!!nightmare with Air Canada!!!

[jaret]

Just thought I should let you all know the problems we had with Air Canada.My mother booked a dream trip for all 10 of us(my parents,my brother,his girlfreind and her son and my family of 5) to go to WDW.She booked in august and paid in full in November,with air canada vacations.We all arrived in Toronto for our overnight(we are from Thunder Bay)Left the hotel at 7am for our 10:15 direct flight to Orlando,to be told at the counter my family of five had 1 seat on the plane!!but not to worry they tagged all of our luggage with my 5 years olds seat to go and we would get seats at the gate.The other 5 in our party all had seats.So to the gate we go and after waiting we were told we would not know if we could all get on until just before boarding.So at the last minute they came and told us we could have 2 seats so pick two kids and send them!!!( my kids are 9,7,5)We promptly said no,and told my brother(and his family)and my parents to get on the plane as we are told our luggage is going without us(it was tagged with my son"s seat)So with them crying and 2 of my children in tears we were all separated.Then we waited to see what was going to happen next.Well our first option was not good we would arrive in orlando at 22:30 hrs.So the nice person at Air Canada found us seats on a flight to Atlanta which left at 15:30 (so a five and a half hour wait for us with 3 kids)and a conecting flight to Orlando from there on Delta.So we used our lunch vouchers to feed our starving children and patiently waited for our flight.Once in Atlanta we had to run to catch our connecting flight(thank goodness my kids were so good) to find out we had to be hand searched before we boarded!!!Let me tell you two of my kids(the 5 and 7 year old)were in tears.They are shy kids and this sure tramatized them!So them we board the flight and land in Orlando at 20:30 hrs and meet my parents and Brother at Port Orleans Riverside at about 22:00 hrs.Then after being assured in Toronto we had 10 seats on our return flight and they were all together we arrive to find out my family of 5 has 3 seats and my brothers family has 2!!Now here is the good part,Air Canada has no personal at ORLANDO airport it is United Airlines checking you in!They gave us Air Canada's toll free number to call to fix things which we did and managed to make connections all the way home.So beware of Air Canada this apparently happens all of the time with them.

 

[#1 Disney Fan]

Ugh. What an experience! I can't believe they wanted to you send 2 of your kids on alone! Wow. Sad to say that I am not at all surprised though.

We had our own "Air Canada terrible experience" on our way to Orlando last February. We didn't have flight attendants for our first leg (connecting through Toronto) so our plane couldn't take off until they arrived and as a result we missed the connection in Toronto. Since we knew our plane was going to be late, we inquired here before we left as to our options and they <i>assured</i> us that we would be on the next direct flight out if we didn't make the connection. Well, we did just miss our connection, they hadn't held the flight to Orlando for everyone on our plane, and then they told us that we had to rebook our own connection flight on the telephone! When we finally got through to someone, they told us we couldn't get to Orlando for THREE days! 3 days out of a week-long vacation is a very long time! There was Canada 3000 direct flight but they wouldn't let us fly with them, it had to be only certainl airlines that they'd let us take instead. So, after much discussion and pleading we finally got on another airline the next day (American I believe?) and flew to New York and then to Orlando from there. So, it took 2 days and 3 planes instead of 1 day and 2 planes. It made it an incredibly unpleasant experience on top of the fact that they didn't come through on what they had assured us. Everything was booked for our arrival the day before, so we lost a day at the Disney parks, we still paid for that day of the car rental, etc etc. We wrote to Air Canada to tell them of our experience, but other than a "we received your letter" note, we never heard back at all. Sorry to make this so long, but I feel for you... it's too bad that things like this happen so often. Hope your trip was enjoyable once you finally got there!

 

[sammi]

Jaret that's terrible!!!!!!I can't believe that AC would be that bad! WOW I hope you lodge a serious complaint to them and they had better give you all a free flight for your inconvenience and especially upsetting the kids like they did! I've never personally flew with AC but I have gone with Canada 3000 (they were a great airline ) and Air Transat...also no problems with them either.

I'm so sorry that you all had to go through that experience and I hope you got in touch with their office regarding this mess! Was the rest of your holiday good?

