Air Canada Reviews

Back into the tiny stairwell area, a man went upstairs and asked again where to go, was told to go "through the door marked 93". The door that said clearly "Do not open under penalty of law, Alarm will sound, Authorized Personnel Only". Back through the open door 94, avoiding the tunnel, spotting no plane anywhere near Gate 93, back inside. Told again to go thru door 93, so we did. No alarm sounded, still no plane, however the Seattle plane had moved and we could see several other planes sitting on the tarmac, 3 of which now had ramps.

Several of us trooped across an expanse of tarmac and one brave and annoyed woman hauled her carry on up the ramp. There was no attendant at the top and when she did not re-appear several of us followed her. Inside we tried to confirm that this was the Dallas flight. In return we were rudely snarled at and told to get seated, we were delaying takeoff. At no time did the flight attendant make any effort to look at our boarding passes, nor did he leave the enclosed area to confirm to people waiting below the ramp that it was the correct flight.

Once on board they announced loudly that it was the Dallas flight and if you wanted to "go elsewhere GET OFF, you already missed the Seattle and PDX flights". Another flight steward a me down the aisle, stood in the middle around seat 23 and said, "If no one is willing to honor my request we will just sit here all day. Is that what you want? It's going to be your own fault". WHAT? No one had ANY idea what he was talking about. I said, "Could you tell us what you want? I'll volunteer for anything". He told me to watch my attitude.

Someone else spoke up and asked what he wanted us to do, that we honestly had not heard any requests other than "get off if you're not going to Dallas". It seemed the flight was "out of balance" and he needed someone to move forward, 15 hands responded immediately. I have flown on many airlines all over the world over many years and Air Canada is by far the least organized, rudest, most chaotic, uncomfortable, and least customer oriented airline I have ever dealt with. Don't even get me started on the terrible, cramped, and uncomfortable fly to and from YVR to NRT.

As the evening progressed, the time for the arrival of the inbound flight for my outbound flight became later to the point there were no Air Canada flights which permitted me to make my connection. But I could have if my ticket had been switched to a flight on Pacific Coast Airlines. I know airlines do not like to do such things. If this change had been made, I would have had a good chance to make my connection in Vancouver on a United Airlines flight (which also had an Air Canada flight number).

One of the gate agents in Victoria told me that he had arranged for a paid hotel in Vancouver and provided me with new reservations so I arrived home 12 hours later than I was scheduled. I was to get the hotel details from an Air Canada Customer Service representative in Vancouver. When I followed his instructions I got the runaround. I was told speaking with several such people that there were no hotel room in Vancouver or I could get a room only at a tremendous cost.

I spent the night without much success in getting sleep on some seats near the US departure area. I am 72 years old. Early in the morning it turned quite noisy. A kinder thing to have done would have been to provide some comfortable seat in an Air Canada or United Airlines lounge. It has taken me over two weeks to be able to move somewhat comfortably. In the meantime I have not been able to mow my lawn and wild animals are starting to move in. How can I trust Air Canada? I resent the fairy tales of your employees. I believe I am entitled to compensation. The series of events reflect poorly upon Air Canada and the other Star Alliance members. It was one of the worst experiences that I have had and the worst with Star Alliance airlines.

I did ask her why there was no delivery at midnight and she said that CDS is not part of Air Canada and that airlines often exaggerate delivery times. 7pm came and went, then a call came in from CDS asking if a 8pm to 11pm timeframe would work. I mentioned the earlier conversation and they said they had no record. They also added that they phoned my phone numbers and left messages - I have no record of any calls/messages. They assured me that they would get the bags to me well before 11pm. It is now 10:31 pm and no bags. From my experience, both the Air Canada baggage representative and the latest CDS rep are both lying with impunity. More to come...

We lost our very expensive hotel booking in KL. Coupled with this situation, we had paid a ridiculous amount to fly premium economy only to find the seats less comfortable than many economy flights, the food almost inedible, and the entertainment old or poor. We will NEVER fly AC again and it looks like a lot of other customers had already figured this out since the plane was far from full, while we have flown on other airlines to Asia and they are always full.

During the 3 hours we only got drinks once and should've paid for the food if we hadn't told the stewardess that we had no chance of eating anything before take-off so she gave us some. After about an hour in the air we knew we had no chance catching our connecting flight so we started planning what we would do. The stewardess directed us to the self-service but after landing we insisted on giving it a last try. We saw on the screen that our connecting flight had been delayed so we had exactly ten minutes to get to a totally other part of the airport.

At first I asked a lady in uniform if she had any information if the flight to Budapest or at least could do anything to make the whole connecting process a little bit faster. After a few minutes of trying to understand each other -which was a bit weird since in my opinion my english is reasonably well and hers supposed to be at least intermediate too- she left us where we were standing without a word. Then I ran all through the airport and-thank God- I saw that the plane hadn't taken off yet. The lady at the gate was nice, she checked if our luggage was on the plane-it was (which meant if we hadn't have made it, we would've had no luggage on our "compulsory" stay in Toronto). On the plane we sat down and realized that it was not gonna be our most comfortable flight because our leg hardly had space even if we sat "properly." The seats didn't have entertainment systems-which for me is unacceptable in an 8-hour-long Transatlantic flight.

The plane was also dirty and ancient, food was not enough and unedible and we only got drinks 3 times. The crew was not bad yet very bored and careless. Somehow we survived and after landing the pilot gave us a short apology for the inconveniences-which was ridiculous in the point of what we had been through all day. All in all that was our worst flying experience ever. So thank you Air Canada for making our flight miserable and we hope that we will never have to fly with you again.

I told her if someone could help me to catch my next plane and what could I do in order not to miss my flight. The answer was again rude and ironic: "What can I do about this! When you get out from the plane, find someone to ask where is your gate!" Of course none of the air hostesses didn't ask me if it was really important for me to go back to Athens on time. None cared if I missed my job and of course none cared about how much money cost to me this plane delay! The only thing that all the people of Air Canada cared was to go early home after their work! For the history, I missed a very important meeting for my job. So, as it was expected, when I got out of the plane, the first man that I found, it was a Heathrow security that he told me that it was impossible to catch the flight (flight number AC 609), as I had to walk a lot until the next terminal.

This man told to go straight to the Departures in order not to be lost in the airport and ask from Air Canada for help and to find for me a hotel to stay until the next flight. At this moment, the time was already 22:00 and the flight was schedule for the 22:15 (there is no delay to that flight). When I went to the Departures, no one was in the desk of Air Canada. So I decided to go to the desk of Aegean. There, I found a very polite woman, that booked for me the next flight. As she tried to communicate with someone from Air Canada without any results, she communicated with the Manager of her departure. A man came to the desk and proposed me to help me find a hotel (as the next flight was on the 26th of April, at 12:15 - flight number A3 601) for the night. Of course the problem was that should pay and the next morning I should ask the money from the desk of Air Canada.

And of course I had no money with me (pounds), so I was obligated to pay with my debit card. So all my payments in London was in a very expensive rate (through the Greek Bank) and I have to pay also 2 difference commissions for these transactions (commission for the rate and commission for the transaction in a foreign country). The people in the desk of Aegean, finally found for me a hotel (as they called more than 4 hotels near the airport, but they was all full booked), they explained to me how I could go by bus to the hotel and generally did their best in order to communicate with my family in Athens and informed them that I won't go back home that day. My hardship - of course - didn't stop there. As I went to the hotel LEONARDO (I mention the name in order not to visit it), that I had already pre-pay as the hotel didn't accept otherwise the reservation, I realized that the room was awful and dirty. Of course, I couldn't sleep.

Even I couldn't took a shower in order to relax for a little. More there is no paper even in the toilet! I was only waiting for the next morning to run away from that really bad situation. I forgot to mention that my only choice during the evening for eating something, after more than 20 hours that I was on the road (of course the food on the plane was awful and the food serving was enough only for 3-4 years old child, if you needed some water you had to wait for the time that the trolley starting to serve the travelers etc etc etc) was to order something in the hotel. As they mentioned to me, the kitchen closed 10 min after my arrival in the hotel, so they could prepare for me only hamburger or cheeseburger - a kind of food that I hate.

Having no other choice, I order a cheeseburger in order to eat the bread and the cheese as I knew that I couldn't have even breakfast (the hotel price was 139 pounds for a single room without even Breakfast - as the receptionist informed me when I arrived at the hotel!). The next morning, I returned to the desk of Air Canada and asked from them to pay for me the hotel, the bus and the food. They told me that of course I deserve a refund as the arrival time was had less than one hour in order to catch my next flight, but they couldn't pay for me at the desk and that I must communicate with the customer care, when I returned to Athens. They also mention to me that I must send them the receipt from the hotel. But when I asked from the hotel to give me a receipt, they refused to me, mentioned that a travel agent had been paid and not the hotel.

Anyway, the most remarkable thing was again the rudeness and the ironic way that the woman in the desk used to speak to me. I was so angry that I told her that I am going to call my lawyer as soon as I return to Athens. She didn't respect my difficulties during all these hours and even she didn't respect my anxiety for the meeting that I lost. No need to mention, the money that paid for all these telephones from England to Greece, in order to apologized for the meeting cancellation and in order to try to find another day to rearrange the meeting - fact that finally was not possible! Once again, I returned to the Aegean desk, where the man there promised me to find what happened with the receipt of the hotel and to send it to me by e-mail in order to take my money from you. Fact that he did almost immediately!!!

Finally I arrived back to Athens, after almost 2 days! I was really tired and hungry as I haven't the opportunity to sleep or to eat because of your delay that seems to have no matter for you! On the other hand, I was obliged to carry my baggage from the airport to the hotel and back, using a bus that I was waiting in the cold for 30 min. My suitcase arrived in Athens one day later than me! Once again for the history, when I returned back to Athens, the flight of Aegean has a delay of 5 min. In order to help the passengers that had a transfer flights, they announced 3 times on the plane that ambassadors of the company would waiting for the passengers to help them to catch their flight. And as you know the airport of Athens is really smaller than Heathrow! So, you must probably can learn something from this!

After waiting almost 2 months, I received an e-mail from Air Canada with the following text! ".... As a goodwill gesture and exception a one-time discount of 25% off the base fare on my next booking at aircanada.com..." and "... This discount offer is valid for one year from the day of your response..." But the better is! "... Some of our previously discounted fares, while not eligible for the promotion, may be lower than the final price of the undiscounted fare to which the promotion applies..."!!! I wrote to them for a 3rd time, but they still refused to pay me back my expenses in London. The worst thing of all this story is the rude and ironic way that all the employees of Air Canada talked to me and of course their written answer that makes me feel the "most stupid consumer of the world" because Air Canada believes that I am from its "goodwill gesture" in order to get rid of me!!! P.S. Sorry for my English...

Despite asking for help to Air Canada staff and airport security, nobody cared, so by the time I made it to the gate the flight had departed. Adding insult to injury, Air Canada charged me for getting in the next flight, blaming it on me. The staff was rude and lacked all sort of empathy, in particular the manager. Mrs. **. I'm still trying to get the fee refunded and some kind of compensation and apology, but the process takes apparently 30 days.

Next I got online at the United counter. Since I have a United MileagePlus account I figured they may be more helpful. The woman at the counter smiled and said she doesn't know anything about my flight because she is part of United Airlines and that I would need to go to Air Canada (thanks for the great customer service, United. I knew there was another reason why I canceled your MileagePlus Explorer visa card besides the fact that your airport security goons enjoy giving passengers bloody noses and hauling them off your planes like pigs going to slaughter).

I get in the queue for Air Canada. It is short with only 3 people (a family) in front of me. The family goes to the counter and the clerk is as slow as molasses and just keeps talking. The priority boarding line is also busy, so no chance of checking in there. 20 minutes pass and I am very nervous about missing the flight. Another 10 people have lined up behind me. I finally interrupt the clerk who won't stop yapping to tell her that I've been waiting for more than 20 minutes to check in and that my flight is at 7 pm. The crazy ** had the nerve to say to me "You're too late. You're not going to make it to your flight." I tell her that the malfunctioning kiosk and her slowness is causing me to be late. "Go to another counter to check in", she says. I nearly lost it.

I would not be this late if she hadn't spent so much time on one customer, if another counter had been open, if Air Canada's kiosks were working, and if the United desk had been more helpful. I hurry to the priority boarding line and that woman at the counter immediately finishes with the family of three and helps the people who were behind me on the line. Meanwhile I am still waiting behind another person on the priority queue. I finally lost my cool and kicked the cord post barrier that separates the queue with my bad foot with the fractured toe. Ouch.

Finally a counter is available and the idiotic man tells me there is no way I'll be able to make it to my 7 pm flight. Then I tell him how lousy customer service at Air Canada caused the delays and that the ** service from the woman at the other counter is responsible for making me miss my flight. He says nothing, gets on the phone, calls the people at the boarding gate and tells me to hurry to the gate. The gate is conveniently located at the extreme end of one wing of the departures building.

I hurry through customs and an immigration officer actually tells me not to fly with Air Canada; it's run like a Communist enterprise. The Canadian government requires that 40% of flights from Canada must be provided by Canadian airlines. Given that there's so few choices Air Canada doesn't care about customer service because it will always have business. The officer said to fly Delta instead. It's a sad day when a customs/immigration officer tells you not to fly with any airlines from his own country.

Sadly, the nightmare doesn't end here. The flight ends up being delayed due to thunderstorms in upstate New York. The gate changes to the other extreme end of the departures building (it takes 20 minutes to walk there with luggage). We sit on the runway for 2 hours and after the pilot gets clearance for take-off the plane has to be re-routed west to avoid the thunderstorm. The turbulence was violent, it felt like the plane was being driven over a road full of boulders and we were getting blown off course.

The passengers were dead silent and the shaking and falling sensation was so bad the airline staff couldn't even serve drinks or bring us snacks. I prayed that we wouldn't have a freak accident and crash into the Catskills. This was easily the most horrific airline experience I have ever had. I will never fly with a Canadian airline ever again. Some things are not meant to be run like a government-owned socialist enterprise. Airline companies top that list.

Obviously my bag did not arrive and I had to rent subpar used snowboard gear. I could not rent a helmet and goggles which cost me $521.34. My bag arrived 48 hours after it was due. On my departure through Kamloops, I asked the Air Canada gentlemen if he was Ryan- (he was not wearing a nametag) to which he responded, 'yes, did you get your bags?' I advised him they showed up 48 hours later to which he responded: 'I was trying to help you however you were jabbering away on the phone.' This was in front of a packed line to get on the plane, and the shocked looks on people's faces to his response said it all.

