Incompetent and diabolical customer care
Update. Extremely inefficient and incompetent airline and for the most part some of the most poorly trained customer service personal. All I could manage was a one week break as a volunteer medic in Ukraine and I was stupid enough to book an Air Canada flight from London to Montreal to visit my son after Christmas.
LHR to YUL via FRA January 04. Baggage check in cost Euro 150.00 for two bags, self check in a disaster. Flight delayed connection missed. Rerouted back through London from Frankfurt, flight delayed, connection missed. Overnight London. January 05, LHR to YUL direct, arrived a day late and no baggage.
Spent my entire six day vacation either on hold for hours or navigating their user unfriendly website combing it for answers. Nearly seventy euros in phone calls as I have an international phone. Returned to Europe on the 11th, still no luggage, no quality time with my son and Air Canada full of excuses. January 14th one bag delivered to my son, second bag dispatched and finally delivered February 01 in Canada. Further to this I am out of pocket in the region of CAD600 for three outfits and a warm jacket that they may at their discretion reimburse at their leisure of course. I was told I would get my paid checked luggage reimbursed between five and seven days. Baggage fee refunded February 02, some twenty six days later. Reimbursement for over 24 hours delay still not addressed.
Finally got a response from an incompetent customer service rep, Diana Cruz who could not add up the four receipts totaling CAD 1614 which included the delay allowance of CAD 1000 and asked for my banking details so she could send me CAD 540. Ten emails back and forth over a two week period. I stupidly sent my details as I would be in a location without service and the next response I received was thanking me for my details and the refund would be another 3-4 weeks. No amount indicated, no apology just a pre written canned response. So who knows what I will receive as compensation.
In conclusion, for the flagship carrier of Canada, it is a disgrace as an airline. In no other profession could you get paid for this level of incompetence. I shudder to think of the catastrophic results if I brought this level of incompetence to work with me in either of my professions, retired commercial pilot and now a volunteer paramedic currently in the Ukraine. Maybe CBC radio, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail or just a good old class action lawsuit might wake them up.
4 January 2023
Unprompted review