Air Canada Reviews

For example, I went back to use the lavatory and throw something away. All of the flight attendants were congregating in the back behind a curtain. When I approached them to ask for the trash, one female flight attendant looked at me with such anger and said, “Just throw it in the washroom!” Since Air Canada decides to be careless and doesn't enforce the use of name tags, I never retrieved her name. Also when I went to use the lavatory, I noticed three empty seats in the last row where the entertainment systems seemed to be working, yet, again, there was nothing she could do? Later, I saw flight attendants sleeping in these seats. This made me truly realize that Air Canada puts their obviously incompetent crew above the service of its customers. Mind you, this is a NINE hour flight, and with no form of entertainment, originally promised by the airline, I thought I would go crazy and I almost reached that point!

The flight also ended up being delayed, which I understand happens, but the response by EVERY SINGLE employee was unhelpful! I even heard one say, “It just happens, what do you want!” Luckily, I made my connection only because the flight was boarding late and thanks to no help from any employee of Air Canada! The customer service was absent, and that severely hurt my flight!

One of their employees also accused my brother, whom I was traveling with on my reservation, of lying! In reality, he had just misplaced his boarding stub and wasn't sure if he had it because it had the baggage receipt attached to it. The need for this baggage receipt should have been brought to our attention BEFORE we got to Customs in Montreal by the agent who checked us in OR by the agent who was at the gate OR by any other employee. But no, no one advised us of the need for the baggage receipt which led to us having to waste time and energy finding it and having the employee go COMPLETELY beyond all boundaries by accusing my brother of lying about not having it and then finding it, yes FINDING is the key word there. Lying constitutes purposeful deceit which my brother was nowhere near! He didn't hide it and then change his mind about having it, he simply couldn't find it at first which should have been understandable because, again, NO ONE advised us that we would have needed it.

I did receive a response from Air Canada regarding these issues, and all they could offer me was five percent off of a future flight that had to be operated by Air Canada. Are they seriously assuming that I would fly with them again? Also, instead of focusing on the entire complaint, which was over a page in length, they decided to explain themselves on behalf of the broken entertainment system which, honestly, I could get over at some point. But in their response, they nowhere addressed the other, more enraging behavior that I outlined clearly throughout my complaint (the above parts are from my complaint)! I will even post their response below for you to see.

“Thank you for your email. I am pleased to respond on behalf of Air Canada. We make every effort to ensure our entertainment system is functioning on each flight. However these systems are not infallible, and although tested routinely, some malfunctions are not detected until after departure. This is simply beyond our control, much as we wish it were not. In response to the seats at the back of the aircraft, these are crew seats and Air Canada has a contractual agreement to designate a few seats per aircraft type as crew rest.

As a gesture of goodwill for the entertainment system, we are pleased to offer you a one time saving of 5% off of the base fare on your next booking at aircanada.com. To receive your discount, enter the one time use Promotion Code ** in the Promo Code box at www.aircanada.com when you make your booking. This offer is valid for one year from today. This means the booking and travel must be completed within the year. It is available on a new booking only and applies to a maximum of two passengers, provided both passengers are booked at the same time.

The discount applies exclusively on published fares for Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada rouge designated flights. Flight pass purchases are not eligible for the discount and promo codes cannot be combined with other discount codes. Please note the fare displayed on the Select Flights screen will reflect the discount rounded to the nearest dollar. Thank you for contacting our office and choosing Air Canada for your travel needs.”

Yes, although hard to believe, that was their shameful, offensive response. It just sickens me when airlines act this way and especially when they get away with it as they oftentimes do. I implore you not to choose Air Canada because they are certainly part of that group if not the highlight of it.

You have/had several issues at LAX and at VC airport. I will get into VC in a moment, but your front line staff at LAX are in dire need of not only customer service retraining, but one of your check-in clerks tried to assault me by throwing a green carrier back that I had left at the desk directly at me when I was in the women's room, desperately trying to redistribute the weight of my bags.

The middle-aged, dark-haired female baggage clerk at 5:20 a.m. on Tues., March 28 at LAX airport, was second from the last (L-R) at check-in. Because of the changes in baggage rules, stores across America have SHRUNK the sizes of bags to fit in overhead, so that people won't have to pay the extra fees. When I bought new bags on Monday, I had very little choice of sizes.

I did arrive with too many small bags and two suitcases. However, regardless of the number of passengers who arrive in this condition, no one should be treated like a 5-year-old, by the check-in agent who is the one acting like a 5-year-old with authority. Below is a verbatim conversation I had with the Air Canada check-in agent at LAX after putting two bags on the scale, the one who eventually threw the suitcase at me in the ladies room:

"Come back here to me because I have your baggage claim for the first bag."

I was in the ladies room with everything open and dumping everything out. While I was breaking out in a sweat after driving all night from Phoenix and stressing (this is 5:30 a.m.), the check-in woman came into the ladies room and THREW A GREEN CARRY ON BAG AT ME(!) saying, "And you had so many you forgot this one!" Your employee threw a bag at my head! I am seriously considering calling LAX because there was a cleaning lady in the room when the event happened and they may have video tape in the sink area.

When I got down to correct size and weight, an employee told me where to stand, and I kept trying to get the clerk's attention as she told me to come back to her and she completely ignored me.