Thanks for letting us know as I really don't think I'd go through AC after reading this!

 

[SandraC]

YIKES! We are taking Air Canada from Toronto to Orlando in 8 weeks! There are 4 of us, 2 adults, 2 kids (8 and 2). We pre-booked out seats to get the bulk head and window seats ~ do you think that will make a difference? They already changed our flight times, but we don't mind, the change was advantagious for us ~ at least on the way there, on the way home is okay, but we preferred the old departure time.

Last year we flew Air Transat, other than crappy food and a landing in Pearson that scared the geebeez out of me, they we great!

I am sorry for your terrible time with Air Canada. Sandra

 

[eleanor]

We flew AC in Dec 2001 and I wont fly with them again if I can help it.

 

[jaret]

SandraC we had booked seats also but Air Canada kept changing the aircraft type and we kept losing our seats until we lost them completely.But we did not realize it until the time came to get our boarding passes.On Feb3rd we were assured we were completely booked for our return flight to have them gone on Feb 17th.So you never know.Also make sure you have snacks and water for your kids.They no longer serve anything but chips or pretzles on the flight and a drink,so your kids will need something.On our return flight I bought hamburgers for them at the airport, for them to eat on the plane(the poor people near us)And yes we did enjoy ourselves at Disney World and our planning to go back in 2005.But we may just drive or we will fly thru the states.we are not sure yet.Our travel agent has taken a short list of our complaints and sent it to Air Canada Vacations,along with her own concerns.I am giving her a week before I send my letter to them with all of my concerns and complaints.The sad thing is Air Canada is doing this routinely.The clerk who rebooked our flights had been doing it for every flight that she boarded that day!We heard the annoucement many times that day,if you do not get on your flight you will get a voucher for lunch and $300 for future travel.Not that I will ever fly with them again.I will let everyone know the reply we get no matter how long it takes.


Good Luck Sandra C and let me know how your flight goes!!

 

[SandraC]

Do you think this is the norm? I flew Air Canada years ago and quite enjoyed the experience. We have been to Florida on Canada 3000 and Air Transat. We were actually looking forward to a change. We figured Air Canada would be a nice change. I am concerned now? I wonder if anyone has had a good experience they can share. THX! Sandra

 

[TimNDansMom]

Oh boy! I hope Air Canada gets itself straightened out by next year. We have Air Miles that we want to put towards a trip to Hawaii! It will be 15 years since we've been and it will be our 20th wedding anniversary and I hope they don't ruin it for us!

 

[wenabre]

I guess we are in the minority but every time we have flown Air Canada we have had no problems. The seats are the ones assigned at booking, the staff have been helpful and all the delays have been minimal. But I have a horror story about North Western.....
I am sorry for people who have a bad flight expierence and I hope that the people who work for AC and made these mistakes are taught how to do their jobs properly and with some sort of compassion and understanding, especially when it comes to comments like 'pick 2 out of 3 children', that is beyond stupid !!

 

[DCinNs]

We used AC to fly to Tampa on Feb 1...three adults & one child. We were to fly from Halifax to Toronto & then to Tampa. The day we were to leave there was a storm on TO so I called AC's 800# to make sure our flight was still leaving Halifax @ 07:55 & it was. Arrived 06:00 and saw on the screen that our flight was CANCELLED! We went to the check in and were advised that three of us were booked on a flight th aternoon & the other (Mom in Law), was booked for the next day! The check in agent was very kind and sympathetic and could not figure out what "moron" (her word), would re-schedule us like that. She was able to get us out on the 06:55 flight that was delayed but still going. NOTE....ARRIVE EARLY< EARLY<EARLY!!!!! so you beat out the other poor souls to replacement flights.There were only five seats available on that flight & we got four of them. She also checked on our connection to Tampa and found out it was overbooked So she checked us on it then & got us our boarding passes. I wish I had her name...it is so rare these day to get someone who goes the extra mile. We ended up in TO @ 10:00 & our connection left @ 10:45!! not alot of time to p/u luggage, go through US Customs & return luggage & go through security....made it to the gate as plane was doing final boarding!!!! You don't know how fast you can go until you find out you may lose a day in the Sunny South!!! LOL!
Next time we will fly a charter direct out of Halifax, even with the cramped seat its still better than connectns. We used Air Miles this time so we had to use AC.