I have never experienced like it (not even on United!). So not only was my bag lost, I experienced the worst customer service in my life and was treated as though it was my fault when I was just trying to get my bag back. By not giving his last name and not wearing a tag, I can only assume he treats everyone like this and gets away with it. I would like a refund for my flight as well as a reimbursement for my unnecessary expenditure on goggles and helmet so I could snowboard that day. I do not want a credit as after that experience, I am not sure I will ever fly Air Canada again. I can send you the receipt for the goggles and helmet on request.

In San Antonio, AC people, at least, apologized for the delay and tried to keep us updated on the situation. We also received a voucher from AC worth 10$US to spend on food. However, AC provided us with no information of how the missed connections would be handled. All its representative in San Antonio told us was that we “…would be taken a good care of…” by her colleagues in Toronto.

Now let us briefly describe the “care” we actually received. On arrival to Toronto (soon after midnight): Not a single word of apology for a 4-hour delay and, more importantly, to those passengers who missed their connections because of this delay. At the plane, we received from the flight attendant the same routine: “…go to see AC representatives, they will take care of everything…” These representatives handed out voucher-like coupons promising an unspecified discount (only applicable to the “undiscounted published fairs”) on our future flight with the AC (if we register online, etc.), which would expire in a year if not used. Again, not a single word of apology or regret: “…proceed to the connection desk…” No information of what possibly to expect there either.

There was a line at the connection desk and only two AC customer representatives. Just from our flight, there were at least 14 people who missed their connection flights – either to Ottawa or Montreal (counting those who came before us on other delayed flights – something like 20-25 passengers, all together). After about 10-15 minutes of waiting, suddenly there were 4-5 additional AC representatives who began distributing new boarding passes – very routinely, no apology, naturally. On contrary, when passengers started asking questions about how they are now supposed to spend the whole night before the new flight, AC representatives became angry and agitated blaming passengers for interrupting their work.

In response to our request for a manager, a person who introduced himself as Nathan ** appeared to provide the following information: passengers in our situation, according to AC regulations, are entitled to one thing only – rebooking for the next earliest flight; AC cannot provide us with any hotel accommodation, but if we manage to find one on our own, we could then submit a request to AC for a compensation up to 100$ CA (no guarantees it would be satisfied); Pearson International Airport is currently under construction and no lounge except for the “sleep-on-the-floor” (blankets in a big box at the entry are generously provided) in “area 15” is available; there is nothing else can be done for us, and he considers his job fulfilled, as all necessary information was delivered to us.

Actually, this “message” Mr. ** later repeated for the record (after about 20-30 minutes of rather heated conversation, as all passengers were really frustrated by the “treatment” AC offered to us). By the way, again, not a single word of apology, just the same statement repeated over and over with no adjustment to our different questions and arguments: “…I understand you, but there is nothing I can do for you. Complain, if you want, it’s your right to complain, I am OK with it…” This recorded statement is available. However, when at the end asked if he spoke on behalf of AC, Mr. ** suddenly responded that he was speaking only for himself. His response to the obvious follow-up question “why then he was wearing the AC badge” was absolute silence, clearly captured on the record too.

Mr. ** also refused to escalate our concerns to any of his superiors. After several requests from the passengers to, at least, provide the name of his direct supervisor, he told us it could not be done without this person’s permission and that he would call himself asking for that. Supposedly (we couldn’t hear the person to whom Mr. ** spoke), such permission was given. But Mr. ** only gave us his supervisor’s first name Kevin and the first letter of his family name ** – i.e., either he violated his supervisor’s permission to disclose this information or simply misled us when acknowledged receiving this permission in the first place. Needless to say, no contact information was given either: “…contact our customer services online…” Mr. ** also rejected our request to provide any written statement or show us a document that would outline and explain AC regulations under the circumstances: “…go to our web-site…”

All this time his colleagues (with the exception of one or, maybe, two who did not participate in the conversation) were quite rude with all of us, especially a woman, who was extremely confrontational and then even refused to give us her name. Pictures of how glorious Pearson International looks like at night (attached) are very telling. Aren’t they? There is a side question to the airport administration – what prevents it from providing more comfortable seats in much higher numbers – judging from the abundance of bodies of people sleeping on the floor, there would be enough room (that is floor surface, of course) to install them?

Also there, we were not actually surprised much to find out that our situation paled in comparison with that of some people who, thanks to AC, missed their cross-ocean flights to Europe and found themselves on the very same floor of the hospitable “lounge in area 15”. Should it be mentioned that the entertainment system on AC7722 stopped working after 25-30 minutes of the flight, and the crew did not bother with any attempt to fix or, at least, to explain the problem and apologize for it? Probably, not – indeed, in comparison with what is described above it is really close to nothing.

Ruined plans, worries of friends and families, unattended business meetings, lost time, simply discomfort, both physical (from sleepless or spent on-the-floor night) and moral (when your service provider makes it clear that you are just expected to gratefully overspend on overbooked flights and be happy and quiet not to provoke company people to call up security to dump you from the plane, as it recently happened with the United) – all these things, apparently, are not even considered, much less covered by the AC policy, are they?

There is no particular request to this message. We already received our portion of frustration and humiliation, in addition to the privilege of sleeping on the floor of Pearson International (welcome to Toronto, everybody). AC will respond according to its understanding of the situation and its own set of rules and regulations that, at least, recognise our “right to complain.” We just would like to make information about this our misadventure known to as many people (who may still maintain illusions about our great Canadian air-company) as possible.

After halfway into the flight we ask the flight attendant to call ahead and she said they already filled our seat to Heathrow. A lady on our flight just had carry on luggage and she made it to our gate while it was still boarding but they said she wasn't allowed d since her seat was sold to someone else, that is bull crap!!! Then I found out that the airline decided to refund me the money I spent on bulkhead seats so wife could stretch her legs easier and it was closer to the toilets and put us to the back of the plane. My with MS was so stressed she had her 1st relapse in months and her brother had to take the next day off work also to get us and then had to work on the weekend instead of sightseeing with us. Not to mention all the problems it caused with the reservations we had with other family in England.

We got to the hotel at 2:15am and had to be on a shuttle back by 6am. Then we got on the flight to Heathrow and the flight attendant said that there were no pilots schedule for the flight due to management. We waited 45 minutes, the pilots got on the plane and then came on the speaker 25 minutes later saying that could start the engines and it would take about 20 minutes to go through the process a 2nd time, and if that didn't work we would need a jumpstart from the airport. What the hell something you don't want to hear flying across the ocean for 7 hours at 40000 feet.

My wife and daughter were already worked up before this. Air Canada wanted to give me 25% of the purchase of 4 tickets within a year, what a joke like I am going to give them more of my $. They ruined half of our 2 week vacation so I asked for 1/2 my money back, they said they couldn't do that but send them the receipt of bills occurred due to them, how am I supposed to get receipts of reservations and family plans we delayed and missed out on. AIR CANADA IS JOKE and I will go to my grave telling everyone and getting on as many sites as possible to help others how THEY RUINED OUR VACATION VISITING MY WIFE PARENT'S, FAMILY, AND FRIENDS!!!

Upon boarding, it was only at the gate agent when I showed her my boarding pass did I realize the baggage slip says it's going to Winnipeg. Panicked, I asked the gate agent if my luggage was sent to Winnipeg and the gate agent checked on the system that the sticker was not mine and gave me my actual baggage number. I asked her if they had send my bag to Winnipeg on another flight already cause I need my luggage. Gate agent assured me that the desk agent probably just put the wrong sticker on my ticket and that I will get my luggage at my destination in Toronto but "hold on to the baggage number in case it didn't show up". I supposed the gate agent didn't dig deeper cause she wanted the flight to take off on time which I get. When I reached my destination, my sinking feeling was confirmed when my luggage didn't show up. I filed for a delayed baggage report and the agent there couldn't locate my bag at all.

Luckily, 2 days later it arrived at my doorstep. Upon checking my luggage to make sure nothing was stolen, I saw the baggage slip that the desk agent had put on and it was indeed going to Winnipeg. HOW DOES AN AGENT PRINT ANOTHER PASSENGER'S BAGGAGE SLIP AND PUT IT IN MY LUGGAGE??? AND CHARGE ME THE CHECK-IN FEE FOR THIS??? I don't mind paying the fee as long as it gets to my destination but I don't feel right about being charged to have my bag purposely sent to Winnipeg! I swear she spent all that time looking up which flight to sent it to to have minimal damage (time-wise). I read that AC purposely "delay" baggage for various reasons but this has gone too far. I will never fly with Air Canada again. I have Aeroplan but I guess I won't use that on any domestic flight. Porter and WestJet is the only other options.

However, the flight coming home was a nightmare. I was at the San Diego airport at 10:30 am. Two hours before my flight at 12:30. The flight I was scheduled to be on was AC 8669 San Diego to Vancouver. After about 4 1/2 hours of waiting past the scheduled time of leaving we were all told the flight was canceled due to mechanical problems. Air Canada even tried flying in a part, I heard, but even that plane had trouble.

It wasn't until 9:30 pm that I was shuttled to the LA airport. That's eleven hours of waiting. All that time I am trying to be patient. Different people were being told different information about what was happening. Different people were getting different emails that they were booked on a Saturday flight, a Wednesday flight. Yet the Air Canada rep was saying "no just stay here." Total confusion. I don't have a cell phone so I was getting worried. Then, I remembered I have an iPod and I checked that and I got an email stating I'm scheduled to leave at 5:30 pm. Which, looking at my watch had already gone by 2 minutes ago. I understand that it would be a complex problem to solve. Flights to be rescheduled on Air Canada. Connecting flights to be rescheduled. Hotel rooms to be booked. But it is very obvious that Air Canada does not have a good protocol for canceled flights.

It takes another two hours to shuttle some of us to the LA airport in a hot small van. We were told somebody would be there to give us hotel rooms and confirm that we were either booked on the 7:00 am or 12:00 noon flight out of LA. We get there and there is nobody there to help us. It is now 11:45 pm and we are walking up and down the terminal trying to find somebody. We are tired and very angry. That is absolutely terrible treatment of your customers. Two customers were using their cell phones to talk to Air Canada. They were told nothing could be done. They were told "Find your own hotel (under a hundred dollars) and submit the receipt to Air Canada." That's ridiculous. 1:00 in the morning and we are to find our own hotel for a hundred dollars in a strange city. What kind of treatment is that?

Finally, 2 Air Canada employees show up to help us. The one told us that they were told we might be coming! What, they didn't know! I was assuming that Air Canada at the San Diego airport was arranging all this. That's why we were waiting so long!! I didn't get to the hotel in LA until 1:20 am. From 10:30 am Tues. morning to 1:20 am Wed. morning. That's what 15 hours. Even worse, I'm in the lobby of the hotel at 1:45 am and I see 3 of the people from that plane were rejected from the hotel because they ran out of rooms. The Air Canada employees at the LA airport were supposed to have booked those rooms. Can you imagine how they felt after all that they went through. That is terrible treatment.

There were parents with very young children booked on that flight. Some women were even breastfeeding. I think some of them got to go directly to the hotel in LA rather than to the airport to get vouchers. I'm hoping Air Canada treated them better. There was an older woman who had been to Mexico for an operation and lived quite a distance from Prince George. She needed a wheelchair and she had to go through all that the rest of us went through.

There was a young woman who just lost her grandfather whom she was close to. She was very close to tears when she told us why she was on the plane. I could see when we got to the LA airport that she looked like she felt defeated. There was a couple with a daughter that had only 4 days off from school to vacation and now 2 of those days are gone. And myself. This is the first time I have flown in 35 years and I am not young. I was so tired that Wed morning I spilled coffee all over my brand new suitcase and my brand new expensive running shoes that I had bought for all that walking I was going to be doing.

Still nothing is resolved and they want me to wait 25 days for someone to call me back after somebody on their end stole something, go to my bag and damaged my bag when if it was there the same time as arrival is me none of these issues would have happened. The people that I dealt with that I felt were very negligent or a manager named Tracy at head office. Also another supervisor name Sharon who lied to me and said she would call me back in an hour and it's now been 23 hours later. Just don't really feel that they care about their customers. I have her employee number but I don't really want to wait on the phone for another three hours to talk to somebody that's going to accidentally hang up on you. I would not recommend this company to anybody and this was me flying first class.

I couldn't believe they could sell me a ticket to Beijing and then not know the rules for travel. They are so afraid of getting in trouble with allowing the wrong people on a flight that they have no sense of fairness. I went to small claim court for treble damages. I lost the case. They sent a lawyer. I had to buy a last minute ticket for over $2000 to travel the next day. AIR CANADA IS BREAKING THE LAW and getting away with it. Please, never travel on Air Canada, at least with my itinerary.

Finally I finished travel and asked for the money back, they sent me to some web form, which said it would take a minimum of 3 weeks for anyone to even look at the refund, let alone actually credit it, so I get to pay credit card interest while Air Canada wastes my time. 5 complaints lodged, another 6 emails, and still no response other than "we will get to your email eventually".

Suffice to say, I will NEVER use this airline again and I advise people to be cautious when considering booking with them. I am a very well travelled person and have literally travelled the world with numerous airlines, and Air Canada is the worst airline, by far, that I have ever travelled with. Actually, you get what you pay for, but for a national carrier Air Canada is shameful.

For the 5 past days I have been calling to speak to a manager or anyone who can help me in this matter. Then I get you need to call the french line they are taking care of your case. I call the French line and tell me I need to call the English line. 5 days of this madness. Our tickets cost me $550 and now they want $800 to change it plus the difference in price for the tickets. For a family of 4 to fly these days it is becoming costly. I explained to them that I can't afford $1000. Customer service suggested that I just buy new tickets at $185 each. So I asked how about the other tickets that I paid for already. Customer service said to just leave it and let it go to waste.

Does it make sense that I paid $550 for tickets to go down the drain. How can I fly out of Fort Myers to Toronto if I am in Toronto to begin with. I asked if I can paid the difference in price and they said no. Why should I buy new tickets when I already paid, and I can't afford to buy new ones and by far certainly can't afford $1000 to change them. My flight is 2 months away. I can't see why they can't help me and why I need to keep tickets that I can't use. Customer service keeps telling me that I need to pay $200 each to fix my tickets. Air Canada has disappointed me. What happen to affordable traveling, Family vacations, what happened to good customer service??? When I tell people what is going on they are shocked at how this is being taken care of especially when it 2 months away.