I'm 56 years old, but 36 hours and no sleep and being treated like I was a five-year old, I just started sobbing into a Kleenex in the middle of a very crowded line. A supervisor came up to me, and when I explained, she arranged to weigh my bags and I paid for the $70 for the extra bag. However, she did not give me a boarding pass. She went to the agent who denied everything (I think she had second thoughts about throwing that bag at me in the bathroom). The supervisor had to reissue my boarding pass because the first one was lost.

We landed LATE in VC, everyone on the LAX flight had to catch the flight to Shanghai and we only had 40 minutes. We were following the signs when an airport/AC(?) (both denied misdirecting us) employee told me and several other passengers to BYPASS the Immigration line and go through another way, where we were promptly turned around and sent to the back of the Immigration Line. Now I was really getting upset. There is no way to clear customs and catch that flight.

Why on earth did you schedule the plane change on such a tight schedule at 9 a.m. on a Tues. morning?

A female Air Canada employee shouted, "Shanghai" and a group followed her who were given pink boarding passes and sent to the gate where we boarded right away. There were NO OTHER PEOPLE IN THE AIRPORT. I asked the woman what was going on and she said, "This isn't my job. I'm trying to help you." If that wasn't rude enough, when I was given my boarding pass, I mentioned to the gate agent that there were at least 50 passengers suck in Immigration who were on this flight. His exact words to me were, "AIR CANADA WAITS FOR NO ONE."

Well, you did wait for those passengers, and this complaint can be found on my travel blog.

I agreed to this and then I was told I cannot book my other son for this flight because it is non-transferable. I spoke to two different individuals, the last person being Charlene ** and she referred me to you saying that it is possible that you may be able to issue a proper refund or credit. I do not even need this. All I need is to transfer the name of Tristen ** to Hunter **. I understand policies but this whole situation is unacceptable to me. I have already lost ($300 on rebooking and $100 on extension) if booking can still happen but, at this point, it looks as if I will lose the whole $1446.96 (unearned revenue for Air Canada).

This issue needs to be dealt with immediately as I do not expect to have to pay the amount that the flights will surely go up with delay. I will add that both of your representatives were friendly but seemed unable to help with this .They also explained to me your policies regarding rebooking and non-transferable along with the year policy with the credit. I do not accept any of this. I have no interest in having to take care of this through social media but this is my next step. I feel as though I am being taken for fee after fee by these policies. I await your response.

Just a note: Any allergy can become life threatening at any time without prior notice. Any person who has even had a mild allergic reaction to nuts, milk, eggs etc. can go into fatal anaphylactic shock the next time they are exposed. New allergies can occur at any time as well. On your site, when you say people with "severe allergies", you are misinformed about allergies. If you have qualified medical doctors reviewing the information, then they are misinformed. Ask an allergist or allergy specialist. Although I have never had anaphylactic reactions to nuts on a plane, it does not mean that I can be complacent. The only thing I realized after this atrocious situation was that Air Canada is protecting its own hide and has no interest in customer service or basic human compassion.

Allergies are already a disability someone has to deal with daily. You can surely understand why someone would not want a reaction to food (that could have easily been replaced with something else) when they have no access to medical attention. And to address the response that it is an infringement to others' rights, it is an infringement to my rights not to be allowed to fly in a safe environment.

Like I mention in the blog, I have never asked for any extraordinary measures to be made. And to address the response that other people are free to bring their own bags of nuts on the plane, I say yes they are. And I am free to ask them to refrain from eating them. If they refuse to comply, I should have the opportunity to move seats, or they can be relocated. It is a matter of health, and I have to be able to advocate on my own behalf. The only concession I require is that nuts not be served near me. I usually bring along enough snacks for everyone in the adjacent rows as well. I have no problem letting people know that their very small sacrifice of going nut free on the plane is greatly appreciated. There are some excellent nut-free trail mixes, cookies, crackers and granola bars available. There is no reason the airlines could not use these products.

Air Canada has turned me off flying for good. Unfortunately, I am overseas and terrified to board a plane again after the horrible treatment of the Air Canada staff. I have a peanut allergy and have flown many times on many different airlines without incident. Sometimes the flight staff is helpful, sometimes not. I was appalled at the atrocious treatment we received on our flight from Calgary to Los Angeles. I was flying from Calgary to Brisbane with a plane/airline change in Los Angeles. I had my husband and 2 children with me as we were moving overseas. I had made all necessary precautions. I had called the airline twice prior to leaving to ensure a note was on my ticket about the allergy. I never ask for unreasonable actions to be taken, like making the entire flight nut free. I know that is not reasonable or possible. I don't even care if they make an announcement; I can inform people near me if I need to. All I need them to know is I have an allergy, where I am seated, and that I require they don't serve nuts near me. I will worry about the rest myself. I always have.

Upon entering the plane, I informed the first flight staff about the allergy and my seat number. She looked annoyed and asked me if I had an EpiPen with me. I always bring 2 on long flights, just in case. That is when things went sideways. Next thing I know, the plane is completely full and a very abrasive woman comes with a large manual to point very aggressively at a statement about their policies. She informs me and my family that we are to disembark the plane immediately as I never received medical clearance to fly. I was stunned. This had never happened before. We gathered our things and left the plane. I was visibly upset. I was trying to ask her questions as we proceeded back to the terminal. She informed my husband that he needed to "calm me down" or we would be escorted from the airport.