 

[Marion]

I'm afraid I can't add anything good about Air Canada either...they seem to be okay to fly for domestic flights, but I'm steering clear of them for international. The reason? They have little to no support for passengers outside of the country. We used them twice to fly to Miami to connect with our cruise line...getting there was fine, both times. Coming back the first time was awful. It was March of '92 when the whole coast was hit by a snow storm, our ship was late in docking and we missed our flight to TO by minutes. The airport was FULL of stranded passengers, planes were late because of the weather and we were all put on stand-by.

I should mention that I was travelling as an escort for my 90 year old grandfather. Short story is, we were stuck in the Miami airport for 30 hours (no hotels etc available). All around us were people travelling on other airlines who put extra flights on to deal with their customers. Air Canada left us on stand-by....felt like a lottery every time a flight was boarding. The worst was, my mom had gone to the ticket counter for info and found that air canada was SELLING tickets for the very flights WE were waiting desperately to get stand-by seats on.

Meanwhile, back at the waiting area, Air Canada wouldn't even cough up so much as a pillow or blanket for my exhausted Grandfather...a lovely lady from Delta came through for us. They gave us no meal vouchers, but Holland America helped us out there. Bottom line is, they appear to have no compassion for stranded passengers and nothing is EVER their problem. They did come through for us in Toronto though...they took one look at Grandfather, put him in a wheelchair and hustled us to a hotel before our morning flight to Winnipeg.

So....domestically, fine....international? Forget it.

 

[grover]

I also had problems with AC just over a year ago on a domestic flight. I had booked a return flight winnipeg-saskatoon and had to cancel it at the last minute, no problem there I was able to change the dates and had to pay a 100.00 fee to do so, I was fine with this as I cancelled last minute and it was my choice. Fast forward to my new flight date, before leaving to the airport I call to check the flight is on time only to find out it has been cancelled due to a leaking fuel tank!! They then proceeded to tell me that they could not get me on another flight until the next day-not acceptable as I was only going for a 3 day weekend! I then asked for a refund so that I could get on a Westjet flight, they said sure but they wouldn;t be returning the 100.00 I paid to change the flight! I told them that they should as they were now changing the flight on me, I basically agrued the point and then asked that a supervisor be put on the phone, after more explaining and not relenting on the point that I wanted all of my money back including the extra hundred she was able to magically find my a seat in business class on flight that was leaving 2 hours later than my original one!!! Can you imagine that! They were intially willing to just let a customer walk away as long as I left some money behind. I might note that I am really glad they found that leaky feul tank before we were up in the air!
Grover in Winnipeg

 

[bjsmythe]

Man It sounds like we lucked out with our flight to Orlando (thru Toronto) in Feb.

We were planning on driving but got air tickets in Jan.
The first flight was delayed 15 minutes & there was only an hour between planes & I said to DH - Don't worry thry'll have to get us there

If I had read these before we bought, I would have driven or worried a lot more

Next time will be in 2 years & using Airmiles - maybe Northwest.

Brenda

 

[SandraC]

I just called Air Canada to see that our pre-selected seats followed the flight time change and they did. I had a long chat with the gal on the phone regarding my fears of being BUMPED from the flight. She tried her best to reassure me that everything should be okay. She said that since we had pre-selected seats on the plane we wouldn't be bumped. She said if they bump folks it's usually the people without pre-selected seats, next they ask folks who would like to be bumped, apparently there are folks who like being bumped for the compensation (I can see that under the right circumstances), then they look into small parties travelling together, she said AC doesn't like compensating folks, so bigger parties usually get to fly together, since we are a party of 4, she said we should be okay. I stated that since we are with our kids and have other things booked in Orlando that depend on us arriving on that specific date, we REALLY don't want to be bumped at all! I feel better now ~ however I am preparing myself for delays at the airport ~ figure if I put that into my head now it should help if delays occur. I feel very bad for the original poster because everything I was told today from AC totally didn't happen for them. I have no choice but to put my trust into AC at this time and hope that I have a good experience. I heard many bad things about Air Transat before last years WDW trip and we had a fine experience with them. I read lots of crappy stuff at CBR and we loved it! I read lots of bad reviews about Chef Mickey and it was great. HAVE A GREAT DAY! Sandra

PS: AC also told me what will be playing on the TV's and asked us if we'd like to order kids meals for my kids, they said we get full breakfast there and lunch on the way home.

