
When
Gord and I went to
Bermuda for New Years, we bought the package through
Air Canada Vacations. It included our flight down and back, our hotel, transfer to and from the airport and the hotel, our meals and drinks.
Our flight was scheduled to leave Toronto about 8am on the Saturday morning (New Years Eve). When we checked in at 6am, we were told that we would be flying standby (according to the check-in agent, the flight was full) because our travel agent hadn't reserved us specific seats on the plane (and charge us an extra $15 each). If we couldn't get on our flight, it was our tough luck and we'd have to suck up the cost of the hotel for the night we wouldn't be there. Huh? Needless to say, we were shocked.
I travel quite often for my job and I've bought many vacation packages over the years and I have never paid for a plane ticket only to fly standby unless I paid an extra $15 to be assured a seat. I have paid the extra $ on flights but this was because I wanted a specific seat. When one buys a plane ticket, you assume you are getting a seat, not getting a seat if there is one left over for you.
We had to wait for over an hour until we knew we had a seat. This was not a good way to start a vacation. As it turns out, the seats we were assigned were purchased by a family who paid the extra $15 for them (so the seats were issued twice). The flight wasn't full so they sat elsewhere.
I emailed our travel agent immediately when we reached Bermuda and she reserved us specific seats to ensure we could get home (thus charging my VISA $30). Initially we were told we wouldn't be to sit together because the flight was full. But as it turned out it wasn't ... there were extra seats.
On
January 6, I contacted Air Canada Vacations online about the seating policy. I also explained about our flight being delayed a day because of the weather. They promised a 48 hour response ... 72 hours later I got an email that said they were looking into it.
On
January 17, I finally got a response back from Lisa, Customer Relations, that included:
Air Canada has the capability to oversell flights in order that we operate at full capacity, yet we do so very cautiously. Since it is monitored continuously to ensure accuracy, in the majority of cases this process is very effective. The result works to the benefit of passengers and the airline alike by ensuring not only full utilization of seating but also that the greatest number of persons travel on the flight of their choice. On occasion, however, we do find ourselves in the unfortunate position of having to deny boarding to a customer.That being said, it is not customary to oversell an Air Canada Vacations flight, and our records indicate that flight AC 942 on December 31, 2011 went out at 87% capacity. As such, I am unable to provide you with a detailed explanation as to why you were not assigned seats at check-in.Lisa offered to look at covering our additional expenses for our extra day (my VISA card has trip interruption insurance and I had a cheque from them within a week) and "as a gesture of goodwill" give us a 20% discount on our next Air Canada booking (right now Air Canada is offering 50% off flights so we can do better without the "gesture of goodwill"). BTW, the discount code doesn't even work.
On
January 23, I wrote back thanking Lisa for her offer but said instead I want to be refunded the $30 we were forced to pay for ensure we had seats, which she said herself she doesn't know why we had to. It's a hell of a lot cheaper to pay me the $30 than the $400 for the extra day and the 20% discount. Financially that doesn't make sense.
I hadn't heard anything so wrote back on
January 30 asking for a response.
I got this email from Lisa today (
February 1).
Thank you for the follow-up email. I am truly sorry you remain dissatisfied with Air Canada.Although there is little more I can add to my initial explanation, I understand your experience was disappointing. Please be assured Air Canada strives for excellence and we apologize we let you down.The goodwill travel discount was offered to demonstrate our regret for the lapse in our usual high standard of service. While we realize this does not meet your expectation, we earnestly hope you will accept this in the manner it was intended. Respectfully, we are unable to offer additional consideration as requested.We would like to thank you, once again, for contacting us. We recognize we did not leave you with a favourable impression on this occasion but we look forward to an opportunity to provide you with a more positive travel experience in the future.We appreciate the opportunity to review your concerns.Really?! Basically she has blown me off. What kind of customer service is that?
I responded immediately with an email that all I want is my $30 back and I'd be happy.