OK .... Rant over 
:Air Canada Loses a Passenger
Hate is such a harsh word. It really is. But after hours of contemplation the other night, that’s what I’m starting to feel about Air Canada.
I don’t despise the airline’s staff — there are some good and decent employees, particularly here. But I’ve had it with Air Canada’s customer service, mired in arrogance, entitlement and downright meanness.
For years my feeling about Air Canada has been more one of annoyance or perturbation. But not anymore.
It’s not the inevitable problems that happen on every airline but the way Air Canada chooses to deal with customers when trouble breaks.
Some years ago I figured out that no one at Air Canada really cared if I lived, died or flew on their airline, so I stopped buying their tickets.
However, with a cache of Aeroplan points, I did continue to fly Air Canada occasionally. But the latest farce sealed it.
The other day, while flying from the U.S. to Toronto, the flight was delayed because Air Canada’s incoming flight was late. No big whoop — happens all the time.
But as the delay mounted, our built in several hour cushion was getting pretty thin to clear customs, make the hike to Terminal 1 and catch the connecting flight to Saskatoon.
On landing we were greeted at Toronto’s Terminal 2, Station 25, by an Air Canada employee with an affected tone of speech. He looked and sounded like an unemployed actor practising soliloquies in an empty hallway.
Curtly, he dismissed us while pointing at a ceiling screen and saying, “You’re not getting on that plane to Saskatoon. Go see the ticket agent.” It had a “Candid Camera” feel — unsuspecting rubes meet the unhelpful and rude airline employee. I kept waiting for the joke, particularly when he arrogantly intoned that, “We don’t hold connecting flights for you or anyone.” As I asked the guy his name, he said it was Grant. But then he covered up his airport identification badge — the one with his last name on it — and lectured me that he was under no obligation to tell anyone his last name.
Something was clearly amiss when, moments later, a nearby baggage handler sidled up to us and quietly mumbled, “I’m really sorry for how this guy treated you. He’s out of line.” This was significant. It was the only time in the next 16 hours that we would hear any Air Canada employee utter the word “sorry.” So we were bumped from our flight and booked several hours later on the last flight to Saskatoon on standby because the late flight was already full, oversold in fact.
But minutes later, we discovered that our original flight to Saskatoon had never left and was delayed.
Trying to get back on the flight, we were then told — along with several dozen other people — that the flight was being cancelled because Air Canada couldn’t find a flight crew.
This resulted in the stand-by routine: the subsequent flights are sold out — oversold even — overnight hotel voucher, and so on.
But unlike so many other airlines I’ve flown, the next dozen or so Air Canada employees ranged from unhelpful to incompetent and even openly hostile.
Not one ever said the words, “I’m sorry.” No one asked, “Is there anything I can do?” Not one smiled or offered a word of consolation.
At one point, we thought maybe Air Canada would use a larger jet for the late flight and clean up the mess it had created when it cancelled the earlier flight.
The brusque and unsmiling woman at the gate said, “No, that’s not happening.” For several hours people shuffled from station to station, lineups grew, midnight moved in and we were booked for the last flight out of Toronto a full day later.
Because it would be a late-night flight, any further delays, overselling or problems would see us spending a second night in Toronto with only the clothes on our backs.
And through it all, there was nothing but studied indifference, impatience and even thinly veiled contempt from Air Canada staff.
Finally, tired of making nice, I dialed 1-888-WestJet, a number well memorized from many uses.
After a two-minute wait, a woman named Cheryl answered. We chatted like old friends, me whining a bit, her making sympathetic noises and then asking, “Is there anything I can do for you?” And she kept saying “sorry” over and over. I asked, “Can you get us out of the clutches of Air Canada and Toronto?” Cheryl said “sure,” and within five minutes we’d purchased WestJet tickets for a flight leaving in a few hours. And that is how we got home.
What Air Canada will never get — and WestJet trades on — is that empathy is cheap. So are courtesy, decency and being friendliness.
Unfortunately, last minute tickets home aren’t so cheap. But Cheryl had me at “hi.” And like every encounter I’ve ever had with WestJet — even during difficult times — there was open communication, an exchange of information, a shared understanding and an offer to see if help could be found.
Air Canada even refused to compensate us.
Later, one of the good Air Canada Saskatoon staff heard our story and authorized a cash voucher, although it is worth less than half what the WestJet tickets cost.
The frequent flyer joke that Air Canada’s motto is “We’re not happy until you’re not happy” has come true one time too many for me, and it will affect my future travel choices, although I will hate to walk away from all those Aeroplan points.
(John Gormley, The StarPhoenix)
Gormley can be heard Monday to Friday at 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on NewsTalk radio 650 CKOM
Oh Anthony 