 

[epcotfan]

My mom (wdwjune) and I flew to Orlando Jan 29th. Fortunately we prebooked our seats and had them for the flight down there. I overheard a older couple on the plane talking to the flight attendant inquiring why they had been booked on stand-by when they had purchased regular tickets via a travel agent. Fortunately they got on the plane. But what stress and annoyance when you've paid for a regular ticket only to be told you've been booked stand-by!
On the way home it was a different story (Feb 3rd) Our plane was overbooked. We went to check in at United for the flight home to Toronto. The clerk asked if we wanted to sit together. Hello? We prebooked our seats??? Anyway not thinking we said yes assuming she was moving the two of us to the two window seats on the 767. We were put more forward in the plane in the center section (like we had been before) but up waaay further. What is that when you pre-book seats in a certain area??? There was a multitude of people that had seat screw ups and many people were bumped. I am really scared for my next trip. I don't want to be bumped and have different seats WHEN I'VE ALREADY PRE-BOOKED THEM. It was lucky we got to the airport when we did, otherwise we probably would have been seperated on the way back. I thought pre-booking seats would eliminate having to get to the airport quite as early since they are not first come first serve.

 

[Jo-Anne]

Prebooking means nothing anymore....the check-in agent at AC made me feel like I was in the wrong for not phoning day before my flight to check to see if I still had a seat!! They are constantly changing the aircraft type and even tho you think you have a seat, they do not reassign them if aircraft changes after you book. The lesson is to phone a couple of days in advance to ensure your seat is secure and if not, rebook it!

 

[SandraC]

AC called me several days ago to let us know that there was a time change (most benefical to us!). I called AC yesterday to make sure that our prebooked seats followed us and they did. I only hope that if more changes occur, they will continue to call me and if aircraft changes, I hope they continue to prebook my seats. I monitor AC web site often. I'll let you know if come game day things get screwed up! S

 

[tigercat]

We used AC last year for our cruise to Alaska. We had prebooked seats for my dh & I, my parents and my parents friends. On the way there the prebooked bulkhead seats for my parents seemed to evaperate and they ended up in the middle. My parents were not well and really needed the space. It was a problem. On the way back my parents friends (they changed the aircraft) prebooked seats evaperated as well. Now I had gone to the airport the day before so that I could confirm all the seats. Everything was fine. Not so when we got there. As well the plane was really late leaving. I would have hated to have had a connecting flight. As well, the TV's weren't working (5 1/2 hr. trip) and neither it seemed was the hot water. It was not a pleasant flight.
tigercat

 

[bev r.]

We had a similar experience this past November from Edmonton - Maui. We encountered late flights both directions. The Maui-Vancouver return flight was overbooked, + we sat on the tarmack for almost an hour as there were problems trying to communicate the the Vancouver airport. Our group of 10 (which included 6 kids under the age of 10), can now do the marathon after having to sprint through the Vancouver airport. Air Canada does not have a counter at the Maui airport, which resulted in having to go through the United airlines counter. They only had one counter to service a sold out airplane. They would check in others after they serviced United customers. Then they made it sound like they were doing you a service to help you.

The reshuffling of flights by Air Canada, resulted in my in-laws having to stay over night in Vancouver.

The sad thing is I really don't think that the management at Air Canada cares about the poor service they are providing. At least within Canada there are still a few other viable options. It seams here in Edmonton it is getting harder to get any flights anywhere.

 

[Dreamin' Disney]

CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT TIME YOU ARRIVED AT THE AIRPORT FOR CHECK-IN JARET???

If a flight has been oversold, I would guess that the earlier you arrive for check-in, the better your chances of getting your seats. Sometimes, 2 hours may not be
enough.

Not saying what happened to you is fair, but you may have been among the last people to check-in.