I wanted to say no at that time because I did not think this was appropriate and I did not want anyone to have my passport information! But her attitude and tone was firm and impatient. It seemed like it was my fault that my info was not in the system. She raised her voice and let everyone on the airplane to know that it was my fault to delay the airplane because I was questioning her taking photos of my passport. She did not gave me any other option and immediately took the picture and left! I was very mad about the way she handled customer's privacy! It was as not my fault that my passport info was not in the system. I did not have any trouble passing through the boarding gate. Why don't they tell me at the boarding gate that they don't have my info? I have never encountered with this situation before. It was not appropriate and it violated my privacy!

I had no way to know whether she deleted my passport information or not after she got off the airplane! She was wearing the Air Canada's staff member uniform and I was pretty sure she was one of the staff member. She was using her own iPhone to take the picture of my passport. Even if she deleted my passport picture the new iOS system will save the deleted photo up to 30 days! There will be a trace to recover the picture once you took a picture. My passport info was never safe with her action! I was very worried and I had to report to the RCMP about potential identity thief situation and also be very cautious about any credit card payment. I have already contacted with Air Canada and they only said they will investigate it and they will handle it properly. But I haven't get anything back from Air Canada yet! By the way they also damaged my luggage, I found a long deep scratch on the bottom of my scratch proof luggage after the trip.

Fast forward - many months and countless hours on the phone (10 hours+) have not received it. Promised yesterday I would be able to use it for my upcoming flight to Victoria, they said I can't use it. They shouldn't make promises they can't keep - this is fraudulent. No phone calls to them - only the agents. Impossible to get - they need to BE investigated.

They are shouting on us at the airport. We have to pay for the hotel stay and even for the taxi to travel to hotel from airport. After 6 hours wait they send us to Bangkok and when we reached there we have to take visa of Thailand as we have to take our luggage from there and we have to pay the visa fees, and you can't believe we have to offer them a bribe of 200 baht for visa, luggage fees and even we felt ashamed. They throw a passport on my face. Lot of harassment. I felt awful. We don't get any food not even water to drink. Unpleasant stay. Air Canada should be answerable for harassment, stress, tension that we faced because of them. Totally unfair...terrible experience. I would never give a thought to travel with you guys in future. AWFUL, UNPLEASANT, STRESS, TENSION.

Eventually 3 different people tried to help me and I will get to Denver 11 hours later than planned. I had to raise a bit of a stink not to be charged a rebooking fee for the pleasure of spending all day in airports. The final straw was when I asked if I could at least use their lounges to do some work and was told no. Air Canada's motto is still alive and well -- "We're not happy, till you're not happy."

So you can book what you want with WESTJET and it has historically worked out the way it should. OR, book with Air Crappy and the departure times are confirmed at time of booking (when they want your payment info), but in the end they bump you to a flight that works better for them. BRUTAL!!! I am figuratively screaming for the highest mountain --- AIR CANADA SUCKS!!!

Next morning we got up, we were in Cuba but had no toothbrushes, clothes, bathing suits etc. Well we went to the Air Canada rep at the resort and asked when we could we get our luggage by and he said he is not sure and that we should just go the town and buy whatever we needed. We pretty soon realized that everything there was twice as much but we had no choice so spent $200 and bought some of the things we absolutely needed and $200 seems quite a bit but not in Cuba where just one toothbrush at the resort cost us $5. Our luggage did not show up until three days later.

Funny part is since I came back I have been trying to find a customer service number for Air Canada but there is none. Air Canada knows how much they screw up so they don't have a number where customer can call with their complaint. Only way you can file a complaint with Air Canada is by emailing or faxing which of course nobody responds to. I travel quite a bit and have travelled with many different airlines. This is not my first time travelling with Air Canada and every time I travel with them I say I will not travel with them again, but then I fly with them again thinking that this time it will be better experience but Air Canada makes it worse every time and I am truly done with it. Air Canada I can say is worst of all the Airlines I have travelled with and its staff is very rude and unhelpful.

Since then he has been patiently awaiting his bag. Today (Saturday - 3 days after the bag arrived in Barcelona) he called the luggage desk at the airport and was told he could go to collect the bag rather than wait for delivery. He took a taxi there, only to be told the bag could not be located. So far, this is simply a series of unfortunate events (although wasting his day could probably have been avoided fairly easily). However, my problem is now with Air Canada not being available to provide any advice or guidance. I called their baggage service line and was put on hold for over half an hour before I gave up; I attempted online chat 3 hours ago and am STILL awaiting an agent to initiate the conversation. I emailed and have not even received confirmation that my email was received.

My son is expecting to start school on Monday and needs his bag and its contents to do so. He is traveling on a student budget and is unable to replace his bag contents. This isn't a difficult problem to solve - we simply need a bag to be where it is supposed to be, and we need the airline and its representatives to take responsibility for doing so. However, my experience so far is that Air Canada and its agents are unreachable, incompetent or both. This is an appalling blot on what I anticipated would be a smooth and perhaps preferable route to Dublin which I visit often for both work and family, but at this point I would be a fool to do anything but stick with British Airways (who have certainly left my bag behind on more than one occasion, but were always able to have it catch up with me within one or two days at most).

The only flight now was to Rochester so we got that booked and then we were told the same story as the previous flight but they would get a plane over. We were assured that our checked baggage would be transferred with no problem. By now the connecting flight was some 4 hours late and our friends would have to drive from Syracuse to Rochester to pick us up. Eventually we took off and arrived at midnight. Guess what now no luggage. It had been left at Rochester Airport.

SO after a 2-hour drive with our friends we spent a further 2 hours (it's now 4 am the following day) getting hold of someone to lodge missing/delayed baggage. I won't bore you with rest of it but we eventually got our luggage at 3 pm on Christmas Day!! Bearing in mind we flew out on the 23rd December. Just to add further pain we had delayed flights on the way back and guess what lost luggage again, but it did arrive the following. All in all they do not even deserve any rating whatsoever!!!

The problems started when I was notified by email that our flight changed to a 10 p.m. departure from YVR. This meant an over 8 hour layover in Toronto rather than the original same-day flight. We found another passenger who had the same experience and was given a hotel room to stay in due to the inconvenience. Nothing was offered to us, even when I had to call a week ahead of the flight to ask about our 30 day confirmation email I was supposed to get. We found out at YYZ that an earlier flight went out that we could have easily taken.

Thankfully we had lounge passes for Air Canada. We went to the domestic lounge to use them and your employee examined the passes, and said we should instead go to the international lounge as it was better. We did that and they notified us that our passes were no good, and could do nothing for us. We were unable to go back to domestic due to our international ticket. There was absolutely no accommodating our needs and being accountable to providing us false information. I expect when I deal with a company that I can trust their words. We were furious and had to make do with uncomfortable airport seating for 8 hours after being up all night.

When we arrived in Varadero, we could deplane as the paperwork wasn't complete so we had to wait about 20 minutes. We then boarded the bus and couldn't leave till about an hour later as Air Canada lost some people's luggage. We arrived quite late to the hotel and missed dinner other than some scraps left over. We proceeded to our hotel room and en route, bulbs were burned out, ceilings were falling apart, steps were broken, walls were crumbling, doors were broken, and elevators were shut down for good. It was like walking into a shanty town.

We get into the room and the place had lights broken, lamp shades melted, a phone that didn't work, a shower that was missing parts on the tap, and pillows that lacked any support. Worst of all were the bugs that scattered off the bed when I took off the cover. It was disgusting! I went to the front desk to complain and change rooms, and they could do nothing. We had to sleep with bugs crawling around.

The next morning I spoke to the Air Canada rep as I tried to call the number on the ticket to complain to you directly and the call couldn't connect. Miguel was nice and tried to help out. He looked into another hotel but it would have cost us $500 extra. He told the managers to give us a villa room instead and asked us to check with the front desk later as they had nothing for us yet.

We went back to the front desk at 3 p.m. and had the choice between two rooms, not in the villa, despite what Miguel instructed them to do. The new room was better and moved our things there. This whole change wasted more of our vacation time, as well as the anger we had in tolerating bugs and a ** room. In our new room we never received our beach towels despite a few requests with the front desk. It took two days to get new towels. Then toilet paper took another day at one point in time.

A couple of days later our toilet stopped working and it took all day to get it fixed as we were told that the mechanic knocked on our door twice to fix it and we were not there. We were never told we had to be and also, who would expect a client to wait for a mechanic to fix a toilet?!!! I am on vacation. These experiences made our vacation very frustrating and we made the most of it. I am shocked that this is ranked as a 3 - 3.5 star. We were treated by Air Canada and the hotel like 1 stars.

On the return trip I requested to the Air Canada agent in Varadero to seat us close to the front of the plane as we had a connecting flight. We boarded the plane and realized we were placed in row 31 of 32 rows! If that wasn't enough, the food items were very scarce by the time it was our turn. All they had was one pizza and macaroni and cheese with snacks limited to junk food. The flight attendants were very unfriendly and unapologetic; very matter of fact and never saw one smile on their faces as they served guests.

I would also suggest you review the hotels you place guests in and have them and your Air Canada staff treat guests with greater respect and dignity. The only one to do so was your representative at the hotel. I truly believe that customer service is the one differentiator companies have left and the way "economy" passengers are treated is appalling. I expect a prompt response to this. I fly both Air Canada and West Jet regularly for business and this treatment to me and my wife is unacceptable, and didn't make our experience a true vacation.

Now I find out that I have to take the same air carrier (Rouge) which if I knew I would have flown with someone else, so I tried to get info or try to figure out how much it would be to fly in Business by phone and it took me 30 mins on the queue and 45 min for the guy on the phone to try to figure out the price... CA$740. Not happy at all. Will not fly with you ever again and will go to social media and add one more bad experience to the others your company has online and word of mouth.

To my fellow Canadians, I don't know why you folks are so afraid of foreign investments into the aviation business? It's time to be customer focused and get rid of those unions. No doubt it's no bad to be an AC staff because they milked the customers and feed their staff with outrageous benefits. I know because a friend of mine works for AC. Canadians are so lagging behind in aviation and the mobile technologies. Come to Asia and see how are we Canadians are so behind. Ditch those unions blocking the progress!

WHAT? WAS HE DRUNK? The border MANDATES you get a ticket BEFORE APPLICATION, it is a requirement of IMMIGRATION. He then told us that all I could do was change my flight for a huge fee and that was our problem. Yes, he used the words, "your problem". He said I would be better off staying at home if this is the case and maybe shouldn't be working. Absolutely unbelievable and totally sexist and prejudice. I would like the attorney general in Washington to know about this and am planning on filing a complaint. Everyone in the US should call or write to the office in Washington at: (202) 785-5980.

He made me feel as though he was 'picking' on me, singling me out. I was sick with a bad cold and very stressed from a long tiring trip in China where I had suffered food poisoning and diarrhea of which I still had residual symptoms aboard this flight. At the beginning of the flight I walked to the back galley and asked for a few refills of water there because I was extremely thirsty and feeling dehydrated. Nazareno seemed irritated with me and asked if I was sick and asked whether I had a fever that I must notify him because if that was the case I was not allowed to travel like that and would have to get off the flight!!! The flight had already taken off and was well in the air by this point!

I told him I was sick with a cold and cough and had suffered severe food poisoning and illness in China. He seemed unsympathetic. I also witnessed my husband ask another female flight attendant in the back galley to fill his water bottle, so he could take some medication. She politely did. Only after she had done so, Nazareno who had witnessed the other flight attendant filling my husband's water bottle did he say it's against Air Canada policy to fill water bottles for passengers. This didn't make sense to watch the other flight attendant doing it and then make such a statement after the fact!? Many of the statements Nazareno was making were nonsensical as well as nasty and harassing.

At the meal service I asked for a red wine and shared it with my husband. I was sharing all my wine with my husband. I asked for a second wine when the bar service came around after dinner, to try to relax. I shared this with my husband also. We were already about four hours into the flight and I went to the back galley to ask for a wine where I encountered Nazareno. At this point I had only 1 wine. This flight attendant Nazareno was immediately 'nasty' with me stating that the bar is now closed. He was interrogating me about whether I had a wine at dinner. I explained I had only half. He told me the bar is now closed. He had no right but unreasonably refused me service. He refused to give me a wine telling me he has the discretion to refuse anybody wine. It was clear I was not in any way intoxicated. I was completely sober. He insisted he has had 30 years of experience and that I will have to wait.

He refused me any service without valid reason!!! I was in disbelief. I told him I intended to complain about his rude and harassing treatment. He refused to give his name. I was stressed already and was becoming more stressed after all the resistance and bad attitude from Nazareno and found this flight attendant being nasty and unreasonable and purposefully rude, and unfair with me. He knew very well I was not drinking unreasonably. Naturally I was explaining my case to him, feeling like I had to beg this man for a drink. Only because I was questioning him as to why he was treating me so badly was he becoming impatient and annoyed and asked me if I want to talk to someone in charge. I said yes that I did because I have paid my airline fare and have the right to have a wine. He called to someone over the phone and eventually another male attendant came to talk to me.

While waiting in the galley, Nazareno continued arguing making a big deal out of nothing. He started telling other flight attendants things about me as I started to leave to return to my seat which was near the rear of the plane, because I was finding it painful and stressful talking to Nazareno. He was making no sense. I feel that Nazareno dislikes his job and takes it out on passengers like myself and my husband. He was trying for some reason to falsely give the other flight attendants the idea I was over drinking. This was ridiculous because it was evident I was completely sober. However this rude man made me feel embarrassed in front of other passengers as I was being accused of raising my voice which wasn't the case. I was only arguing my point that I only had 1 wine at dinner. Of course I felt upset. I am human after all and felt this man was harassing me for some unknown reason.

He then accused me of causing an 'altercation' only because I was disputing his refusal of service. I also asked him what was the problem and why is he giving me a hard time for no reason. Asking him why is he not serving me a wine when clearly I am not over drinking. Is this an altercation??? I do not think so. Before I left the galley, he had called another older gentleman flight attendant who was supposedly in charge to speak with me. He had much better customer service skills and an ability to de-escalate rather than escalate and cause stress and problems where non is warranted. I asked him if he thought I was perfectly sober. He said yes then he doesn't disagree. I explained to the second male attendant that I felt Nazareno was picking on me and causing trouble for me. This second male attendant eventually brought me a wine.

I noticed Nazareno was scarcely in my area now and not serving the aisle where I was sitting anymore because I had told him prior during the unreasonable refusal of service, that I wanted his name because I intend to complain about his harassing, unfair treatment towards me. I thought this nonsense was over with when the bar service came around again more than 6 hours into the flight. I ordered a wine and was given same by a polite oriental attendant. Then a blond, larger older woman flight attendant I believe her name is Carol, approached me and interrupted my movie warning me again that this wine will be my last wine for a while!! She said all the crew have been watching me and talking about my wine consumption and that it's their job to pace people by having no more than one drink in 1 hour. I said it's over six hours into the flight and I haven't had anywhere near to that amount.

