Air Canada and book through one of their ticket agents, which costs an additional $25 per passenger.
Takuan

I do not apologize for this!

A guy sitting at a bar at Heathrow Airport noticed a really beautiful
woman sitting next to him.

He thought to himself: ‘Wow, she’s so gorgeous she must be an off duty flight attendant. But which airline does she work for?’

Hoping to make her acquaintance, he leaned towards her and uttered
the Delta slogan: ‘Love to fly and it shows?’ She gave him a blank, confused stare and he immediately thought to himself: ‘Damn, she doesn’t work for Delta.’

A moment later, another slogan popped into his head. He leaned towards her again ‘Something special in the air?’ She gave him the same confused look. He mentally kicked himself, and scratched Singapore Airlines off the list.

Next he tried the Thai Airways slogan: ‘Smooth as Silk.’ This time the woman turned on him, and said, ‘What the f *** do you want?’

The man smiled, then slumped back in his chair,
and said ‘Ahhhhh, Air Canada . ‘
Takuan

on a lighter note, I did hear from an Air Canada employee that the company did their best to dump all liability for the shockingly high rates of cancers in cabin crew.
Wareq

gethuman is handy.
Fran Six

Airlines are always playing in the imbroglio of accepting people’s money and not providing the service. But then again, that’s what corporations are all about innit? “Air Cordoba” simply sees that as part of its own priviledge.

But then again, Canadian travellers are probably the most inclined to be miserably dissatisfied when they pay the absolute least amount possible for a service and somehow do not arrive at having limousines and caviar.

In my experience airline passengers somehow have come to believe they’re just like the sweet, old easygoing Duchess Of Broughton and yet turn into Queen Latifa with irritable bowel syndrome in very short order.

I really love the way Richard Burton says: ‘Frahncis:’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhHGYk7nn_4

Now do you see how I mean?
Baldhead

Another reason why I say that if, say British Airways or Lufthansa were to run domestic flights in Canada or US, local airlines would go down like their wings were clipped.
J450N

Top level management believes Air Canada is one of the best airlines in the world.

Until top management understands the truth that Air Canada is one of the World’s worst airlines experiences for most customers, even this boingboing.net multi-million impression PR won’t make a difference.
crankyflier

I don’t get all the hatred here. You find me a US-based airline that will put you on another airline or pay for your hotel and meals when the flight is delayed or canceled due to weather or air traffic control. There isn’t one.

And Darran – I can certainly understand if you prefer Qantas to Australia, but you say you also fly United? Yikes. The 747s that fly down to Australia have only the old school projector screens. That is not my idea of fun.
Dead Robot

My brother wrote a play called “The Innocent Eye Test” and the opening line was “Why does Air Canada hate us so?”

So appropriate.
Anonymous

We suffered the wrath of Air Canada by not paying the special service fee. We books five months ahead with a fare that allowed advance seat selection. On the flight the seats were given away, I assume to someone who paid the extra $35.00. I request a refund of the portion of the fare that applied to advance seat selection and they refused.
Rich Gibson

I don’t doubt that Air Canada is particularly bad.

It may once have been “common for big North American carriers to go out of their way to help inconvenienced or stranded customers â€“ free.” But that was also when airline fares were regulated at a much higher level than now.
The Unusual Suspect

Fortunately for Canadians, WestJet rocks. CanJet is pretty good too.

(I have no commercial interest in either airline. I am just a happy customer, something that Air Canada couldn’t find these days even if they bothered to look.)
g3n3tix

They want more…moneh.
The internet moneh, as well as people’s moneh.

(South Park reference, watch
http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/165203/ !)
macdonst

I’m Canadian and I go out of my way to avoid flying Air Canada whenever possible. I try to go WestJet or Porter instead.

This is a crappy policy. On Saturday I was stuck in Fort Myers, FL due to mechanical failure and the Continental reps busted their butts to get everyone out on another flight (Jose C, you rock).

We ended up taking a Delta flight out on Sunday which was fine with us as we got another day in Florida.
a random John

For about four years I flew to Canada regularly. Air Canada is by far the worst airline that I’ve ever used. There are several reasons for this.

The first is customer service. There is none. They are rude from the moment you enter the terminal until you get off your flight.

Second is the equipment. The have a very unique mixture of aircraft. I fly regularly and I’ve been on at least three planes with Air Canada that I’ve never even seen anywhere else. All were more uncomfortable than the average plane. The worst, a BAE model that had an extremely worn interior that looked like it was from 1969 (orange paisley in 2004?) was easily the loudest plane that I’ve ever been on. Perhaps the slowest as well. I dreaded Montreal to Boston because of this aircraft. The noise canceling headphones, they do nothing!

Finally, they are completely inflexible. More than once I would arrive at the airport several hours early and ask to fly standby on an earlier flight. My request was always denied. Not because the planes were full. In fact they would tell me that the planes had plenty of room. It was because of my class of ticket. Even though I had purchased a fully refundable ticket they claimed that I could not use that ticket to fly standby on an earlier flight. There wasn’t even an option to pay $50 to do so. Flying standby was simply impossible.

I’m not even going to mention the frequent breakdowns, missed connections, or other headaches that I experienced with Air Canada.