I was never told that I needed medical clearance to fly. I was trying to hold it together. My kids were getting upset as well. We explained that we had a connecting flight to Brisbane, and had just traveled from Halifax, and had nowhere to go. They were going to "try" and get me the medical clearance. They let us on the plane again, but then shortly after, we were told to leave again. Then they let us back on the plane again. I signed a waiver that if I died, it was not Air Canada's fault. Then they said we had to get off the plane again. They kept asking if I had ever had a reaction on a flight before. I kept repeating that I had not, three times! Everyone on the small flight is looking at us. Everyone is angry. The plane is very late already. They tell us we are delaying the plane too long and people will miss their connecting flights. I know, we are about to miss ours!

We are standing in the terminal in disbelief. By this time, my kids and I are all very unhappy. My husband is very angry. They have removed our luggage from the plane for the third time. When someone yells that I have clearance and can board. We are rushed on the plane, but not before we are inadvertently told that the note on my file that stated I had a nut allergy was in fact clearly written on my ticket. There should have been no confusion. If they required medical clearance, they did not tell me.

Here is the final kicker. As we are walking down to board the plane for the fourth time, my husband said something along the lines of "This is **". Not appropriate, but I think that was rather restrained considering. All of a sudden we are surrounded by security staff that insists we apologize to the Air Canada staff or we won't be allowed to fly. The flight attendant is bawling, like we have done her a great injustice. We are forced to apologize. She won't even look at me the entire flight.

When we finally get seated again, I can't even speak because I am so upset. I sit and stare straight ahead for 3 hours. I am appalled at the treatment we received. The announcement made by the pilot was equally disturbing. He said it was not Air Canada's fault; it was a policy they had to follow. If it is not their fault, whose fault could it possibly be? And of course there is always some ignorant person on the plane who very loudly states, "All this for a stupid nut allergy, just kick them off." As if I have any control over having an allergy. If I had the choice, I would obviously get rid of it. I was born with it and will die with it, hopefully not on a plane though.

As you can imagine, the delay in getting the bag has cost me about $600 at a very minimum and this does not include the things in the bag that I have not needed to replace yet. My basic questions that I asked through all communication formats were:

5. How will you pay me this compensation?

I am not kidding when I say that they have not answered a single one of these questions properly. Offering $100 compensation is a joke. I even wrote to their compensation department (which is ridiculous that in this century that is the only way of contacting someone) and still no answers. Absolutely appalling. I have told everyone I know to never fly Air Canada.

We missed two paid days at a Sandals Resort for which I had a very expensive upgraded room. Air Canada wouldn't offer 1 cent of compensation even though they had our money for a flight to Vancouver but just up and cancelled. How can they be permitted to treat customers in such a manner? Air Canada Vacations was even worse. They denied any and all responsibility, happy to take our money but not one bit interested in ensuring you get what you have paid for. Air Canada Vacations will never see a dime of my vacation money again. This was the third trip we had booked with them in the past 4 years but I can guarantee there won't be a 4th. No other business would be permitted to operate using such practices and I can't understand how this type of behavior is tolerated by authorities who should definitely force them to be accountable to paying customers. If they were held to task and had to answer for such travesties in customer service, that might instill some incentive for them to improve.

Yesterday, I called in at Air Canada's helpline again, but at this point, it's too late. I have to pay a fare difference of $700 just to get out by tomorrow or day after, for something that is clearly not even my fault. I have a deadline to meet and a job to join by the 1st of January 2013. All because of the mistake that agent made, this will cost me my job in Pakistan. My seat has now been booked for the 11th January (since that's the only date when there's no fare difference), but the damage has been done. Furthermore, I have nowhere to go at this point. My trip to Canada is over. I came here to do a short course at Durham College. It's done now. I left my accommodation and I don't have enough cash to stay at a hotel. I have nowhere to go for the next two weeks.

Please, if Air Canada claims to be the best Airline in North America, kindly tell me where I went wrong here and why am I liable to pay $700 for flight ticket difference? Can't someone even call in just to inquire about something or do you people just cancel their tickets right away without any prior notice, confirmation or anything? I'm extremely disappointed with your service. Kindly help me out here. I have clearly suffered enough. I can't go through this suffering for another two weeks.

Further information: I have called on the helpline of Air Canada, asking them to please waive my fare difference since I need to get out as early as possible. They bluntly said no to my request and said there's nothing that can be done. Also, the only choice I have now is to fly out on the 11th of January 2013, with a 9-hour stay at Dubai Airport, which I initially did not have in my flight that was mistakenly cancelled by Air Canada's agent. I would like compensation for the damage Air Canada has caused, the fare difference at this point, and the cost of my accommodation after the 28th until 11th January.

The YYC-IAH flight AC8106 left late by about 75 minutes and finally arrived at 11:47pm without my luggage. I waited for 15-20 minutes by the luggage belt to be re-assured by the Air Canada and its partner United Airlines staff that my bag had been already re-routed to SAT since it was its original destination. I finally arrived in SAT after a few hours of sleep via the UA4188 flight. To my horror, my luggage was not at the UA baggage claim counter but was traced still waiting at IAH. The AC/UA staff broke their promise that my luggage was going to be there for me when arriving in SAT.

