Edmonton bound

This is a story of a travel day gone wrong, and how Air Canada (the corporate entity, not the employees) doesn't care.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012 flying YUL - YYZ - YEG. The YUL - YYZ was where things started to go wrong. We pushed back on time, de-iced and went back to the terminal as YYZ was closed due to fog. Finally left but landed as our YYZ - YEG flight was taking off.

We were standby on the 14:55 Embraer 190. No seats available. The agent says they are overbooked by 5 people.

Mill Street Brewery for a late afternoon meal. Cobblestone Stout very good, close to, but not exactly a Guinness, less after taste, not as heavy, but very good. Kathy tried an Argentinian Cabernet Sauvignon, not bad. I had their California Club, grilled chicken club with avocado and a little BBQ sauce, nice and Kathy liked the fish & chips. Highlight of the day so far.

Next we were standby on the 18:00 Airbus 321. We must have been well down the list as many were called, but not us. We were definitely bumped further down the list  by 2 AC employees who walked up while I was talking to the agent. They managed to get on the flight and not us, we had been at Pearson for 8 hours, in airports for 11. If I had been working, I would have been home by now. As a matter of fact I could have been in Hawaii, and I was only trying to get to Edmonton.

Finally we were standby on the 20:40. We made it! Thanks Judy Air Canada agent, we were worried for a while. We did have boarding passes for the 22:50 flight, arriving in YEG at 01:30, but didn't need these tickets.

The story's not over yet! Pleasant flight, slight turbulence, a little rough on landing. Entertainment system didn't work properly. It crashed several times during the flight. Of course our luggage never made the flight. It was ticketed for 22:50. Reported it and it was delivered to the hotel overnight. At least that's better than out Amsterdam trip, it took 4 days to get our luggage.

So what is the problem? Overbooking? Sure. Surly staff, not this time. The AC staff were great, everyone did their job as well as could be expected. Competition, or lack of it is the only explanation. In most markets AC id's the only game in town, in others Westjet doesn't have enough frequency to be a real threat to AC.

We need more competition in our skies. Between YUL and YTZ the addition of Porter has improved service in all areas, frequency, quality of in-cabin service and price. Porter has managed to get Air Canada's attention in every market they enter. If you don't believe me you haven't flown Porter.

Westjet has shown the same in other routes as well, and the Westjet agents seem to care more. Yes, if I have a choice I would fly either of AC's competitors, happily, willingly. I'm going to start driving to Plattsburgh!