She started causing an embarrassing scene in front of everyone making me out to be a troublesome passenger who needs to be warned. It was very rude and uncalled for again. She again disturbed me by starting to argue in the middle of the aisle which was ridiculous and very uncalled for and again I felt as though I was really being picked on for some reason. All of this had been instigated by Nazareno. Carol could see visually that I was fine and not in any way drunk or acting disorderly. I was sitting quietly in my seat. I pointed out this very fact to her and again and she couldn't disagree. I was again left feeling embarrassed and singled out. I told her that I feel I'm being harassed, and unfairly treated and will make a complaint. I asked for Nazareno's name but she refused to give it out citing I can just describe him in my complaint but names of crew are not given out. I found it ridiculous when all the crew wear name tags!

It seemed to me the flight attendants were all sticking together backing this Nazareno even though he was the very person instigating problems and stress. I tried to ask another flight crew his name and was told those name tags are not their real names! At the conclusion of the flight I had gone to the back of the plane where Nazareno was situated again, upon arrival in Vancouver to get Nazareno's name but he refused to give me his name and he even went so far to attempt to hide it from me with his arm and he then made a scene by calling the Captain on loudspeaker to say I AM harassing him! Only because I'm asking for his name!!! I didn't think that is harassment! It was all unbelievable. I left because I had managed to glance at his name tag. Air Canada makes announcements on the loudspeaker in the aircraft telling passengers to ask the crew for anything to make them feel more comfortable and make the flight more enjoyable.

This is far from what I experienced. I was already stressed out to start with and I felt some of the airline attendants seemed to do everything in their power to make me feel more stressed and literally try to push me over the edge. Luckily I am not aggressive enough to cause any problems, but felt Nazareno was looking to instigate trouble for me. I felt he was trying to push me over the edge. That he was trying to be the straw to break the camel's back so to speak. I hear about air rage incidents on the news and have sympathy for those passengers knowing how unfairly and unreasonably I myself have been treated and feeling maybe nasty flight attendants like Nazareno and Carol caused them to snap. I feel that he and Carol are not nice people and definitely not professional employees. They and others like them are a disgrace to Air Canada.

I find some of the crew on many Air Canada flights in my experience are downright nasty and act as though they are on a power trip. They act like tyrants and feel they can do so with impunity. They make stressful flights worse not better or more comfortable. I am not surprised to hear about air rage incidents with the type of flight attendants like Nazareno and Carol working for Air Canada. They certainly did not make me as a passenger feel relaxed or comfortable. I have experienced this disrespectful treatment on this and other Air Canada flights. If people are treated with respect they will respond accordingly. It's only natural human behavior. The nasty harassing treatment I received made me feel singled out and persecuted. I felt I was harassed, disrespected and treated very unfairly by Nazareno, Carol and some of the other flight attendants. It was completely unjustified.

I wonder if Air Canada management know about some of the poor quality, nasty unprofessional staff they have working for them. This very poor service. I feel I was treated so badly. I feel like filing a human rights complaint because I feel as though my basic human rights for dignified treatment were completely violated and for the pain and suffering caused to me by Nazareno and other Air Canada crew on this particular flight. I have flown countless times for business and pleasure with Air Canada.

Many of the Air Canada flight crew I have encountered have been extremely rude and disrespectful crossing the line of human decency and respect. I feel that these flight attendants feel justified somehow to take out their frustrations on passengers freely. I feel that flight crew 'feel' justified it's their right to disrespect and be rude and unfair to customers indiscriminately at their will should they choose to with impunity. I dread taking Air Canada flights because of the nasty treatment I often experience from the flight attendants only on Air Canada. I feel some of the crew need training in how to treat people respectfully and attendants who have had years of experience I find are the most rude and seem to be on a power trip due to their seniority. I feel this man, Nazareno was biased towards me for some unknown reason. It was very hurtful to experience this. I feel I was made to feel less than a human being.

The crew have the power to make a big difference to whether a passenger has a stress free and enjoyable flight. Because of Nazareno, I was left feeling like I was going to have a nervous breakdown after all I had been through. I felt like crying because I was so upset and still had the Vancouver to Toronto leg of my flight to fly with a four hour stopover and no sleep. I had been awake all night for 9-10 hours on the long tiring flight with a nasty bunch of flight attendants on a power trip. I am very shocked at the bad and disrespectful treatment I got from Air Canada. Flight attendants on this particular flight has been the worst I have experienced so far.

It was the most awful experience to end my holiday in China flying with Air Canada. My experience with the nasty, harassing, unfair and disrespectful treatment from Nazareno, Carol and other flight crew on Air Canada has been enough to cause me to choose another airline in future even I have to pay a little more. Beware if you encounter this crew and try not to ask for service in order to avoid same experience or better still use another carrier for a peaceful more dignified flight experience.

This is the customer service they give. Either I should have argued with her on this matter or kept quiet. because they have the right to throw us out of the flight and make any excuse. My flight **. DO NOT FLY BY AIR CANADA. TILL POSSIBLE. THEY ARE R... **. She was so kind and nice to the white family who were just behind us. Because that lady offered to take back her coats down and make some room for us. And this AIR HOSTESS refused her and told her "no no it's ok." As all the people who boarded before us have all their bags laptops, three to four jackets up in the cabin. What the hell? Why can't THEY HAVE THEIR jackets on their laps? Why this difference between people? What are they told in training that you have to prefer your own country people and ignore every other human race...

It took Adam three hours to drive to the airport from the suburbs. He arrived at the airport, as required, two and a half hours prior to his flight. The system did not permit Adam to check in 24 hrs prior indicating he would be required to check in at the airport, with no reason given. Adam thought it may be due to his service dog attending with him. Upon arriving at the airport, Adam was asked to present the agent with a credit card, which of course he did not have, for the flight was booked by me (his mother) using my credit card which was in my possession in Fort Lauderdale. Unfortunately, I was in Fort Lauderdale having flown out on the 28th of November in preparation for his surgery and to receive him on the 30th as per his booking and therefore was not able to get to the airport in Toronto in order to present Air Canada ticket agent with my credit card which they physically wanted to see prior to issuing Adam a boarding pass.

Adam was asked whether he purchased the ticket on his credit card and he indicated he didn't know. It was his mother who purchased his flight tickets for him. Adam called me to explain the situation at which time I spoke with a ticket agent handling this matter and explained the purchase and further provided via text message, a photo of my credit card number, my itinerary and confirmation of Adams flight received from Air Canada upon confirmation of booking and payment, a copy of my Amex statement indicating proof of payment using my Amex Card, along with correspondence to and from Air Canada Medical Desk pertaining to this reservation.

Irrespective of this, Adam, along with his dog, were denied boarding and greatly traumatized at a time when he is already disadvantaged having the need for an emotional support dog as well having to deal with a medical emergency. As a result of Air Canada's negligence in first accepting payment and issuing a ticket upon which plans were made, in this case, it pertained to a medical emergency, has left us not only jeopardizing Adam's health for a missed procedure, but furthermore, caused us to lose the $8,200.00 prepaid for this procedure which was not refundable. Adam had a valid ticket with Air Canada with authorization to travel with his support dog, Duke, as indicated in my emails attached herein.

It is beyond comprehension, when a ticket is purchased, a reservation code is provided, along with a confirmation of itinerary and confirmation of price, and plans are made accordingly, in this case a medical emergency booked, only to learn that Air Canada had the power to wrongly renege on its ticket issued and deny Adam to board and make his flight to Fort Lauderdale. After repeatedly calling Air Canada Customer service I was denied access to a manager or a supervisor to assist me in this regard. All agents indicated there was nothing they can do.

I am unsure if this flight was oversold and it was a tactic used to deny a passenger from boarding his flight, or whether there were other reasons only known to Air Canada, but this is wrong. Both Adam and his dog suffered tremendously having made a three hour drive to the airport and then given the runaround and traumatized by the events leading up to them finally not able to travel despite having paid for and being confirmed on the flight to Fort Lauderdale for November 30, 2016, at 16:35 pm. They were both stranded at the airport overnight with absolutely no accommodations provided by the airline for their wrong. Air Canada made no effort to correct its wrong or accommodate him despite desperate pleas by both he and myself.

What was even more astounding is that even after crying over the telephone and pleading with agents to help with over 13 calls, I was either misrepresented, lied to, or hung up on with no one willing to help, and when I finally reached someone by the name of Christian **, who identified himself as a Customer Service Manager from Tampa, I was informed that there was nothing much he could do. As you can see, this is appalling! No one should have to succumb to so much suffering over the handling of this by Air Canada, and yet after notifying them of an emergency health crisis, still decided it was not going to do anything to assist in undoing its wrong in the first instance. Air Canada is always looking to put the blame elsewhere and they never seem to have senior managers or supervisors available to handle and immediately deal with crisis situations such as this.

Upon reviewing others who have cared to leave reviews about Air Canada and its staff online, I noticed, Air Canada enjoys a lowly review of 1 out of 5 stars, with many disgruntled passengers who have been poorly treated and mishandled with customer service at the lowest possible level. All you have to do is go online and read the many reviews people have left online, along with racial accusations of Air Canada, in its dealings with its customers. The ratings clearly reflect the level of distrust, frustration and suffering witnessed at the hands of Air Canada.

My next step is to commence a legal claim against Air Canada for all damages suffered hereunder, and to make all aware of Air Canada's business practices with its customers. Something must be done! No business would survive this type of poor business practices, unless it enjoys the monopoly Air Canada enjoys (with the exception of WestJet). This matter needs to be looked into. This was not my first occurrence of this nature with Air Canada. I along with countless parents book seats all the time for our kids who study abroad, who have no access to credit cards if they are travelling alone. If Air Canada is going to implement such security requirements, it must inform customers who purchase tickets for their kids to ensure their kids won't be subjected to this type of trauma when arriving at the airport to board their flights with Air Canada.

I am a loyal Air Canada traveller who travels immensely and book my kids with Air Canada all the time with quite a few trips booked in the New Year. I have booked a flight for my son Alyn who is returning home for Christmas, and then heading to Florida for a week's vacation with his friends. Will he be succumbed to this again? When asked Air Canada what steps I can take to ensure this doesn't happen again in the future, I had no answers nor recommendations from Air Canada. I don't know at this point how kids whose tickets are bought by parents are being subjected to abandonment at the airport with no notice or warning from Air Canada. Unless of course, our family has been wrongly targeted as a result of our skin colour, for this is not the first time my kids have been traumatized in this manner by Air Canada. THIS IS SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE AND WRONG AND SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE.

In addition to looking for compensation for damages suffered as a result of Air Canada's refusal to honor the Air Canada ticket lawfully purchased for my son, it is my intention to also proceed with my story with the Toronto Star as well as CBC so that awareness can be made by those who have suffered needlessly as a result of Air Canada's business practices and its poor customer service practices. I am urging all those who want to join me in commencing a class action lawsuit against Air Canada to contact me or my counsel so that we can finally force Air Canada to make changes to the manner in which it handles its business practice and customer service. In addition to numerous phone calls to Air Canada, a letter was also sent through Air Canada's complaint email, all of which have thus far been ignored and no response received by us.

I tried contacting other phone numbers on Air Canada websites, but got directed to this same phone number everytime. Some of the people answering their calls were not friendly and would cut me off or transferring me without warning me so. I sent 2 emails now to their other "Customer Care" and they don't even bother getting back to me. I have concluded that once they got your money, the care stops! There are many other competitors out there. I learned my bitter lesson with Air Canada and will give my business somewhere else.

9 hours later, the code share airlines said that they did not have any tickets for us. They were considerate to call Air Canada themselves to sort out the issue. It took another 2 hours to sort the issue and we could finally board the flight from Frankfurt to another unplanned transit airport, Delhi. When we arrived there, our baggage was missing. And as expected, there were no tickets to our final destination. The other airlines continued to be courteous and talked to Air Canada again to re-book our tickets to final destination BLR. We reached BLR almost a day later. Our baggage arrived 5 days later. Our return journey was very similar. The check in desk was on phone with Air Canada for 2 hours before they could issue our tickets.

On return, I reported the issue to the Service desk. They were very inhospitable. It was the same attitude throughout. It took them 3 months to tell me that they do not have a clue about what caused the glitch. And they said, as "good will", if I book tickets on AirCanada.com for full price for a future journey, they will waive off 25% of base price. I told the agent that I do not want any coupon, I need to know why inconvenience was caused, she said she does not care about what I want. I asked to talk to her supervisor, and she wished me good luck with that. I am now writing this in sheer exasperation about Air Canada's rude behavior. I would avoid this airlines in my future journeys.

But before confirming the reservation I thought I'd just check how much more the Business/Economy ticket would be compared to an Economy/Economy ticket, and I couldn't believe what came back! The same Flex Economy ticket for Phoenix to Toronto costs $110 MORE when matched with a Business outbound compared to when it's a simple Economy return! Why?

Why should I pay more for my return portion because I bought a Business Class on the outbound? Does Air Canada have some warped view that if I can afford a Business Class ticket one-way then I must be good for a higher priced Economy coming the other way?? And this has nothing to do with discounted Economy tickets selling out and becoming unavailable when I made my 2nd query - I did the same query over 2 hours later with the exact same result. I would love someone at Air Canada to explain to me the rationale for this and why I should not feel like they're trying to rip me off.

We both have health issues so that is why we had requested aisle seats. If AC had told us six months ago when we purchased our tickets that we would be assigned middle seats on the last row, we would have not have taken this flight. Getting the seats we paid for is part of the contract between us and AC. It took AC six weeks to respond to our complaint. They blamed the computer system for reassigning us from aisle seats in the middle of the plane to the middle seats on the last row. Our booking system automatically reseats customers on the new aircraft, and sometimes the exact same seating options may not be. AC offered us the standard discount on a future flight, but since we do not have any need to fly next year AC offered us nothing of value.

My simple questions to them was that it's ok. It's our fault that we didn't have visa, but then what's your responsibility when you send every day 15 people home. At least you as responsible carrier can inform passenger a week before about making sure of visa. If not at least you can have something at counter that we need transit visa, after standing in queue for hours, we get our turn then we have to listen that we don't have transit visa. At least it could have saved time for people to get another flight. I am very much fed up from airline and its officials. They are happy to overbook the flight and then send passenger home and making money. It's very pathetic airline & I recommend not to fly again.