At 10:00am, the UA baggage claim lady quickly found my lost bag at IAH and promised that it will be on the next plane leaving IAH to SAT. They are UA flights (AC partner) at 11:26am and 12:50pm. ** said to expect a call after lunch to confirm if we want this luggage delivered to our hotel or if we wanted to pick it up. We called the 1-800-335-2247 at 2:10pm to ascertain the status of this bag. The website showed useless info by saying "Tracing process continues, check back later!" The rep at the call center located in India indicated that another promise to us was broken. This suitcase was not going to be on a plane until the much later UA1223 flight arriving in SAT at 9:43pm.

This means that I lost a full vacation day mostly waiting in airports or on a tarmac to finally arrive without my luggage and get the runaround for tracing my luggage. My experience with AC is so disappointing and further confirms to me that whenever given the choice between AC and another carrier, I choose the latter. How will AC compensate me for this terrible and stressful experience in trying to regain my confidence in your company? I am a woman traveling in a foreign country with limited mobility and I am wearing a bed sheet sitting in my hotel room waiting for my bag to come ... not enough tears to express how I feel being treated by AC right now!

When we got to Edmonton International Airport that night, we found out that people had gotten bumped as the Montreal Alouettes were flying to Montreal and I'm sure they did not purchase tickets in March for this flight. All my complaining did pay off as my son and I got on the flight, but other people did not. I emailed Mr. Rovinescu in regard to this matter of basically stepping on the ordinary person to accommodate so-called celebrities yesterday, but never received an apology or any type of reasoning as to why when all 3 last names were the same and the tickets were all booked at the same place and time. Someone did not clue in and think family of 3 traveling together, maybe we'd better not split them up.

I just wanted to let the general public know so they can avoid Air Canada, where the ordinary customer does not come first. I've sent letters to the editors of the Edmonton Sun as well as The Guardian and Journal-Pioneer on PE. I also emailed the Alouettes to let them know what Air Canada attempted to do to us and what they did to other people, but have never received a response from anyone at the Alouettes.

Their solution was to to charge an additional $700 to put us on the next flight after we had already paid in full. My wife was not feeling well, was on chemo and terminally ill. They took none of these facts into consideration. These guys are jerks, do not have to compete or be good to their customers because they are owned by the Canadian government. I will never fly or recommend Air Canada to anyone ever again.

Once we boarded the plane, the delays continued. First, we were told that paperwork was not finished so we had to wait. Then when the paperwork got there, the flight plan had expired so they had to file a new one. We finally took off over two hours late. Of course, we were concerned about our connecting flight. When we got to Montreal, there was still time to make our flight, but here is where the really unacceptable delay occurred causing us to miss our connection. Air Canada agents came and found some people who were on an even earlier flight to Chicago and rushed them through security. I suggested to my group (still 7 at this point) that we follow them, but we played by the rules and stayed in line. Big mistake. Never play by the rules in Montreal!

Even though we never left the secure area, we had to go through two security checks, two customs checks, and countless other lines where all they did was scan our boarding pass and allow us to continue. At one point, we were in a long hallway and could see four more queues ahead of us. When we got through one queue, we would get immediately into the next one a few feet (meters) later. When we got to the gate, they had given away four of our seven seats. Two of our group did board and they waited until 7pm to take off on the scheduled 5:35pm flight. My wife was also asked to board but she refused to fly without her husband. Why did they scan our boarding passes so many times if not to see where we were in the airport? This was just plain ridiculous.

Next, we were assigned to fly on the plane from hell! That plane was to take off at 7:40pm and get us into Chicago Sunday night. Plus they gave us $100 each except for my wife as a consolation prize. We told them we were never flying Air Canada again, so credit was not going to cut it. We wanted cash. After eating on your dime, we boarded the plane and hoped we would get home by midnight, but this was not to be. The plane took off at 8:20pm (40 minutes late). Meanwhile, our son began his 90-minute drive to the airport in Chicago to pick us up. Somewhere before flying over Detroit (as shown on your monitor at each seat), we were told that the plane had a problem and we would have to divert to Toronto. You would not believe the screams of horror from the passengers including us. How many more things could go wrong? We were about to find out.

We landed in Toronto and waited at a gate to see if the problem could be fixed. After 20-30 minutes, we are told that the problem could not be fixed and we were going to taxi over to another gate. We waited another 20-30 minutes for a gate. We spent another 20-30 minutes driving over to the new gate. By this time, our son is sitting in the cell phone lot at O'Hare field in Chicago. More waiting and we finally are able to get off the plane at 11:30pm. We were told that Air Canada would put us up in a hotel and give us something to eat. None of this came to be. By 12:30am, it is now obvious that our other two bags (which you charged us a whopping 110 Euros, US$139.54, to carry) were not going to arrive in Toronto. We are told to check in the morning which we did, and they could not find the bags. Meanwhile, our other two pieces of luggage have been collected in Chicago by the two people who went ahead on flight 8657. Their names were originally on those bags. They had the bags locked in the baggage office in Chicago with our name clearly marked. We then had to collect their bag in Toronto, which we did do. Eventually, we had the Chicago office send this bag to the Wisconsin home of the other couple.

