AIR CANADA SUCKS!

[Pompal 09.]

So I had to travel to New Jersey yesterday for business...

Woke up at 5:00 am in order to catch my 8:00 am flight... left the house at 5:30 thinking it will take an hour to get to the airport etc. All went according to plan.

During my meeting in New Jersey, my phone vibrates... but I didn't answer it out of respect for those in my meeting, and then goes off again, and again. When I finally have a chance to answer, its my travel agent- my 7:15 flight back home has been canceled and I have been bumped to the 9:05 flight. Dam... I think, oh well, have a few extra hours to kill at the airport... hopefully they have WIFI!

So I get to the airport at 5:30ish and walk to the Air Canada check in, HUGE line up, and only 1 agent!!!!! :roll:Wait about 40 minutes and finally its my turn... the agent says the 9:05 flight has now been delayed to 10:00!!! WTF! :grrrrrr: So I find a Tony Roma's to have a bite to eat and a couple drinks... Service is HORRIBLE, and there's no WIFI service, but the salmon was OK... and there was an attractive woman to chat up, so I made the best of it...

I start heading up to the gate at about 9:00 (they are closing the restaurant...) and discover I'm in a different terminal concourse than where I need to be... (from switching flights I suppose and why would "da bitch" at the Air Canada desk tell me?) Anyway, I catch the train to Concourse "C"... good thing I have lots of time. Arrive at the gate only discover the flights been delayed again to 10:45! The only bar in that concourse is already closed and there's NO WIFI!!!!!

10:45 rolls around and I'm still not sitting on a plane! In fact there is NO plane at the gate! Flight gets updated again to 11:15! Loudspeaker announcement, Would everyone booked for Flight 771 to Toronto, please relocate to gate 105! Everyone walks across to the other gate. THERE's a PLANE! But there's a bunch of maintenance type guys out with flashlights etc looking at the wings! I mention to the blond hottie also watching through the windows- "Oh this doesn't look good!" :shock:

We FINALLY get loaded on the plane and everyone gets settled and we pull away from the gate at 11:40! Then the captain comes on... we're very sorry, blah, blah, blah, thank you for your patience, blah, blah, blah, we'll be underway in just a few more minutes! Wait another 10 minutes.... Captain comes on again, we're lined up to take off, currently in the # 8 slot! We finally take off at 12:10!

Land in TO at 1:20... wait a minute... THIS IS TERMINAL #3 and I left from Terminal 1... Now I have to take the train back to Terminal 1 to get my truck!!!!

After customs, I start waiting with all the other passengers at the luggage carousel, and waiting, and waiting! I start thinking seriously about abandoning my bag since I have spare samples of everything anyway! Final chick from the luggage office comes over- our conveyor system is off line and could you please wait here for the ground crew to hand deliver everyone's bags! ARG!!!! Thinking VERY seriously about abonding my bag, but remember I slipped my files for the Walmart account in the outside pocket so that won't work!!!

FINALLY get back to my truck at 2:15.... and start heading home.... I hit the pillow at 3:00 am exactly. 22 hours is entirely too long a day!

 

[hatem]

Drive next time :go:.

 

[SSSSS]

Shoulda stopped by for a drink on your way home...I was up

 

[Caliban]

To New Jersey? LOL! Maybe you're right! According to Google Maps, it would take 8 hrs, 13 minutes! :roll:


At 2:30 am? Were you busy with the misses?

Plus you were a little "outta my way" LOL...

 

[mahadi]

I lost any respect I had for AC during 9/11. As it happened, I was in Dubai on business on 9/11 and got out on 9/12 as far as Frankfurt where I knew I'd be stuck for a bit, fortunately I was only slightly wallet raped by Novotel for a hotel. Spent 5 days waiting for flights to resume.

When I finally did get a flight back to Toronto, knew my connecting flight was going to be non-existent, but figured AC would have a plan in place to allow for that. Upon arriving at Pearson, I collected my baggage and went to an AC desk. Stood in line for over an hour only to be told I had to go to another desk to rebook my connection.

No problem, I'm a patient person. Stand in line for another 2 hours at desk #2 to be told I had been at the right desk the first time. Go back to desk #1 and wait another hour, different service person tells me I need to go back to desk #2.

I smiled and explained what I had just gone through and that we need to find another solution. The service person SNAPS. Started yelling at me that they were very stressed and that I was being unreasonable...

Let her run her course until she slows down at which point I request she call her supervisor. The supervisor appears as if by magic asking me, in a snotty voice, what my problem is, to which I explain my situation again. She tells me it's not her problem and I'll have to go back to desk #2 and that I should be more sympathetic to the situation.

My response, "Fuck you. I was sitting in Dubai wondering if I was going to be shot by jihadists or bombed in retribution by the US while you lot were sitting here watching the news. I was wallet raped by Novotel for $350 USD a night in Germany and you fuckers can't manage to rearrange a simple connecting flight. I don't care that you're stressed, it's your job to deal with whatever comes up, not use this tragedy to excuse your complete lack of professionalism." Seeing as I can project my voice when needed, security soon appeared along with a cadre of RCMP officers. At this point they seemed to realize what douchebags they were being and miraculously managed to rebook my connection from desk #1.

Called the travel agent and instructed her to never book me on AC ever again. 9 years later I have flown thousands and thousands of miles on competing airlines and never set foot on an AC flight.

 

[deteragram]

The delays due to the storm warning that never happened?.