Unfortunately the impression left by this travel experience is very negative. Air Canada seems to have no respect for French speaking Canadians since it does not have the decency to put some French speaking flight attendants on a flight to Montreal. Call me an OLD GRUMPY OLD MAN, but this old man is really insulted when one of your flight attendant asked us to point to images on your menu. We had never been served this way on other airlines (Lufthansa, Swiss, Alitalia). They seem to regard their customers with more respect than Air Canada. On the other hand, we would be very happy with the service if we were English speaking passengers and would probably recommend the names of the flight attendants for the Dialogue Award but we are not and would certainly not recommend any names.

It is unbelievable that AC does not emphasize their refund system or there is something else bigger in order for extra earnings in their pockets. I found out later that the complaint list is too long for AC and we are not the only cheated and disappointed customers. We travel extensively and have flown internationally with other airlines, but Air Canada was the only airline that has underperformed and continuously disappointed us. Absolutely awful customer service. Please share this, in order to protect other people like us.

So now trying to get my money back for flight and hotel. Sent 4 emails, mailed out a package to customer relations and faxed them. Still no reply! How is this not wrong? Not even an apology!!! Just a standard email reply that all customers get!!! Air Canada...you need to compensate me for my trip! This is not fair! You have to contact me by phone and I want an explanation as to why no one gets back to me!

I asked if Air Canada would provide us with a taxi ride to Toronto. She told us that we could submit a request for reimbursement when we returned from our trip, but she could not provide us with a taxi voucher. As we were dropped off at London International Airport, we had no other choice but to take a cab at a cost to me of $250. On the way to Toronto, the cab driver told us that the cab we were following also had passengers distant for Toronto from the same cancelled flight and that they had been given a taxi voucher by a different check-in agent.

Today I received from Air Canada a refund of $29.98 for 3 passengers. I would like anyone who is in the process of planning to travel to seek other airlines that can cancel a flight at any time without considering the ramification that it leaves the passengers in. There are other airlines.

My fiancé was upgraded to business class due to receiving blood clots to her lungs on arriving to Canada and was being escorted home with a flight nurse while I was seated in economy class, so thinking her phone was one (she didn't know) she handed it over to the cabin supervisor. He said he had to confiscate it for safety reasons so she asked for him to bring it to me so I could take the SIM card out as she didn't know how to, I had no idea how to either but I tried to reason with him saying the phone WAS NOT A SAMSUNG NOTE AS PER THEIR WARNINGS that it was in fact a SAMSUNG GALAXY7 EDGE WHICH HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SAFETY WARNINGS THAT WERE ISSUED, but he still said it had to go!

We taxied off a couple of minutes later and when we got to the altitude I ushered an attendant asking that I get a receipt for the confiscation. He replied that he did not think this was possible. I said I needed something from them so I could make a claim under our travel insurance. He said he would see what he could do. On exiting I again asked for the receipt but was told I was not getting one as that phone was taken "under the airline safety policy issue". I said that was then classed as THEFT. He was nonresponsive so I left the aircraft and am now finding myself dismayed at a perfect holiday only to be marred by the incompetence of the cabin staff, especially the CABIN SUPERVISOR.

I am also left astounded that when those of us that are left to make complaints we are ALL DIRECTED TO THESE BLOODY INDIAN / PAKISTAN CALL CENTRES who are very hard to understand, are told they "understand" or "very sorry for our problem". I will not however let this mar my love for Canada or its people BUT I WILL DEFINITELY FIND OTHER CARRIERS TO FLY WITH!? END OF RANT!!!

FURTHERMORE: "For this reason, you should research the services available for travellers with disabilities in your destination country by contacting its government office in Canada. You should also check the website of the airport at your destination to familiarize yourself with its services for travellers with disabilities." Knowing that I was only travelling to Florida and back, I had no idea I would be required to familiarize myself with regard to travellers with disabilities - IN MY OWN COUNTRY!

This year, 2016, we decided to use the 20% discount (wrong decision on our part) and give AC another chance. We flew from Las Vegas (LAS) to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (GIG), with layover in Toronto (YYZ) on September 9. One of three checked luggage was missing so we filed a claim with AC's lost baggage counter in Rio. The counter agent located the missing luggage and said it was still in Toronto. Why would three bags checked in at the same time, two made it and one got left behind, no one knows. The agent said AC has multiple flights daily from Toronto to Sao Paulo, Brazil and our missing luggage will be routed from Toronto to Sao Paulo the next day, and then onto Rio, to the hotel we are staying.

On day 2, the baggage never came. We now discovered we had prescription medications stored in the missing luggage so we started calling the delayed baggage number provided on AC’s website. After more than a 30-minute hold time, we were connected to a Call Center agent that are based outside of United States. The first agent was extremely difficult to understand and was not able to provide any clear information of our luggage. We then asked to speak with a supervisor (of course more hold time).

The supervisor confirmed that the luggage never left Toronto and the Toronto baggage department declined to route the luggage through Sao Paulo. Instead, they will put it on a flight heading to Rio four days later. After we informed the agent that the delayed luggage contains prescribed heart condition and high blood pressure medications and it is imperative for us to get the luggage, the supervising agent said he would communicate the matter with Toronto baggage department and will call or email us with an update.

On day 3, no luggage nor updates so we called again. Now we are raking up expensive international charges on our cell phone. Same story, Toronto is still sending the luggage via the next flight to Rio in a few days, but not sooner. We told them since we are travelling, we will not be in Rio when they deliver the baggage. After many more calls to the Call Center, Rio Airport Baggage and a trip to the Rio Airport, AC finally decided to route the baggage to Buenos Aires, Argentina, our next destination. On day 6, now September 15, we finally received our delayed baggage.

It is unbelievable that AC does not emphasize in directing delayed luggage to their customers as a priority, or as soon as they are able to. They have daily flights to Sao Paulo, but they refused to utilize it and insisted to wait for the next flight, in a few days, to Rio. We have friends that flew other airlines have also lost their luggage, but were all able to receive the missing luggage within 24 hours.

We know with millions of baggage to handle each day, it is a daunting task and mistakes do and will happen. The big disappointment on Air Canada is the overall lack of sense of urgency (ignoring the information given to them regarding the medication issue), poor customer service (Toronto baggage department arbitrarily deciding to send the missing luggage 4 days later, and not any earlier through another city which has more direct flights from Toronto), and, lastly, poor communication with customers (delayed baggage handling at the Call Center, average long period of hold-time and the agents were either untrained or understaffed).

We travel extensively and have flown internationally with other airlines, such as British Air, Virgin Australia, Korean, EVA Air, Cathay Pacific, United, American Airlines, Delta Air, Qatar Air, and Turkish Air, all within the last three years. Air Canada was the only airline that has consistently underperformed and continuously disappointed us.

We finally make it to Toronto before flying out to Chicago. We were already notified in Toronto that one of our bags was lost. They did nothing to help us figure out where it was and told us that we will need to address it in Chicago. The front desk employees in O'Hare are absolutely incompetent. We filed a claim and upon review, it was determined the bag was in Toronto and that we would have it within 24-48 hours. We haven't received a call like we were supposed to, so we followed up today. It turns out the front desk employee forgot to file our claim on Sunday and the bag is now in Warsaw. Do yourself a favor and splurge the extra $200 and fly a different airline. This has all turned into a massive nightmare and Air Canada isn't doing anything to address it.

I didn't received any money or anything for my loss. However for all they care for their baggage and service please don't use Air Canada because you will became one of us victims who lost their baggage and nobody did anything about it. Shame on Air Canada. They told me they hold lost baggage in Montreal and I told them that I will drive there to get my baggage but they said they are not sure if the baggage is there but are saying they located them. Once again worst company to fly with.

What major company does not know what the supplies offer or not? Especially when they are still being offered online thru Air Canada vacations site. This is very frustrating, ridiculous and horrible service on their part. I wish I never booked with them and I would never recommend it to friends and families. This is the second time something has been cancelled on this trip. So much for having a relaxing honeymoon. Horrible. Horrible. Don't book with them!!!

Our friends who travel all the time in situations like this, almost all airlines will accommodate somehow, especially an elderly traveling with a small child. However, Air Canada did NOTHING!!! They offered them NO hotel stay, when their next flight was gonna be a day later, and not even at least an upgrade to Business or First Class. When my exhausted mom asked Air Canada representatives if she can get a room, she was told to go to the Sheraton Hotel, however, when they arrived at the hotel they told my mom she would have to pay $300/night. How does the airline expect an elderly, traveling with a small child to NOT sleep for over 24 hours and pay $300 for a room??? So, my mom and my daughter took shelter on a COUCH inside the hotel lobby, where my daughter was able to sleep for a few hours, while my mom watched over her.

The next morning (July 26) at 6 am, my mom and daughter went back to the check-in desk at Air Canada when they were told the next flight they can take is that night at 8 pm. Still, Air Canada would not accommodate my mom and my daughter to at least get a room for them so they can rest a few hours before they board the next plane. At this point, my mom went 24 HOURS not sleeping. No one helped my mom, she was bounced around, people telling her to go here and to go there. I can understand an airline not being able to accommodate passengers if several planes are stranded with hundreds of passengers overnight. But as far as we know, only this one flight was delayed, and only a handful of people got stranded.

So, why didn't the airline help my mother and my daughter??? The airline knew her flight was 8 hours delayed from Newark, she is 76-years-old and how does the airline expect an elderly NOT to sleep for more than 24 hours??? That's beyond inhumane! When I contacted Air Canada to complain, they totally did not care. My mom will NEVER be flying with this airline again and neither will I. No wonder almost all their reviews online are 1 star and all negative. Coincidence? I think not!

When I completed the purchase over the phone (as there was no place on the website to include a voucher), I was told I would have to pay a rescheduling fee because the previous agent did not note in my file that I was bumped from the flight due to overbooking. But the agent did, in fact, book me back to "Saskatchetoon" [sic]. Complete idiots - telling me to use the competing airline, not setting up my file properly, openly admitting that they did not know how a voucher would work, and then not even being able to pronounce the name of the place I was returning to.

Went online to Air Canada's website and was directed to a chat line. After giving my information to the other end. I wad advised that I would have to fill out a multi-page form and mail it to Canada. When I asked for the name of the shipping company they contract with they gave me the name of "same day delivery", I can not find contact info for them. When asked for the contact information they told me they do not have any. After reading all the other complaints about Air Canada, I WILL NEVER USE AIR CANADA AGAIN FOR TRAVEL AND I WILL MAKE SURE NONE OF MY EMPLOYEES USE THEM!

I was promised a compensation of USD100 (Incredible. I was traveling also business class) and I was told I had to deal with the french office (being resident in Italy). I called few times the French office (customer service) and INCREDIBLE to SAY... NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH. I sent few emails to Air Canada in Toronto and as well NO answer.

If I would have known NO one in customer relation speaks any other language beside French I would have never traveled with them. If you are a resident of any other country south of FRANCE (including Spain, Italy, Greece, Austria etc.) YOU ARE LOST if you do not learn French. I am very upset for this and I hope someone could help me. Thanks.

We begged the clerk to allow us on the plane as we had AMPLE time to clear Customs and board the plane as scheduled and as we paid for. We asked to speak with a manager. The manager, Mr. ** came down and told us that he could not let us on the plane but that he would get us to LAX today. He specifically authorized the clerks to get us home even if on another airline which cost the airline money.

After waiting for over an hour, the clerk stated that there were no Air Canada flights that we could take and that she was not authorized to put us on another airline - directly in conflict with what Mr. Abbas had told us. We asked for him to come speak with us and her again but he had gone home. The second manager who came down, I believe her name was Elaine, contradicted Mr. ** and basically said there was nothing she could do for us. We explained that we did not have enough medical rations for our daughter - to no avail.

Air Canada stated that there were no flights for us for almost 5 days unless we would fly in 2 groups and go to Calgary, then LAX. Traveling with our disabled child alone is unbelievably stressful and difficult, which we told the clerk, also to no avail. Because we had no option, we agreed to fly in 2 groups - which was traumatic for all of our children, just to ensure that we had some way of getting home.

We asked who would pay for our hotel which we had not budgeted into our vacation plans and were basically told we could sleep at the airport if we wanted. Where we sleep was our problem. Fearing for our daughter's medical safety, I then purchased 2 direct tickets to LAX on WestJet - totaling over $1,000CAD to ensure her health and safety. At no point did the clerk offer to refund our tickets so that we could buy all of our tickets with another airline. My sons and husband are currently at a hotel which is costing another $300CAD.

As soon as I returned home I searched online to see how I could bring the rest of my family home sooner and without 9 hours of travel. We picked Vancouver because the travel time is only 3 hours. We NEVER would have picked a destination requiring 9 hours of travel. There are several direct flights from YVR to LAX tomorrow that they can take - but there are no economy seats left. I called Air Canada's 1-888 number - waited on the phone for over 40 minutes (which is outrageous!) and was told by the representative, Adam, that there was nothing he could do. He did state that Air Canada could refund the return portion of our tickets. I asked him to do that for me immediately. He said he could not find us in the system with our reference number and then he HUNG UP on me!

I called back and waited another 40 minutes. I spoke with Jose, who seemed very nice and said he was going to put me on hold to see what he could do. I waited an additional 26 minutes and then the line went dead. I called a third time. I waited for AN HOUR!! The clerk said that Air Canada would not allow my family to come home on business class (God forbid they right their wrong) and said he would transfer me to a supervisor in Montreal. And of course - he disconnected me. Now when I call the outgoing message actually says that the airline has too many calls and they just won't pick up at all (the phone just hangs up on you).

I am in shock that anyone would willingly fly this airline with customer service like this. I am also beside myself that Air Canada cares so little about disabled children and families with young children. I have never experienced anything like this and have been traveling for over half of my life. Air Canada should have put us on any flight we could have taken to get home - together and today - regardless of the ticket class. And hour-long waits and the inability of anyone to resolve problems, or transfer phone calls successfully is unbelievable. A truly terrible airline.

After 5 days of losing my bag they told me to submit a claim but I need to attach all of my receipts. I took a day off work and searched for all my receipts to send to them. I had to go get re-prints from stores. I was lucky enough to have gone shopping before my trip so I still had a lot of my receipts. I sent this "package" of paperwork and receipts over a week ago. I call to ensure they have it and they said it takes up to 7 days to get this in the system. I have asked what the procedure is and they say it takes up to 6 weeks to search for the bag. If they find it then I get my bag back and I am not entitled to a thing - even the out of pocket expenses, days off, stress etc that I have endured during this time. If they do not find my bag by 6 WEEKS (which is so long and the worst service I have ever heard of) then they will file my claim.