In Toronto, we waited for meal vouchers that would have been unusable anyway due to the late hour (now 12:45am), but they never came. We watched for 20 minutes as a line of 50-75 people wait for the so-called shuttle to take them to the hotel and make a very smart decision to skip the four queues (line for the shuttle, line to check into hotel, line to check out of hotel, and the line for the shuttle back to the airport) all of which had to happen in a 4-hour span plus we also had to sleep during that time. The five of us decided to sleep in the airport so we could be sure to be there in the morning when it was time to check in. The next day, we talked to people who had waited for the shuttle and found out that the wait was one hour. We were then happy with our decision to sleep at YYZ.

On Monday morning, my wife checked with baggage and was told they did not lose the bags, but they did not know where they were. Okay! We board flight 7859 and flew to Chicago. Meanwhile, our son had to drive 90 minutes home the night before, get a short sleep, and drive 90 minutes back to pick us up after getting permission to take off work. We arrived on time and filed for lost luggage. On Tuesday, we are told the bags have been found and will be shipped to Chicago. From the tags, it appears they were lost in Toronto somewhere. We hope to see them on Tuesday. Wrong! On Wednesday, we made several phone calls and sent several emails and all we hear is "Please wait!"

At 10:32pm CDT, Global Delivery called and said they have the bags and can bring them tonight. We are going to bed so we decided to wait until Thursday. He said they would arrive by 1pm. At 1:21pm, a man from the delivery service calls and has the bags and is in the vicinity, but needs directions. At 1:55pm, the man arrives with the bags. I verified that everything is in the bags and no damage has occurred. The nightmare was over after 107 hours. If you had not given away our seats on flight 8657, I would not be writing this letter. The trip would have been terrible for sure, but at least if we had gotten home the same day and if we had our luggage, we would have written this off as a horrible travel day.

After my January heart attack, it is impossible for me to fly. So I lose the entire $326.08. I cannot transfer that portion to my husband. The $326.08 is lost entirely! He has been informed that a proposed trip to the Maritimes will require a $ 150.00 re-booking fee. This means out of $652.16, we now have remaining $176.08, a loss of 73%!

Everyone in Canada hates Air Canada now. Yes, quite a few of their employees have become hard-nosed and difficult to deal with but that is the fault of the management. Employees however, are only the product of the company culture and the culture at Air Canada has become "beggar thy neighbour". It is appalling to see the arrogant executives walk away with their unearned millions while the airline herds its cattle class passengers around the country. They have destroyed a once great company by shifting all the profits into executive salaries, bonuses and shareholders pockets while the company is drained of resources.

I am also appalled at Aeroplan and the theft of frequent flyer miles by "obstacle corridor" tactics. Obstacle corridors are designed to make a reward, any reward or gift, so time-consuming and difficult to claim that customers abandon it out of frustration. This is a growing field of marketing for obvious reasons in spite of its inherent corruption. Anyone similarly upset should join the class action suit against Air Canada online and try as much as possible to boycott the airline. Aeroplan was hived off of Air Canada so they could pretend they were not the instigators of this. It is thoroughly outrageous and manipulative.

I would also caution people about WestJet which is pretty much the only other airline in Canada. It remains to be seen how they will behave if Air Canada crashes. Their philosophy also seems to be one of corporate entitlement and reward. So far however, they have had to cater to the customers but they may not care if they become in a monopoly situation.

Let us remember these airlines fly because the taxpayers built the airports, paid for the research into the science and business of aeronautics, subsidized these companies research and development, paid 2/3 of all costs of the university and college degrees held by the employees and management, built the highways and connecting transportation to the airports, pay still for the the regulatory structure to keep the airlines audited and safe and have no say in how these companies are governed.

Without some kind of change to the governance structure, management will continue to be able to raid these companies when they choose for their own enrichment and we the public will be forced to support them because they will be "too big to fail, or to few to fail". I do not look forward to the future of flying.

Then she tells me I have to ship via FedEx, so I find the FedEx office ans send bag. Then I call to find out about missing items. I was told to file online. I file online and wait 3 weeks, never hear anything or even get mail. I call, they now tell me I cannot file online and I have to fill in and send through PO. I said, "Where does it say that." He cannot tell me I go online to Air Canada and under baggage tab it says lost and found. This is form I filled out, I tell him. He says that is the wrong form. So I ask were is the right form, he cannot tell me.

So far, I have wasted 6 or 7 hours and paid for parking. No one returns calls. No one can give straight answer. I tried filing a complaint, but need to send fax, imagine that. Do not use this airline! It is a joke!

But AC (and the partner services they use) have a staggering, flat rate cancellation charge of $269.77. So on a hotel booking charge of $783 which I cancelled 5 minutes after making the reservation, I was charged $269! The explanation they gave was that they were just passing on the charge from the hotel chain (I have not experienced any hotel in the world that would do this). Beware! Never book a hotel or any other travel related services through Air Canada!