 

[aquaninja]

Yeah, what the frak is up with that?! Instead of sitting in a car for about 18 hrs of driving, the return journey of which would have put you in the highest statistical category for killing yourself on the road (see laws against truckers logging 18 hrs in a day), you had to sit around an air conditioned airport munching on food, maybe reading a book, maybe ogling the three hot women in Newark (slim pickings in NJ). Worse yet, whereas 100 years ago that trip would have taken weeks and you would probably have eaten your horse in an emergency, you had to suffer through sitting in a chair 10,000 feet in the air! Modern life sucks.

 

[Mario]

LOL...you know me to well.....I was licking chocolate from her butt!!:666:

 

[hidden]

Fly porter. They getting into the habit of cancelling flights too (just like AC), but at least they serve beer.

 

[Kitten]

I'm a fairly patient person when it comes to this sort of thing... I travel a fair bit and am used to late flights, bumped flights and even canceled flights, but yesterday was an exception above and beyond... so to speak.

I remember once talking my way home from Bologna, Italy! I even recalled that story to Mrs. CG via text when I was standing in line the first time yesterday in Newark... This is what happened.

I had to take a buying trip to Italy in the spring of 1996. It was a 4 day trip, with no Saturday stay over. Back then, (not sure if it is still the case now but) short European trips without a Saturday stay-over were very expensive- so much so, that it was cheaper to buy 2 round trip tickets for >7 days than 1 round trip ticket for 4 days. Not sure why, it just was.

So, on the advice of my travel agent, I got 2 round trip tickets and just didn't use the front 1/2 of one and the back half of the other.... So I show up at the airport in Bologna, Italy after completing my buying trip, only to have the very attractive agent from the Lufthansa check in counter (The Air Canada partner in Star Alliance) tells me my ticket was canceled! Huh?! I said waddaya talkin about here's my ticket (this was back in the days when paper tickets were still being used) showing her the ticket, proving that I paid the $595 etc. That's my name, and it even says what seat I'm in. Well, she explained, that seat has been given to someone else now. No problem, give me a different seat, bump me to first class, I don't mind... It doesn't work that way, she said. OK, no problem (I didn't want to get angry with her, its not HER fault, and she was way too cute to get angry with anyway... hee hee).

May I speak to your supervisor please?

Oh he's not in until 9:00 am (it was about 8:15...).

OK, where should I wait... does he or she have an office?

Yes, and she gives me directions....

I thank her for her time, and sorry to be a bother and off to the Lufthansa customer service office I go and sure enough, dude shows up at 9:03. I explain my situation and he turns on his PC to see what the deal is. He says, OK, you aren't supposed to be here? Huh? Why not? Because you missed your flight LAST weekend... (The front half of the ticket I was using to get home...) So I explain what my travel agent told me to do, and he says well, you just can't DO THAT! LOL. But here I am, so what are we gonna do? I paid the $$$ So please find a seat for me. Well, he said, YOUR flight is already over booked (ya think?) but we "may" have a few seats available on this other flight that can take you at least to Frankfurt (The Lufthansa hub for Europe), but you're on your own when you get there.... and you'll have to go on "Stand By". So, I think what have I got to lose, "OK, lets give it a shot."

So he issues me a stand by ticket and off I go... I explain the situation to the gate attendant and she says, Sure, we can get you on this flight, but I can't do anything for you for the next leg of your journey... No problem... one step at a time I'm thinking...

So as I'm deplaning in Frankfurt, there's an Air Canada flight to TO boarding on the gate directly across from me... Hmmm, I think... this is just TOO convenient! I walk over, notice the young lady's name tag and address her by name: "Hi Lucy (or whatever is was...), my name is Mr. Cycleguy, and I was hoping you could help me get home to my pregnant wife and 2 babies! (The third was still in the oven so to speak... LOL) I explain the situation and she says, I'm sorry Mr. Cycleguy, but this flight is booked, I only have a few first class seats available... Awwww, please can you help me out? I am not "quite" an Elite passenger, but I do fly often... giving her a pouty smile... So she calls the senior agent over and they converse in German, and start clicking away on the terminal. She hands me a boarding pass, and I'm sitting in First Class!

I ended up getting home 2 hours BEFORE i would have if I had taken my original flight plan! LOL

That was over 14 years ago... My how things have changed since then! :frown:

(Disclaimer: I am well aware of the fact that flight travel wasn't nearly as restrictive back then as it is now... the events surrounding 9-11 has changed the face of flight travel forever...)

 

[CubanCutie]

How the heck you remember what you did in 1996 :gasp:

 

[Law Man]

He eats ALOT of fish:na:

 

[willow song on wind]

Well I do, and fish is HIGH in Omega 3's (e.g. BRAIN FOOD!) but that's not the reason...



I remember things based on key events in my life... That happened when I was a buyer at a national retail chain, and it was BEFORE my second daughter was born but AFTER my son and first daughter were born. It was during an industry wide footwear show which takes place March and September. Since My second daughter was born in September 1996, that means this situation had to take place during the March show- therefore Spring 1996.

 

[kennya14635b9x]

Hey CG, fullthrottle needs a new pair of shoes!:

 

[Spicy Chicken Sandwich]

May I suggest: http://www.softmoc.com/ca/

 

[mcnally]

Yeah, prior to 1999 Air Canada staff actually were nice a lot of the time.

 

[waldey524]

Is it any wonder that AC needs to be bailed out from time to time?

 

[ney-ney]

But at least you got to ride with those hot air hostesses that AC employs.

 

[Lightgreen]

You haven't been on an Air Canada flight lately have you! LOL :shock:

 

[Roger M]

sorry a little humor on my part.......... tho ... I was waiting in Munich's airport, my flight had landed before the party of Britt's I was going skiing with and I had some time to kill. Around the corner walked a group of stews from the united emirates airlines.......... I 'm sure my mouth dropped as they walked by. Stunning each and every one of them.