My insurance will not cover me until the bag is declared "missing". I have not had one call, apology, penny etc from Air Canada. I was told by the central baggage center to email the claims department but no one responds, I have tweeted - no one responds, I have called and spent 40-50 min at one time on hold and I have even resorted to emailing the CEO. At this point I do not care if my bag is lost but just cover my expenses so I can get on with life. The customer service is the worst I have ever experienced!

Our flight from Philadelphia was delayed, we were assured numerous times by ground staff and airline crew that our flight from Toronto would 'wait for us'. We arrived at Toronto and we were relieved to find out that our Dublin bound flight was delayed. We went through security and immigration and must have had our boarding passes scanned 4 times. We arrived at the gate and no one had boarded yet. We then wait in line, get to the desk and we were told that our seats had been given away. We went to Customer Service and she said because we had missed our flight we would be put on the next flight to Dublin in 24 hours. Thus causing us to miss all our bookings in Dublin and potentially being late for our wedding in England. We were offered alternative flights to England and the best they could do was get us to London (we needed to be in the North of England) by the next night.

To keep it short, we paid for hotel bookings, flights, car hire (all of which were nonrefundable). We did make it to our destination in time, but not without being out of pocket and with a huge amount of stress. Even on our journey back to America from Dublin our flight was delayed. 5 out of 5 flights delayed. This is simply not acceptable and we will not be traveling with them again. I have contacted them and sent receipts asking for reimbursements of the things we had to pay for so I am remaining hopeful but would like to ask if anyone has had any luck getting money reimbursed from Air Canada?

When they asked to at least get their checked baggage, Air Canada refused saying it would stay checked until their next flight. They didn't care that this could cause a serious medical emergency if he was without medication for several days. Nor did they care that they expected them to hang around a airport for several days without so much as a toothbrush. The entire Air Canada staff seemed to just have a "Oh well, sucks to be you" attitude. After several hours on hold we could get nowhere. Air Canada refused to even have someone look for the bag, telling us, "it's a mess down there... but don't worry his bag will go with him on the next flight."

Finally one staff member took pity on them and got them onto a flight the next day; however, their luggage is still missing. The Air Canada agent in Florida didn't seem any better telling us to call the 1-888 number which only gets you a call centre in India who takes your information and is supposed to forward it to Air Canada. After another hour on hold and a deep language barrier we were told that they would put a rush on trying to get his bag (and medication) to us. When we didn't hear anything from them we tried to look up our baggage claim number on their online site, only to find out that they have no record of the claim. The call centre didn't even forward our claim. So here we sit again on hold (1 hour 35 minutes so far) to hopefully get some medication before we have to check into an American hospital.

Air Canada you should be forced to change your name. You should not be allowed to represent Canadians anywhere!!!!! Honestly I don't even know how you stay in business, based on the number of horrible reviews I have read. I for one will never be flying Air Canada again and I will strongly discourage everyone else. I would rather spend more money for a flight to know that the company can be counted on to know WHAT IT IS DOING, and actually cares for its customers.

We got in a line-up to go through security at 05:40 am. The line-up for security consisted of 4 lines approximately 100 yd. long that zig zagged back and forth until they got everyone through security. Our plane was scheduled to depart at 07:25 am, which we explained to airport personnel who pulled us out of line around 7:05 am. We were told by Air Canada personnel not to worry -our plane would wait for us. We got through security at 07:15 am.

Once we passed through security, this same helpful person told us that we needed to immediately get to Gate 21, which was at the far end of the terminal (500 yards minimum or a 15 minimum steady fast walk) from security. Both moving walkways were broken down. We rushed as best we could but we did not have the assistance needed to get there as quickly… as I am assuming Air Canada expected.

My wife and I both have health issues (prostate cancer/heart issues/pacemaker for myself) and my wife is a three time cancer survivor and had open heart surgery 2 years ago)… and standing in line for hours, then the pressure of trying to get to the gate was overwhelming. We are not strong enough to run – which Air Canada expected us to do.

We arrived at Gate 21. The doors were closed, but the plane had not left the walkway yet. The Air Canada person advised that we had missed our flight. We were led to believe that it was our fault and we did not plan the appropriate time to get there. No apologies and both of us feeling exhausted and disheartened at the treatment of us as their customers.

I then exclaimed "where was our luggage"? Two checked bags and one checked golf clubs. We were informed that our bags left on that same plane (which I believe is a security breach - and anyone I have shared this story with is alarmed at this hole in security) AND the next flight was 5 hours later and we could sit and wait. We were exhausted. My wife was so exhausted and unwell that she was not able to leave that boarding area for hours.

I know Air Canada is a large organization. There are many other choices of airlines. We went with the one we have flown with for years and years… and trusted on many levels. This experience has permanently tarnished our view of the Air Canada brand - and additionally, has validated how little Air Canada cares about their customer and more importantly, how little they care about customers that might need a little extra "care" given their age and health.

We were at the airline 2 hours early. We had done the check ins prior to arriving to ensure we did not need to stand in lines and we were badly mistreated, I am guessing because of our "age". It would seem that Air Canada has an ageism issue over and above NOT being customer centric. We don't fly as often now, however, we have proven our loyalty over years of staying true to this brand but we will NEVER fly Air Canada again. There are so many other options who actually consider their customer both from a "caring" and "security" perspective. Air Canada has breached our trust on many, many levels. We are sharing this story now with anyone who will listen. Air Canada cannot be trusted and they certainly cannot be trusted when bags are sent without their owners.

One of the agents kindly explained that passengers with delayed and cancelled flights have to move to section number 3 and we have followed these instructions. When we have reached the available agent in section 3, we have been told again to move to section 2-15 for ticketing. The section 2-15 would be open at 5:30 am. Next we have asked the first available customer service agent about other options to get the tickets to Ottawa and have been advised to call to 1-888-440-5641 to re-book the missed flight AC 742. Finally, we have re-booked and got a new flight AC 440 departing at 7:10 am.

To get the boarding tickets we had to go back again to the section number 2. The line was enormously long. Meanwhile we got very frustrated and overwhelmed to move around from one section to another. Not to mention that two our kids were sleeping uncomfortably on the hard chairs. Likely, one of the agents (a blond woman) recognized us and escorted to the priority line. While waiting for our turn to get the boarding tickets the other customer service agent approached to us and asked to go back to the main line. That was the end for my patience: I have refused his request and started to complaint about Air Canada services in a very firm manners. After all he turned around to the check-in assistant and asked her to put the note that I was a Rude Passenger.

In about two minutes we have got our boarding tickets and I went back to ask his name and occupational title to bring this incident to the manager. He refused to identify himself and then I've asked to see the duty manager immediately. The manager apologized for his behaviour. Honestly, I've been shocked. Moreover, I don't want to say that all employees from Air Canada act unprofessionally, however the agent I've interacted with should not be in customer services at all. Air Canada employs more than 28000 of dedicated Canadians and this agent is a big shame among them.

It seems a big deal for them induct people to transfer the flight by one day and not inform in right way the necessity of Canadian visa and not help us to change the airplane to don't need to cancel the flight. We noted this when we arrived to Canadian consulate, they are very familiar with this kind of situation. Good deal for Air Canada that induce people pay to not travel and doesn't help them after. Take care with this company. You should rather KLM, Air France, Lufthansa, TAP, British Airlines or all American companies. I flied in all of them many times and all was good and all problems were solved by the staff. The reputation of Air Canada is supported just by the name of that very good country. I travel a lot and that was the first time with problems where land staff was so unhelpful.

To finish my terrible experience, the flight was delayed on departure for more than 25 minutes and my connection Montreal-New York was lost and I can see they cancel some customers' flight and add me and others in their places. They canceled/transferred for another flight all passengers who did check-in in less than 2 hours of the flight. So be prepared to arrive at least 3 hours before in the airport to avoid surprises. Air Canada see the customers like numbers and play with them according to its convenience.

Also, they will resell your seat arbitrarily, without any previous warning and have no problem stranding you in a different country, forcing to pay exorbitant change fees. If you try to straighten the situation AFTER the entire fiasco, the only recourse is a random email. I would not only NOT recommend this airline, but I would stay far, far away from using Air Canada! The worst experience of my life! Stay far, far away!

However, this was his first time flying internationally so I called ahead to the Air Canada number to check on procedures of meeting him once he landed in LA. I was told that he would be walked through customs in Vancouver and then escorted to me in baggage claim by an agent when he landed in LA. The agent said that she wasn't sure how they handled it in the states but that's how it was normally done. I asked her to confirm so I knew where to get my son. She came back on the line and said "yes I think he would be brought to baggage claim." The answer wasn’t very reassuring. I would think that a customer service agent should be able to answer any question about unaccompanied minors whether they are traveling in Canada or the States.

My son was told at the beginning of the flight to stay in his seat unless to use the restroom and that the flight attendant would come get him at the end of the flight. This is a normal procedure for him. However, he was not shown where the call button was in case he needed assistance. For the entire almost three-hour flight he was not offered a beverage or food. No one checked to see how he was doing or if he needed anything. That made him uncomfortable because that is not what usually happens when he flies alone.

At the end of the flight, he was left on the plane. He was the only one on the plane until the cleaning crew came on. He was scared and was waiting for the flight attendant to come back for him. Finally, the cleaning crew told the flight attendants that he was still on the plane. The flight attendant said to my son, "oh, you are still here?" It appeared to him that he had actually been forgotten about. This realization really upset him. He had just followed the procedures he had been told by the flight attendant and that he has experienced many times on the other airline that he usually flies.

I was waiting for him in baggage claim as I was told by the Air Canada agent on the phone. I knew that my son would be the last off of the plane since he was an unaccompanied minor. However, after about 20 minutes of waiting, I asked the Air Canada baggage employee if he would be brought down to me. They told me that he would and to keep waiting. After about 10-15 more minutes passed, I was paged over the PA to come to gate 26.

I went upstairs to ticketing where I found a gentleman named Sebastian. He appeared to be a manager, but I am not sure of his credentials. He saw that I had my son’s bag so he couldn’t give me a gate pass to go get him so he looked his name up on the computer and offered to get him for me. He was very nice and helpful. I waited about an additional 20 minutes. By this time, I was getting worried that something was wrong.

Finally, my son was brought to me. I could tell that he was visibly shaken and about to cry. He told me he was so thirsty, starving and had to use the restroom. I thanked Sebastian and signed for my son. I took my son to the restroom where he proceeded to tell me about his horrible ordeal. I was happy that he was home and was going to leave it at that until he told me his account of the situation. I was appalled at what I heard. It wasn't what I was expecting. No one checked on him the entire three hours or even offer him a drink of water at the least.

In addition, to everything else that happened, apparently, his passport was left on the plane by the flight attendant so Sebastian had to remind them to go retrieve it for him. Apparently, that is why it took so long to bring my son downstairs. The whole situation appears to have been mishandled. I went back to Sebastian at the ticket counter to explain all that my son told me so he could review the mishap with the crew. Sebastian was bothered by it as well. He didn’t understand why my son wasn’t brought down to me in baggage claim either. Consequently, Sebastian apologized for the experience, however, that does not erase the trauma that an eleven-year-old boy experienced on his first solo flight with Air Canada.

I hope that actions can be taken to educate that flight crew on handling unaccompanied minors so this doesn’t happen to another child. Also, I believe that the customer service agents should also be educated on the various airports unaccompanied minor policies. Finally, flying should be a fun experience for children; they shouldn’t be forgotten about. Air Canada was paid money for a service that they failed to provide in my son’s case. My son arrived at 1:00 p.m. He was not in my care until about 2:15 p.m. That is unacceptable. He will not be flying unaccompanied on Air Canada again.

The aircraft was kept unreasonably cold during the entire flight. I was wearing a long sleeve fleece jacket and long pants - others only had much less on. People were complaining of the cold temperatures. I asked for a blanket to stay warm and was not able to get a blanket from the attendant. It appeared to me the colder temperatures were being utilized to try to reduce the odor from the non-functioning and smelling lavatory. I overheard the attendant telling a customer seated 3 rows from me "You are scaring the other passengers. Please be quiet about..." He stated this to her 3 times - making a point to stop by and bring self close in and tell her. I could not hear what she was telling him. But his voice was loud enough to be heard by customers in the surrounding seats. His voice tone was condescending and punitive in quality.

I do believe that keeping people from having access to basic necessities during transport (lavatory use and warmth) are grave concerns. The flight time was 1 hour and 40 minutes. There are health conditions that people may incur or have that would not allow this to be safe or acceptable. Our needs were not considered. I spoken with customer care representative, "Kristina". She stated there was a 269 minute delay from scheduled times. That the airline had no responsibility to arrive on time - their only responsibility was to get passengers safely from point A to point B. She said that there was no recovery for taxi or other costs noted. She said she would provide a 15% promo code for future Air Canada transport in compensation. I stated that this is not compensation - rather a gesture of goodwill. And it should not be called compensation for any losses incurred.

She stated she would email me the following: a letter of disruption for both the outbound and return flights, a summary of the concerns that she was forwarding to managers to address, a gesture of goodwill (referred to as compensation) in a 15% promo to be used in future purchases. I have not received any of these at this time. I will pursue this matter further as I believe the manner of which we were instructed to board a flight without functioning lavatories is not acceptable, in addition to their extremely poor communication.

Of course, sloppiness and arrogance are never a good combination, but this ugly combination is entrenched in the Air Canada culture. I can only imagine that for any positive reviews to even exist for this airline indicates that society at large has been beat down in its expectations of what is acceptable. During my travail, in one of several in-flight conversations overheard (regarding the incompetence and outrageous attitudes consistent among Air Canada employees) one woman actually set about defending Air Canada. Her reasoning was bizarre and reminded me of the strange phenomenon whereby a hostage victim has a tendency to defend their captor.

The arrogance, callousness, and carelessness of Air Canada employees is stunning... consistently stunning. During our nightmare (in which we missed a connection through their fault and were delayed 24 hours with no compensation -- not even an apology) we were told by a smirking Air Canada employee, "We do this to people all the time." We were told be 2 other Air Canada employees to read our contract. "All Air Canada has to do is get you from point A to point B, WHEN that happens doesn't matter." Despite the ludicrous nature of this assertion, it was clear that it was well-rehearsed and had been repeated many times before. Can you imagine... WHEN you arrive doesn't matter to an airline!? Boycott Air Canada!