I spent three hours on the phone to file for delayed baggage and share my concern. The representative promised that I will be reimbursed for all the costs incurred due to the delay and additional costs if we do not get our baggage by morning. The baggage did not come the next morning as well. I left without the baggage (from Calgary at my brother's residence). The baggage arrived after more than two days at the Calgary address.

As advised by Air Canada, I submitted the claim with all the supporting documents, and it cost me more than US$11 to mail than to fax. After almost a month, I received a US$200 check that I refused to take and returned it back. After another two weeks, Air Canada sent again a US$200 check that was again returned back by me.

On October 11, 2011, I received a letter saying that they are sorry, but they regret that they are unable to offer any compensation after legal review.

I would like to bring this to the knowledge of appropriate organizations for Air Canada to respect the mental and financial distress they cause to passengers due to their staff's negligence and lack of competence or training.

Today is the first time in my 12 years of domestic travel that I have been denied the right to carry my guitar on board with me. The agent told me that this is the policy of the airport, not Air Canada, and that I had to check the guitar. I know this is not true as I traveled from Ottawa airport twice in the last 30 days with my guitar in a cloth case on board, both times. I told her this and she tried to tell me that was not possible. She would not even offer me a gate check tag, which I know is available to people with strollers much larger than my guitar so I protected my personal property, canceled my Air Canada flight and booked with WestJet. When I came back to the Air Canada lineup, my wife was still checking in and it was very clear to the agent, as I had Westjet ticket in hand and my guitar on my shoulder, that indeed I could carry on my guitar if I traveled with WestJet.

The fact that your agent and her supervisor insisted that I could not travel from Ottawa with my guitar as carry-on is untruthful, and the fact that they suggested I was not telling the truth is highly offensive. My wife and I travel for our separate businesses a great deal and we're looking forward to sharing a flight together. Your uncivil staff caused us much stress, financial loss and hassle and forced us to travel separately.

I also must say that I travel a fair amount internationally and have never been denied the right to carry my guitar on board even when carrying a guitar in a large flight case and quite prepared to check my guitar: in Madrid, Frankfurt, Havana, Puerto Vallarta, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Warsaw, Narita, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago. My guitar goes on board with me. No other airlines put people through what your agents did to me yesterday and you are considered our national airline!

You just lost a customer and I am beginning to believe what people are saying about Air Canada's unspoken but obvious mandate: We're not happy until you're not happy.

Helen Gaulin, helen.gaulin@aircanada.ca, Customer Service Minion, 403-440-3117

It's a shame that the top brass at Air Canada can't seem to run this company, because the people who work for you and listen to customer complaints seem very nice and able to do their job. I can't help but wonder how much taxpayer money goes into this company. I think it's going to waste if 5 out of 6 flights were screwed up. This summer, we are driving to Quebec. Less stress that way.

The flight too was less than enjoyable. The air hosts were unprofessional and made mistakes everywhere.

Overall, I am very disappointed in this company. Unfortunately, no other company flies to my area. If there were other choices, then I would surely fly with another airline. Yes, I would pay extra just to be with another airline.

This has been my worst flight experience ever and I have flown with many different companies.

And if anyone didn't already know, in some of my research I found out that they have an auction in their Quebec warehouse every so often for unclaimed luggage which apparently is internal so employees can purchase it . No wonder their employees don't care that they lose our luggage because then they buy our stuff for nothing. Major inconvenience, every time a flight comes their lines are full of people experiencing the same thing. I have traveled all over the world, live in Canada but have never experienced anything like this except in my home country.

After my flight occurs, I called back, get the duplicate $75 change fee reversed. Since the flight is over, reservations can no longer help. I'm told there is no phone access to Air Canada customer service. I tried to email, but got an auto-response saying they will review my request within 3 weeks. Caution to all travelers, there is no customer service at Air Canada. You cannot talk to customer service. They accept email or fax only, and they respond at their own convenience (as you'll hear among other reports on this site).

I have tried contacting Air Canada via Twitter as well, but I am getting the same runaround. They say to send an email, since they have no phone access. This is only my second time using Air Canada, and the last time I use Air Canada. Absolutely horrible customer service. I'm out $75 because of their incompetence. but more frustrated about the fact that you cannot resolve a customer issue with a phone call to Air Canada. Ridiculous.

To get to the counter, there was a line of at least fifty people waiting to drop off luggage. They accepted that I shortcut the line to request for the assistance of an agent. The Air Canada official at the desk told me she would call an agent. I explained to her which flight I was trying to check in on. When an agent finally came, he told me it was too late to check-in and that I had to pay a penalty to change my ticket. I missed my connection by train from Penn station because of this mishap, and I find it unacceptable that they don't have sufficient personnel at the airport.

I was equipped with both the print out of my e-ticket and my electronic passport + the bank card I paid the ticket with. If this was not enough for their automated check-in, surely their electronic equipment is insufficient. I called customer service where I was told that I had to send them an email with my complaint and that they would respond within six weeks. They denied any refund at all, pretending that security was their priority!

Nevertheless, the aircraft was boarded and the doors were closed 30 minutes early and the flight departed early, preventing my wife from being found and allowed to travel. Her baggage was not offloaded. I overheard AC staff saying the flight must not be delayed to do this offload. This is a gross violation of FAA/TSA security regulations. I was rushed on board, unable to communicate with my wife. Her vital medications were in a carry on with me and not with her. She was not traveling against doctor’s advice.

