Comments on: Air Canada pledging to improve customer service, then pull our other leg

By: Rudi Jones

Rudi Jones — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:02:42 +0000

There is a huge difference between Westjet and Air Canada. Westjet’s people seem genuinely interested in helping passengers out. I experienced this first hand due to the weather delays this past Christmas. People had nothing good to say about AC. Westjet provided meal vouchers, hotel vouchers, and did everything they could to help passengers feel comfortable.

I’ll take the corny Westjet jokes (and there aren’t too many of them) compared to Air Canada’s bad attitude. And they do have a bad attitude.

By: Kenneth

Kenneth — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:07:00 +0000

Speaking of free drinks on airplanes, I seem to recall flying on Delta Airlines when they gave everyone a free glass of champagne. This was in the mid-1970s.

By: Ti-Guy

Ti-Guy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:44:59 +0000

Air travel these days means rushing a lot in order to wait a long time.

By: Ti-Guy

Ti-Guy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:38:13 +0000

I don’t know. Ask a petty, bitching Canadian. Bumpy rides on crowded buses through bleak terrain just remind me of my childhood in Northern Ontario.

By: wayne moores

wayne moores — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:21:56 +0000

So glad I don’t have to travel by air much anymore. Used to be so much fun. On time service, good food, even free drinks at one time!!! Not anymore. Pay for water if you can find anyone to bring it. The whole experience is depressing. Massive lineups to check in. Massive lineups at security that makes no one more secure. Seems all they do is make you take your shoes off to check your socks and undies I guess. Then more lineups to get on the plane. Lard arses carrying everything but the kitchen sink onto the plane so it takes forever to load and depart. Until recently every airport was in a state of constant constuction and exits and entrances changed every time though. I swear to God the pyramids took less time to build than Pearson. All that constuction came at a high cost. Landing fees there for airlines have gone up 1000%. Most expensive place on the planet to land a 747 now. Departure fees , tranfer fees, surcharges, flights advertized for 100 bucks that really cost 400 bucks when everything is added on. Total madness, so glad not to have to deal with it anymore. Westjet does seem better than Air Canada but you have to go through the same crap to get to either. Sad, really.

By: Wotcher?

Wotcher? — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:12:44 +0000

Passengers deserve churlish behaviour from flight attendants for being too fat?

By: Dot

Dot — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:43:20 +0000

Guess not – I hadn’t seen that side of your personality before -

In any event, I’m sure the trip was no more unpleasant than the ride on top of the bus along the washed out and dusty canyon roads between the two centres. To pu things in perspective, it sure makes bitching about all things Canadian seem rather petty, wouldn’t you think?

By: Ti-Guy

Ti-Guy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:11:51 +0000

Someone didn’t appreciate my little joke. :(

By: Dot

Dot — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:56:02 +0000

Picking up another load of carpets from the Tibetan refugee camp north of Pokhara?

By: Ti-Guy

Ti-Guy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:52:09 +0000

In all honesty, I've never had a horrific experience with Air Canada or any airline for that matter. I've witnessed flight attendants behaving churlishly to passengers, but frankly, a lot of them deserved it. Too much carry-on, too fat, too drunk, too loud, etc. etc... I've only flown WestJet twice and the experience was pleasant. Except for the oil-industry yahoos in the seat in front of me that one time who the flight attendant actually had to cut off.

By: cwe

cwe — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:51:59 +0000

You are mistaken. It is not mandatory, and the exact thing that your complaint was about would not have come up in this thread, had you not brought it up. So please correct your records and take your meds before you ruin your whole week.

By: Ti-Guy

Ti-Guy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:40:21 +0000

Whining about air travel problems is really just an oblique way of bragging about how well-travelled and wordly one is.

It’s as dull and irritating as that time the air-conditioning conked out on the re-furbished Aeroflot helicopter I had to take for a Royal Nepal Airlines flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu.

By: Logician

Logician — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:33:25 +0000

Ed, I hope you don’t trigger a spate of Air Canada personal horror stories, or this will become the longest thread in macleans.ca history.

By: JennyC

JennyC — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:05:11 +0000

Ed, you have. Savour it.

By: enThrall

enThrall — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:01:43 +0000

I figure he would assume any service – whether good on WestJet or bad on AC – would be because he was “recognized”. It’s hard to travel incognito when you’re as important as Monte.

By: Ed

Ed — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:40:21 +0000

I’m not sure that flying with WestJet is any better… On most WestJet flights I’ve been buffetted with a variety of terrible knock-knock jokes, WestJet themed remakes of popular songs sung by flight attendants over the PA, and a variety of other performances that would have been culled from most elementary school variety shows.

I’ve yet to run into any problems with Air Canada – maybe I’ve just been extremely fortunate.

By: LeslieE

LeslieE — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:23:17 +0000

How big was Mr. Brewer’s bonus last year?

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:13:34 +0000

But what does Obama think? Is it not mandatory to have a shout out to Obama in every single story coming out of a Canadian news outlet these days? Perhaps an Air Canada comparison to Air Force One?

By: R Keller

R Keller — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:17:52 +0000

Monte should travel incognonte on both airlines to experience the difference.