It never occurred to us that Air Canada staff would be unaccommodating to underage kids in distress; therefore an Air Canada flight from Calgary to Toronto and an Austrian Air flight on to Vienna seemed like the ideal option to coordinate with the Envision team. The connection would be in Canada with a 2 hour wait between flights. But I made a critical error - I overestimated Air Canada's interest in serving disadvantaged people in the event of a delay. And underage solo travelers are disadvantaged; they are unlikely to advocate effectively for themselves when faced with adults in positions of power or authority. When the departure date of June 25th arrived I drove Mitch to the airport and accompanied him to the check-in counter. I told the representative there that my son was a minor assuming (big mistake) that they must make a note of the fact in their system to prioritize such individuals in the case of unforeseen events.

Mitch and I walked to security where we said our good-byes. I was nervous to see him go off on his own, but I believed Air Canada would provide quality service if any flight delays or changes had to be made particularly since my son wasn't an adult. I received a confirmation call from Mitch saying he'd arrived at his gate so I left the airport. An hour or so later he called again to say that mechanical problems were delaying the flight. I encouraged Mitch to be proactive and talk to the lady at the gate. Considering his age and connection time they might make an effort to book him onto another flight departing for Toronto shortly. Apparently all other flights to Toronto were full. I drove to the airport again. I needed to talk to a ticket agent about getting Mitch on another flight to Austria once he reached Pearson Airport.

My conversation with the agent went like this: "Hi, I'm Tracy, a concerned mom wondering what will happen to my son when he reaches Toronto." The expressionless face behind the counter asked for some information and tapped his computer keys. "He's currently booked on the same Austrian Air flight he was supposed to go on today, except that it leaves tomorrow." "So hell have to stay overnight then?" "Yes", said Mr. Expressionless. "Unless they can book him on something earlier once he lands." "How is he supposed to get a room as a 17 year old minor?" "He'll get a hotel voucher." "And how will he get to and from that hotel?" "The hotel will be close to the airport." Expressionless became annoyed. "There will be an agent to meet him when he gets off the plane. That person can help him." He took a ticket from another agent who interrupted our conversation and proceeded to shut me out.

I pulled up the electronic copy of the original ticket to Austria on my phone and held it in front of his face. "Just to confirm then, he is booked on this flight, but for tomorrow afternoon instead?" Expressionless/Annoyed glanced in my direction and glanced at the phone. "Yes, that's the one." He was clearly done with me. "Thanks then", I said and made way for what I could only assume was another disgruntled customer. Needless to say I felt uneasy. I didn't feel reassured at all. I headed home and waited for Mitch to call once he reached Toronto which he did. There was no agent to greet him; in fact there was no agent in sight. He was entirely on his own. He headed toward the Air Canada desk and proceeded to stand in line. I told him to call me when he was assured of alternative flight plans.

Meanwhile I called Air Canada Customer Service to see if there was anything I could do from my end. After being on hold for 10 minutes a representative finally said "Hello". Her favorite line was, "I don't work at the airport so I can't tell you what will happen with your son. These are the critical facts I was told: Your son isn't entitled to any additional service as a minor. You can purchase individualized care for your child if he is 12 or under and on a direct flight. Otherwise, children traveling alone are viewed the same as adults." I was surprised by this fact. My response was simple: "Even if this is policy, how can a representative put off an anxious minor? Where does human kindness come into play? How is a minor any different from a disabled or elderly traveler who needs special/additional care?"

She couldn't answer these questions. Instead she kept saying that she doesn't work at the airport so she can't speak to what goes on there. Seriously? What's customer service for then? Not parents anxious for their children apparently. Shortly after I got off the phone, Mitchell called me again. They were having trouble finding him another flight. He had no hotel vouchers or assurance he'd been booked on any flight like Mr. Expressionless claimed he was. I decided to call the Customer Service line again. I needed to know my kid was going to get on a plane. After holding for 15 minutes I was greeted with a pleasant voice. I can say this third service rep was helpful and I was grateful for her efforts and understanding. She asked me to wait while she went to draw up my son's information in another department. She would see what was going on.

Meanwhile Mitch called me on my cell. I grabbed it in my left hand and had the rep on the house phone in my right. "Mom," Mitch said. "They're going to book me on another flight, but it's going through Istanbul. I'm not comfortable going through there Mom! I don't think I should take it." My son is up on current events and he'd heard of the suicide bombings in Ankara and Istanbul. The rep said "Hi into my other ear. So your son was not re-booked on any flight Austrian Air or otherwise. But I see his file is currently open and they are booking him through Istanbul." "I know," I said. "But I gotta say I'm not real comfortable with that." I noticed a subtle change in the tone of her voice which implied we were being paranoid and picky struggling over an Istanbul connection. I carried on the two conversations at once and we came to a conclusion. Mitch would take the option through Turkey despite his reservations and mine.

The rep stressed that he wouldn't have to clear customs in Istanbul and it did seem worse to have him linger indefinitely at the Toronto airport. In addition the agent assured me that Turkish Airlines was a member of the Sky Alliance team and therefore met high safety standards. She saw no reason to worry. Mitch hung up to finish his booking and I spoke further with customer service. Mitch had told me that no one could locate his luggage so I inquired about that issue. "I don't know," she said. "He may have to take off ahead of the missing bag." She gave me the number for Central Baggage and wished me luck. I thanked her. She, unlike the previous service workers, had done what she could to help. Where were these efforts by other Air Canada staff?

Mitch called me after he checked in at the Turkish Airways desk. He said that, unlike the Air Canada agents who brushed off his baggage inquiries and indeed any inquiry he made, the Turkish agent promised to locate his bag, get it onto the right plane and meet Mitch at his gate with the claim tags. He was comforted by her efforts to help him. Unfortunately, she was unable to find the bag either. She went to tell him personally before he took off. After getting this information, I called Central Baggage. The man on the other end of the line spoke politely and confirmed that the bag had been taken to Toronto, but not beyond. The man said that even if they found the bag (Mitch had sent me the baggage claim number), he couldn't send it to Austria until my son filed a missing bag report at the other end. Wow. Let's make things as difficult as possible for the young person.

Mitchell called me when he landed in Istanbul and texted me after he made the connection there. I thanked God when I knew he was out of that airport. He called again when he landed in Austria. I cried with relief as Envision took him under their wing. My son filed a missing bag report and we hoped he would get his suitcase before the group departed for Prague and his luggage had to be redirected yet again. He says he got no reassurance or kindness whenever he made inquiries of Air Canada agents. He had to act the adult every step of the way. I'm grateful he was up to the task, but his anxiety levels were hitting the roof as he worked to find solutions to his plight. He's learned a lot about the potential pitfalls of airline travel - and one of them is agents who don't see a need to help inexperienced minors traveling alone.

June 28th, 2016: UPDATE. I was proof-reading this piece with the intention of posting it when a shocking story came through the CNN news feed on my phone. Explosions and gunfire had taken place at the Istanbul Ataturk airport today! Several people were killed or injured! A day and a half after my son was in that place! Clearly Star Alliance standards mean nothing on the ground. My son and I were right to have reservations about that airport. I still can't get over this whole experience. Young people between the ages of 12 and 17 on journeys with connections are not any different than adults in the eyes of Air Canada.

In the interim, I had spoken to a representative of Air Canada and I was told that I could expect BP50.00 per day, and when I asked about the cost of bringing an additional case home on my flight I was told that this would be credited when they settled the compensation. I received a cheque for the equivalent of BP50.00 ($96.00) and that was it. I wrote a letter and I have not received any reply. The resulting feeling I have is that I will only fly with Air Canada.

Boarding was ridiculously slow when they finally did start. The ticket crew had no sense of urgency and never once explained why we were boarding late. We left one hour late and totally missed our connection in Toronto. AC decided to book us tickets on the same flight we missed 24 hours later. We had little girls to get home to and I had a bunch of job meetings I couldn't miss the following day. Even though I explained that to the ticket agents, nobody cared. No one apologized even one time. In fact, they were quite rude during the entire deal which set me off and made me angry.

Our final destination was supposed to be Pasco, Washington so I was able to convince them to fly us to Seattle, WA that night so we could at least rent a car and drive four hours home. They refused to book us on a different airline to get us to Pasco that night. So, once we arrived in Seattle, which was also delayed, I spent $200 out of pocket to rent a car to get home at 3 AM after 35 hours of traveling a 9-hour time change. Oh, and they also lost both pieces of luggage in the meantime. Not once did any seem to care in any way, shape, or form.

To top it off, Canadian Customs and passport control people were extremely rude and not helpful. The biggest nightmare I have ever encountered while traveling. I will never fly this airline again and will gladly let all of my friends, family, and colleagues know to never fly them. They never once apologized or offered any type of compensation or vouchers for future travel. Horrible airline. Should be placed under new management, fire everyone (pilots and aircrew were great, only good thing about the airline) and start over from square one.

I tried to remain as calm as I could. I took the paper and went home. I rang the department of lost and found to find out the reason I still haven't received the stroller and I was told that Air Canada is not approving the travel costs (from the airport - home). BTW I live 2 hours away from Athens. Air Canada: Irresponsible, useless, unorganised, careless BASTARDS.

Original Review: May 30, 2016

We are flying to Barcelona from Alberta in 3 weeks and Air Canada is still changing planes, seats, times, etc. My girlfriend and I called 2 months in advance of the flight to reserve our seats next to each other. Without any notice, they changed the planes to a different type, canceled our seat reservation and now we are on very different seats. They said we can pay $100 per person to book next to each other on a preferred seat. I wish we had more options in Canada so we were not forced to book with Air CANADA. Next time, I'd pay more but travel with ease of mind with KLM. Shame of having Canada's name on Air Canada.

It was the tour company who book the ticket and this was the first time we flew with them. We were using different airlines and they have good service to kids. They give kids some stuff to make them busy and at meal time some airlines serve the kids first and they have different menu from adult. This is the first time I have experienced this. They have 2 options but since we were close to the last when they come to us the other option was gone so we were left with spicy chicken. They should have serve the children first but they don't care and I won't care either because I am not flying with them anymore.

I sent all the needed original receipts including the photos of the broken bag just as they asked for. I received an email asking for the original receipt of the bag!! I don't even remember when I where I bought that bag!! Who keeps the receipt of the bag for many years? And also asked me to take the bag to a bag repair store for the damage estimation!!! They are officially trying to find an excuse not to pay back the damage they have made to your luggage! They must have an office in any airport to take care of these cases and a person who verify your damaged luggage. Not that they have only one office in Quebec for all the Canada!! They are making it too complicated and time consuming on purpose so that you leave it alone and say forgive and forget!!!

Their technical support are completely ineffective - (they drank their own cool-aid). I emailed them many times with images of error messages and frozen screens, and screens with erroneous information, they never respond to this. Instead they send you a form letter bragging about how good they are, with instructions - which of course do not work. It is obvious that they failed to read the earlier emails, and failed to act properly. They refuse to provide any real time support - i.e. a competent human being that speaks English and is prepared to resolve the issues with their (very badly designed) web based services. Bottom line: in the last month 39 AC staff lied about promised callbacks, escalation, rectifying problems, their job title, and their roles. They are all managers - yet when asked to provide their name and employee number they re-state their job, or just hang up.

AC does a lot of pretending to be customer friendly, they brag a lot. The reality is that they do every trick in the book and some new ones to avoid providing any service or resolution. They have no live people at customer service - just automated replies of emails sent to them with ZERO promise of resolution let alone a callback. Folks the culture of deception and outright lies starts at the top - with the CEO and senior executives. They are cowards who just want to collect their fat salaries, pretend to each other that they are doing a good job. They are completely out of touch with reality and are routinely compensated by the taxpayer bailout after bailout. They do not deserve your business either.

When I arrived to the area there were approximately fifteen TG664 passengers still waiting in line for simultaneous check-in to two Air Canada flights AC26 and AC088. I had spent more than 10 minutes waiting in line. When it was my turn to approach the counter I was informed that check-in is closed, the passenger ahead of me in line was allowed to board the plane. It wouldn't have happened if check-in personnel prioritized processing passengers from departing sooner AC26 flight ahead of AC088 flight passengers departing 15 minutes later.

Air Canada in Shanghai knew how many passengers with Air Canada tickets will arrive from Bangkok and wasn't prepared to assist them in speedy immigration and custom processing, provide enough personnel to check-in all passengers on time. Two more passengers from TG664 waiting in line to other check-in counter were also left behind in Shanghai. The official reason for refusal to board me and two other passengers on flight to Vancouver was no show for check-in. That is the way it was noted in the AC26 flight documentation.

This incorrect interpretation of what actually happened was created by the Shanghai airport Air Canada shift manager on duty at this time to justify not giving three passengers left in Shanghai because of his negligence support described in the Air Canada Customer Service Plan. "If you miss your connecting flight due to reasons within our control, we will provide you with: snacks or meal allowances, hotel accommodations if you are away from home and we are unable to provide you with same day transportation to your final destination, ground transportation to/from your hotel if shuttle service is not provided by the hotel, an overnight amenity kit (if required)." All we had got from Air Canada shift manager in Shanghai on duty was telephone number in Canada to rebook our return home flight and direction how to get to the airport business center to make paid international call to Canada.

I have sent complaint letter to Air Canada Customer Relations describing in detail what happened and asking for reimbursement of the incurred expenses. Air Canada Customer Relations department in their response refused to acknowledge that Air Canada staff wrongdoings were the reason why I wasn't processed before the check-in was closed. There was no single word in the response referring to the events described. I hope this review will be read by somebody from Air Canada capable making Customer Relations follow official company policy on people who miss connection flight due to Air Canada staff missteps.

To put it mildly, I am extremely disappointed with the way Air Canada conduct business and treat their customers... Super Elite or not!!! As stated earlier, some of the vast annual profits would be better used in training their staff to a higher standard, where the passenger might benefit!!! I would never recommend this airline to anyone!!! Canada desperately needs some competition when it comes to Air Travel.

Cost is very important if indeed you can find flights that actually go where you wish to go. Flights from busy airports that leave at 6:30 am may make the airlines more efficient at using their equipment, but it is a real pain in the rear for a passenger since they must not only stand in line to deposit baggage but also for security. It is even worse when travelling from Canada since one must stand in line for US customs and immigration.

I have flown Delta, United, West Jet and Air Canada often over the past five years. We split our time between Florida and Ontario, Canada and we are always looking for flights between Ft Myers and Toronto International as we also spent Christmas in Canada. United has the Mileage Plus program which is the best frequent flyer program around. They are part of the Star Alliance which includes Air Canada so we can use points earned on one airline for flights on the other. There is not a lot to choose between these airlines in my experience. However, both Delta and United have a "one bag free" program if you have their credit card and that is worth $50 on every round trip.