I lost money on non refundable tickets both on AC and for domestic flights and hotels in China and replacement medications. I paid excess baggage fees on these flights because my wife’s baggage was with me and not her. Travel insurance would not have covered these expenses as she has a pre-existing condition. I suffered extreme stress and anguish. Also, Air Canada refused to refund any money and have refused to answer my complaint further or discuss the security breaches. The Canadian Transportation Agency has declined to do anything as they want to protect their flag carrier.

This resulted to monetary losses, including non refundable air tickets on Air Canada, internal flights in China, as well as hotels and replacement medications for my wife.

I find this totally unacceptable and am appalled at their complete lack of assistance in resolving this situation. My bank have told me what they need to do which is simply to reverse the original request and $1998.20 of my money will immediately be unfrozen. Why don't they do it?

There was a 2 hour delay during the layover in Toronto. When my mother’s dog arrived, they would not release her to her until she paid another 46.00 for customs? We were not informed of this extra charge at any time. Furthermore, the food we had sent with Misty was still attached to the top of the kennel underneath the travel documents unopened and the water bottle was unused.

My mother’s dog was on route from Pittsburgh Airport at 8:30am until her arrival in St. Johns Newfoundland Airport at 11:30pm she had not been fed or watered. This is seriously unacceptable. I have contacted Air Canada regarding this freighting experience. I cannot describe we feel about this experience. We will never use Air Canada for any future travel bait human or other. Be advised, I will alert others of this experience.

I was told I would need to stay overnight in Toronto to catch my connection to San Francisco the next morning. This was not a problem since all I had to do was speak to any Air Canada Customer Service Agent to get a hotel and meal vouchers for my overstay in Toronto. Unbeknownst to me, and apparently Air Canada's own ticket staff, Toronto was still experiencing serious delays and operational problems. My 6:30 departure out of Quebec, after numerous delays, finally pulled up to the gate at Pearson at 1:15 am.

Exhausted, I cautiously went looking for any Air Canada Customer Service agent in a darkened and dim Air Canada Service area. What I discovered were long lines of angry and frustrated customers, all hoping to get hotel vouchers and flights rebooked from two overwhelmed customer service agents. It took one and a half hours waiting in this line to realize that I never was going to speak to anyone.

Air Canada totally mishandled this situation that for the vast majority of the hundreds of people waiting in line, including myself, the only option was to find somewhere on the floor to sleep. After trying to sleep on a ventilation grate for about 3 hours, I finally got up and went to my gate for my departure to San Francisco a few hours later.

My original mailed letter of complaint was never answered. I finally resorted to an online email exchange system that felt like an online tech support chat with someone in New Delhi. As a compensation for their incompetence, Air Canada has graciously offered me 25% off my next Air Canada flight. What a joke!

When I checked online banking a number of days later, I had a bill for $740 on my credit card. I immediately tried to call Air Canada about this (impossible apparently to call Air Canada about problems) and settled for an email. I was told to fax them the information so I did. I got the reply that they would get back to me in 3-4 weeks.

6 weeks later, I sent another email asking what was going on. I got a response from Brenda G. that said "In response to your fax of Nov 20 2009 regarding the two charges on your recent credit card statement. Please be advised that the charge of $735.35 was the original cost on the ticket. The charge of $739.91 is the additional charge for changing your flight from the 14th to the 13th. As your original fare was no longer available on the new flight, you were charged the next best fare which resulted in the additional collection."

I immediately replied back that I did not authorize this and that I would have spent an extra night in Winnipeg for $150 before doing this. I waited another week for a response and sent another email to Brenda indicating that I did not think this was fair but that I understood mistakes happen and would be willing to accept a free flight or 25,000 aeroplan miles in lieu of the $740 overcharged.

It has been sometime now and no response from this woman. I have a receipt for the $75 I was supposed to pay, and there is nowhere that it says that was supposed to be $740. It seems to be Air Canada's policy to simply ignore complaints until people get sick of dealing with it and drop it. They know that no one can afford a lawyer to deal with a $750 complaint.

Air Canada changed the booking itinerary - the first time by 10 minutes, which was okay because I could still meet my flight. A week later, they changed it again and I got an email at midnight of 7th telling me that it’s changed. This time they changed it by two hours. I will arrive in Calgary at 14:19, which will make me miss my Westjet flight. I walked up on the 8th and started calling Air Canada. After 6 attempts (because their phone systems were having issues and cannot run a phone system, I would be worried about them flying plans), I got my first chance to talk to someone. I explained my situation. And I was offered two choices. One is an earlier flight at 7:00 or a refund. I explained that an earlier flight means inconvenience for me and a hotel room, as there is no bus earlier so I would have to come in the day before. I am willing to handle the inconvenience but did not want to pay $130+ for a hotel. I was told Air Canada doesn’t pay for hotels.

I explained that a refund is not an option as I am not able to get other flights at any even remotely close price range as of the time factor. So, I suggested that they get me a flight from Calgary to Fort Mcmurray and I was told that they will not do that as they have no affiliation with WestJet. I asked to speak to a supervisor. This was when the phone systems malfunctioned again and I lost my connection. I called again and went through the whole thing again - Step 1: the explaining, to step 5: the hang up. We repeated these steps 4 times, each time taking anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes and a lot or restraint from my side. On the 4th time, I was told that the supervisor on duty was not there right now and a message was left on their voice mail, and I will be contacted.