US airlines (especially post 9-11) are no joy to fly with. Air Canada is orders of magnitude worse than the major US carriers.
Wrye

I just really wish WestJet would get themselves a frequent flyer plan and get a corporate culture that’s a little more professional and a little less mandated cutseyness. Subjecting the passengers to attendants singing showtunes while landing is many things, but an incentive to return it is not.
janusnode

Another brilliant move by our sad national airline. Sigh. Check out http://www.IHateAirCanada.ca
Lady Cooper

Other proposed Err Canada services:

-Ensuring your baggage will actually get to your destination and not be left in a snowbank in Toronto: $30
-Ensuring that if your flight time is bumped forward five hours, you will actually receive notification of the change: $50
-Plane actually leaving on time fee: $75
-Pleasant service: Firstborn child
Nestor

Westjet is almost always cheaper and actually has real, friendly customer service.
rosco

Two Airlines, two totally different experiences:

1.
I showed up late for a Westjet flight a few years ago. The plane was gone and I hadn’t even checked-in. It was totally my fault but I needed to get to Winnipeg that evening. Westjet took pity on me and refunded my money on the spot so I could book a flight with another carrier! I have loved WJ ever since and always fly domestically with them (even if AC or another carrier is offering a lower fair).

2.
I booked a flight with Air Canada to the UK (again it was a couple of years back) but then had to cancel. AC wouldn’t refund my money (1200 bucks) but instead gave me the ticket value (minus penalties) for use on a future flight with them. Fair enough I thought, until I actually went to use the credit for another flight. That’s when I was told that my initial ticket purchase had been for a discount fair but that my credit was only good for a full fair price. Total scam. Price from Calgary to St. Johns at full fair price? $4000. To Vancouver? 2500. To Edmonton? 1500. I gave up. The only way I could use my credit was to give them more of my money.

Viva la WestJet and death to AC!
jonathansalembaskin

I’m interested in what the decision to monetize customer service does to the service offered to all the poor, hapless traveling slobs who elect NOT to pay for the attention…

I’ve written about this action/reaction relationship in services these days at DIM BULB: http://dimbulb.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/04/actionreaction.html
Fran Six

‘Frawhncis’ sounds like ‘Lafawhnda’ kinda makes me feel all girly inside.
Spankr

I hear it’s only $15 for ‘the steam off their pee’…
Antinous

I can’t believe that you referenced The VIPs! My favorite part is the very young Maggie Smith not wanting to drink because she’ll be ‘squiffy’.
Takuan

met a woman once who met her, apparently her eyes really are violet
Wuss912

#8 that is not true.
alaska air has put me on delta before.
Darran Edmundson

I frequently fly United/Qantas from Canada to Australia. Last week I decided to try Air Canada’s Vancouver-Sydney service. Holy hell (ode to Corner Gas) what a terrible airline … it felt like I was on a cheap charter flight. I swear that on the way to Sydney we went 10 hours+ without anything to eat or drink. And while the seat-back entertainment system is appreciated (now standard on most airlines), Air Canada force you to watch commercials – the same three – over and over and over. Now I know why the fare was cheaper than Qantas.
cewood

What a joke! I am a frequent traveller (disclaimer: I am also Canadian) and Air Canada has never impressed me. They always seem to be the most expensive option, while not providing much additional value.

I am often left longing for low-cost carriers like Australia’s Virgin Blue or Jetstar. While I have to bring a couple bucks on the plane to pay for stuff I want, at least the planes leave on time and the staff are actually nice to me.

I think most people will just keep their 35 bucks and talk to the poorly trained representatives. After all, isn’t that what we are all used to everywhere else?
coop

If I have to watch “Maria” and her school friend reunite in the friends new vinyard in Italy I’ll scream.

Oh, you get to see it twice as many times, cause the voiceover is is both French and English, so they can spank you with schmaltz in both official languages.

coop
Anonymous

I’m a senior citizen and never travelled on Air Canada before, well this is the last time! From the moment I went to the checkin counter they chrged me $100.00, because my luggage weighed more.
I paid the $100.00 and then the checkin attendant told me to get my laptop out of my handbag, because it’s too heavy to take on the plane. My laptop is small and my hanbag isn’t huge!!!
The attendant’s colleague told her isn’t it enough that you charged him $100? What more do you want? I was surprised that the attendant stood up for me. This happened November 17, 2009 for the flight to Frankfurt leaving at 10:00pm. I love Canada, but these employees don’t represent politeness or couresty!!!
bookninja

I do everything in my power to avoid flying Air Canada. Cory’s “self-parody” crack is about as apt as it gets. Aside from the general incompetence (baggage loss, overbookings, cancellations, etc.) they have a shady side as well. They seem to be in the practice of opening routes/flights to compete with smaller, more reliable airlines, and then closing these routes once the competition bows out. There used to be a direct flight from St. John’s to London (4 hrs), but every time another airline tries to offer it (I think it was Astraeus last time), AC reopens theirs, cuts prices, and then disappears into the night once they’ve got the monopoly again. Frustrating.
The Unusual Suspect

Many of my relatives work or have worked for Air Canada, so I get to see the employee newsletters they publish.

I can tell you that it’s cultural.

While self-serving odes to management are to be expected in such publications, Air Canada’s employee newsletters are marked by the absolute arrogance and the contempt for customers that can be found on practically every page. Second only to this is the sense of hurt rebuke evidenced at the fact that the federal gov’t doesn’t completely ban all competition for AC (not quite).

It wasn’t always like this. My father-in-law, a retired AC mechanic, used to watch as an AC jet passed overhead and say, in mock amazement, “They’re STILL flying!”

Not much longer, sir.