It is really sad that we receive our bag after 2 months and we had to buy everything that was in the bag during our vacation, spend hours calling and tracking our bag, and spend hours during our vacation to do all of the paperwork so we can comply to send the documentation within the specified 21 days. We send receipts of new purchases for the first 2 days and we are given a mere $100 as compensation and told that this is full and final settlement? For what? For all the pain and trouble we went through?

Look at the damage done to my vacation, my baggage, items being unavailable during our vacation, lost items, stress and spending our vacation time doing shopping to replace necessary items that we got for our vacation and tracking our baggage? I cannot accept the $100 that is sent as part of settlement as the cost of damage done to our family vacation and the items purchased is far more that.

As we lined up to board the plane, we overheard a lady in front of us being informed that her seat had been changed due to the original aircraft being replaced with another. We boarded the plane which was a Boeing 777, only to find our seats had a wall directly behind us, no overhead space for our carry on luggage and only an aisle separating us from the toilet with the door directly opposite our seats.

The fifteen and a half hour flight was horrific. Our seats would not recline (we are medium height) and our knees were hard up against the seats in front of us which was very difficult especially for my husband with his knee replacement. Our screens were approximately eighteen inches from our faces and when the seats in front of us reclined, we were unable to move. Being in the middle seat with another passenger in the aisle seat meant I could not move without disturbing someone. The toilet was used the entire flight with a line up of three or more passengers in a continuous stream. This meant the light was constantly powering in our faces, the flush of the toilet and the use of the hand basin, not to mention the shocking smell (especially after two or three hours flight) added to our distress.

Not one of us in our row 28 HJK seats could bend down to pick up anything under the seats in front or things we had dropped as our heads hit the back of the seats in row 27 HJK. The staff on board were oblivious to our predicament and obviously did not give two hoots about us anyway. I had a bad fall four hours prior to departing Edmonton which was very painful and resulted in me trying to sleep in my seat whilst kneeling up backwards with my head against the wall behind our seats. That didn't work because my feet were jammed up hard against the seat in row 27.

We did complain to the staff as we left the plane, one member just shrugged her shoulders as if we were just garbage. Another staff member asked for more details to which I advised that the owners of Air Canada should travel in the same seats and see if they could cope for fifteen and a half hours, packed in like sardines.

Why did we pay the same as every other economy class passenger and be allocated the worst seats in the plane? We have traveled over sixteen times with Air Canada but have NEVER experienced such appalling conditions. Next year when we travel, we will look at any other airline except Air Canada. All we can say to Air Canada is that because of your greedy, nasty attitude to your clients, we will NEVER EVER travel with you again and will certainly spread the word about your shocking NON-service.

There was a lot of confusion at this terminal so I just went to question and got asked for a transit visa of Canada (my layover was not more then 3 hours). I was like "can I buy it there?" The staff was rude and told me "you cannot do that." "I have a valid US visa. Why do I need a transit visa when I am not stepping out of the airport in Canada" was my second question. I was told I was not the only one who is not allowed to travel, there are more people. (Does this help??) We all plan a travel.

I was told it is seem new rule.. But now when I read online the transit visa is needed for travelers starts from MARCH 2016 and not JANUARY 2015. I was not allowed to board the flight. I was not given any assistance to figure another flight. All they told me was cancel your tickets and book another one. I was like "can you help me cancel it, because I am with an international phone with no service and the airport."

Delhi terminal did not have WIFI service for people before they pass security. I informed this to the Air canada staff, they just ignored me and said they can help me out. I have your ticket, least you can do is help me cancel the ticket. But no!!! They were rude and just pointed me to a local telephone stating figure from there.

I had to book tickets using a overpriced local phone. Calling my family to figure my tickets was not a pleasant conversation and having all the stress. I managed to book new tickets for the next day and flew out of india. My trip was delayed by 2 days. I was suppose to reach home on the 12th morning. I didn't make it until 13th night with a long route which was hectic and unplanned for. I had to spend one day in a state I had nobody. I had to pay for boarding, I had to pay for a new flight, I don't know how to get my money back from a flight I didn't take. The ground staff did not give me any information. They just washed their hands off. I would expect an airline to figure and put you on a different craft but they did not even acknowledge my presence. The inefficiency of the staff and no prior notice costed me a lot of money and time.

When dealt with the medical desk to add the service animal to my itinerary after a few long, uncomfortable calls, I was told my condition "does not matter" and Air Canada does not accept my service animal and does not recognize my disability, despite the fact I do have a very clear note that I have from my treating doctor. I do strongly believe an organization that discounts and does not ones disability is inhumane and discriminating towards people with special needs and must be hold accountable. I am quite disturbed and saddened that living in a first world country I am subjected to such credulity.

I call them almost once a week, paying an international tariff to follow up on this case. Every time some person will say either that they have written to me or have the wrong address or telephone number. Sometimes they say that they are still looking for my suitcase. I travel a lot both personal/business and never came across such unfriendliness and inefficiency. Please do me a favour and never travel with this airline as they keep lying to their customers and coming up with excuses to pay a claim. I am still waiting for their supervisor to call me.

I paid the $300 to catch a slightly later flight plus baggage fee. (WestJet has always been able to ensure we got on our original flight, so the lack of help received was disappointing). Walking away we looked at our tickets and noticed they were separate, I went back and made it very clear if we could not sit together we would like the refund. The teller printed 2 new tickets from Edmonton to Calgary; she told me in Calgary they will have no problem swapping our seats to be side by side. When I questioned the statement she said she would put a note on file for us. We arrived in Calgary; I found the connecting flight and proceeded to the gate. When I told them that I was told we would be able to change seats, the lady very rudely explains that they can only change seats if they have room, she says they don't. This was very upsetting, considering I wasn't going to go on the trip if this was the case.

Now I was already in Calgary. She also said there were no notes on file. This was even more frustrating because I've been lied to twice by the rep in Edmonton. I asked to speak to the manager, after a little time she came over. She made some changes and finally we were able to sit together. When we arrived in Nova Scotia, Brian (my spouse) was paged to the bagging office, where they explained the Hockey sticks did not make the trip. The lady was kind and informed us it is set to arrive first thing the next day and they will deliver it to where we are staying.

We informed the lady that we are staying in New Glascow one night and the next day we would be going to Sherbrooke. They grabbed the address gave us a piece of paper and promised delivery to the address before noon. The next day it is 12:15 pm and Air Canada calls my spouse's sister? They ask her if it's being delivered or if we are picking it up. Since this phone call was LATE and to the wrong person, she had to call Brian to find out where the package is being sent. (Sherbrooke or New Glasgow).

The rep on the phone said no problem just call this number back and let us know. Brian and I decided to wait in New Glasgow for the hockey sticks, as he cannot play in the tournament without them. We tried to call them back to tell them to deliver the bag. When we got through they informed us they don't know what package we are talking about and were unable to pull it up by the reference number. So now we were being told that is it lost? We spent the next 4 hours on the phone trying to track down this package. Without these sticks we would have flown all the way to Nova Scotia for nothing!

Spending thousands on flights and vehicle rental for nothing. When we asked for a manager, we were told that there are no managers. What kind of airline is this? To add to this experience while spending hours on the phone with people who barely spoke English, we had 3 different people tell us to rent a hockey stick, do you have any idea how stupid that sounds, you cannot rent a stick!

Do you tell people to rent clothes when you lose them?! The amount of time we spend trying to track down a package took up a day that we should have been visiting with family on what was already a very, very short visit. Finally we spoke to someone and they said it was found, they said they would deliver and we would have it in 2 hours, 3 hours later still no sticks. And now we are running out of time. We phoned back and again spoke with someone who this time told us to buy a stick and they will send us a claims form to be reversed, $200 of the bill, (sticks are closer to $300.00) but this was better than nothing. She grabbed his email and said she would send the form. We went out to purchase the stick and waited for the form, we also pondered how we have no room in the stick bag for another stick. Of course no form arrived so we called back and were informed that there is no form.

We need to send in an online form, and wait for approval. So we would have bought the stick without any guarantee of return. From a company who lied to us this many times, this wasn't worth the risk. A couple hours later the bag showed up at a bus station!! They don't deliver to the house. Yet again another lie. At the very least you would expect Air Canada to provide free bag check on our next flight or credit back the charges to switch flights, but no we received nothing of the sort from Air Canada. Just a little tag on the bag saying sorry. We made a status on Facebook and an Air Canada employee (Ralph **) starts telling Brian to just buy a stick. I'm pretty sure if we wanted to buy another stick than we wouldn't have bothered bringing any! What a terrible, terrible company. I would like to know how a company with terrible customer service, no managers, who lie 24/7 is still in business.

I will be traveling soon and now have no luggage and no way to even figure out how Air Canada is treating the issue. Will they be replacing my bag? Should I buy a new one myself? It's absurd that it takes them well over 2 months to deal with the issue, but it's even more absurd that now that the case is supposedly resolved, they still won't tell me in what way it has been resolved, so that I have no idea what to do in regard to baggage purchasing for my upcoming trip. Would not recommend that you travel with this airline.

After a ten minute wait, my wife spoke to an AC rep who suggested that she delete the cookies and history on her computer and that she would have no trouble using the online service. That did not work either. Finally, in desperation we found an AC employee at a gate in another terminal at the airport. She was able to confirm our flight in minutes, setting our minds greatly at ease. So, our hats off to you SAMANTHA, for your courteous service and assistance. If the AC website worked nearly as efficiently as you did, we would have been able to resolve this situation in minutes.

In our case, the connecting flight to Europe was lost due to weather delays: traffic control in Toronto asked that Toronto-bound airplanes from the US delay their departure. Once our plane was allowed to depart and land in Toronto, it was a few hours later than scheduled, and the connecting flight to Europe already departed. We discovered that our names were already booked on the same flight the next day (that's good), but we really wanted to get to Europe faster. An Air Canada representative told us that there is a late flight leaving Toronto for London, and maybe we could get booked into that flight, and a connecting flight from London to our European final destination.

Another AC representative that was tasked to accommodate the needs of stranded travelers told us that she could not see on her computer the information about the flight Toronto-London, so she directed us to go the top floor (ticketing) and see if Air Canada ticketing could be of help. In the meantime, she booked us into our regular flight leaving the next day. She also gave us the hotel vouchers, the hotel meal vouchers, and the $10 vouchers for airport food purchases. Given that this delay was weather-related and not airline negligence, I thought that was a nice gesture. At the AC ticketing counter on the top floor of Pearson airport, the AC representative informed us that he was not allowed to put us on the London-bound flight because "you have been already changed once and I cannot change it again". Maybe a more senior ground staff person would have known how to bypass that on their computer system, in my humble opinion.

The hotel was somewhat medium-low quality, but that was expected, but otherwise the shuttle service was very efficient and predictable and pragmatic. Overall, not too bad, considering the horror stories I've heard. The two other small issues I found a little irritating is 1) go through Canada border and customs when arriving in Toronto if your final destination is not Canada, and 2) the gates for the Air Canada Jazz small-medium planes are in a remote area of the airport (gates 84-92), reachable after a very long walk and removed by the more modern airport facilities and food outlets.

The point (1) above did not apply on the return trip, as one can go directly to the US Border and Customs. However, the young ground staff personnel that are directing passengers on to which queue to go to gave misguided and misinformed directions, and got US-bound passengers to queue on the Canada border and customs path. I specifically verbally asked two separate people that my final destination was U.S., but still they directed me to "enter" Canada. Only because a fellow passenger knew my final destination and saw me, he called me out to follow him instead. Not sure why this happened, but maybe better training of ground staff should fix this.

The conversation with the person on the other end was not at all pleasant! I presume I was not important enough in her opinion! Wow!!! I have travelled for many years to Norway and Denmark. Every experience I have had with Air Canada has not been good. I try to avoid this airline, but seem not to be able to do so. Must have a monopoly for some reason on flights. Next time I will travel with Iceland Air - heard excellent airlines. And yes, I'll visit Iceland also! KLM and Lufthansa are very good airlines. One does not have to travel first class to have a positive experience!!!

I could have deleted the site check in and started again but as I was using a friend's internet and time was of the essence I decided to have the error 'simply' corrected at the airport on arrival. The actual entry should have been two bags in the hold for Pamela ** and one bag in the hold for Robert **. I did not get any page coming up asking for how many bags in the hold for Robert **. Evidently it is AC policy to charge $25 for the first bag, $35 for the second therefore our total charge for bags in the hold should only be $85. I am looking for a refund of $75.

When we got to the airport we asked the agent about a refund but they can't do anything, suggested we go online to Customer Service. 15 minutes 'hold' to be told that they can't do anything and we should go to the website and fill in the form at 'Tell us your Experience'. After that exercise, we got a reply that the 'problem' would be dealt with and would take at least 28 days to get back to us!

I have tried to get a response via email and facebook but other than "Thank you for your patience" auto-replies nothing has happened and it is now 14 days later. The flight itself was truly a nightmare, the seats are far too close and there is no leg room, even for my height of 5'7" - my husband is 6'3" and had to put his legs across my (centre) seat space, the kid behind kept kicking the seat, I politely asked the mother to have him stop, but that didn't work. The food was dreadful, no entertainment on 3-hour flight. A three-year-old boy, across the aisle, jumping up and down, screaming and shouting - flight attendants not to be seen!

On arrival at Billy Bishop, I was told that in fact my luggage was still in Montreal. Although the Baggage Agent told me it would be sent to Toronto on the next flight, it's now been more than 4 hours and 3 flights from Montreal to Toronto, and my suitcase still can't be located. In 4 trips to the Customer Service desk at Trudeau Airport, and 3 gate agents, there has not yet been an apology from Air Canada for the confusion or inconvenience. And of course, there is no luggage yet. I will be seeking compensation for the Montreal-Toronto flight because of the continual misinformation, compensation for my travel back to my hometown (since the friend who would have picked me up was not available the day after my original flight), and of course I may end up claiming for my lost suitcase if it doesn't show up. Stay tuned for the next update.

I emailed them the next day and received an auto-reply that my email would be reposed to within 48 hours. That was over 5 days ago now and still nothing. I understand the need for cancellation fees but their lack of service and stress with even trying to contact anyone or get a reply added a ton of stress to an already very stressful time. We ended up just cancelling and paying the $500 fee. After that experience we will not be booking any future vacations with Air Canada Vacations again! It is impossible to get a hold of anyone without waiting for hours, and they do not call or email back (at least not so far and its been a week which is terrible service).