Through asking around, our group finally made it to the bus and the hotel. I was given a room with no bed! I finally got my room and was told to be ready for the bus at the lobby at 6am the next day. The wake-up call was automatically set for me, as I later realized, at 5am. So I got up and ate my breakfast and checked out my room. Then, I was told at the lobby that the bus won't come until 8am! I am fine with all the flight schedule changes but the lack of coordination and poor management caused a great deal of discomfort and stress throughout the process. As a result, I missed my son's birthday party. My wife couldn't reschedule it because the next weekend we would be traveling and not be able to meet with friends.

Real scenario with easier numbers; first, I buy a tango plus ticket online from Air Canada for $300 + $45 taxes, a total of $345 for the ticket. Second, I cancel the ticket due to change in plans. Third, I have no choice but to call Air Canada to rebook the ticket. I booked 1 month out and the fare price is now $200.I get zero refund. I also pay $115 in change fees for having to rebook the ticket on the phone. The original $300 does not cover the change fees even though the new fare is lower. Total paid is $345, plus $115 for a total of $460.00. Lastly, I had to cancel this second itinerary. I called again, $115 in change fees were added a second time. The new fare this time is $385.00. Guess what?! They calculated the difference that I now owe as $385 less $200 equals an additional $185 more. I now owe another $300. Total paid is $760.00.

This is ridiculous. No company in the world that interacts with consumers gets away with these calculations to gauge customers than Air Canada. I asked the rep on the phone if that seems fair that they re-calculate from a price of $200, not the original $300 I paid, and not the cumulative amount I paid since cancelling and rebooking once. She was very rude and said they "are an airline, not a t-shirt company."

It wouldn't be so bad if these customer service representatives weren't so rude and disgruntled already. If I had another choice (I don't), I would never ever use Air Canada again. I have had to unrightfully repay numerous times on a ticket that I already have a large credit for which should sufficiently cover either the change fees and/or the fare difference. They do not allow you to do this.

Well before boarding commenced I lined up to receive seat assignment, but the single agent handling all pre-boarding matters was so busy with phone calls, etc., he required 40 minutes to service only the 8-10 passengers ahead of me. Consequently I was only assigned a seat at the very last minute-after standing unnecessarily in line-and boarded. I received a window seat but needed an aisle seat since I must use the toilet frequently. During the flight an attendant handed me a message stating that my luggage was not aboard the flight.

The boarding agent did not call for assistance, thus not only delaying the flight's departure, but the flight attendant then lied about the reason for delay in his PA announcement upon takeoff. The boarding agent had every reason to know that the luggage of last minute boarders would not be loaded, since security requires that flyer must be boarded-or at least have a seat assignment- before his luggage will be loaded. Since the boarding agent was so far behind, many other passengers had their luggage withheld, yet no steps were taken to augment the sole clerk at the lost baggage office at LAX, thus increasing delays for passengers since registering a lost bag is a fairly lengthy process.

The in flight video was screwed up from the beginning but it took the crew 30+ minutes to realize it and initiate a lengthy re-boot. When AC's video is not functioning it is maddening to deal with, since there is not indication that it is mis-booted. It simply acts as if it should work, but doesn't. Only 5 minutes before boarding the agent announced that the purser was not given change for on board purchases. At this point it would have been impossible for passengers to race 100 meters to attempt to get change. It was simply idiotic.

- $409 - much anxiety - unnecessary anxiety for my dog - Air Canada ignoring intent of govt judicial body ruling

I was given the run-around and eventually submitted a written claim. I spent a couple hours filling in AC forms and included original receipts to sustantiate a claim for over $500 in damage. I received a partial payment of $130 and a letter that denied liability for damage that was entirely the airlines doing. They basically deny liability for 99.9% of items that are commonly packed in baggage and deemed tariff restricted by AC. My goods were not fragile, in fact the destroyed items were ruggedly built and intended for rough use outdoors.

This attempt to deny responibility for damage AC obviously caused is heavy handed in my view. I spent several hours trying to deal directly with AC staff at both the Prince Rupert and Victoria airports. The agent in Victoria took my damaged bag and told me it would be replaced in a couple of weeks. It is 20 weeks later and still no replacement. I informed Ms. Lisa Ross (customer advisory rep.) on Oct 20th of this oversite, and I informed her that it will cost me $62.15 in addition to my original claim. I can only assume they want to deny liability for this too. Who knows what other options may be available to me to persue a claim? Is small claims court an option? On principle, I will follow up this matter in small claims court if this is an option. Bob K.

My cost to replace 3 damaged items and 1 lost item totals $570

Whether the length of the failure was unexpected or not, the airline should honor those purchasing tickets the next day at the originally available prices. It is only the airline's failure that prevented the purchases. After a full day of phone calls, I'm resorting to blogging the issue. This has to have affected a lot of travelers who may be unaware of what happened.

Airfare/price increase of USD41.93 due to website failure and no remediation by Air Canada.