Air Canada Blues

Oh, Air Canada, if only you had more competition...

Hubby and I flew Air Canada to the Great White North for Christmas Holidays. Must admit that we used air miles and did not pay for the tickets. Loved the personal video screens for each seat and that Air Canada flies out of Terminal D at DFW -- the shiny new terminal. Hated Air Canada's customer service. Guess we're used to flying American Airlines, where everyone now uses self-check-in and so waiting to check-in is usually no more than five minutes. At DFW, Air Canada had no one working the self-check-in desk the morning we flew, and so we waited 30 minutes to check-in while watching people breeze through American Airlines check-in. The other bizarre thing is that after showing picture identification and a boarding pass, Air Canada attendants' require that you show your boarding pass yet again when you enter the airplane. This results in a line and delays boarding. Why show your boarding pass on the plane yet again? Most people know where their seats are, and if not, the seats are marked. Also we experienced a couple of passenger trying to switch seats while people are boarding. This should only be allowed at the desk prior to boarding.

Another gripe is the fact that we have to go through security yet again when getting a connecting flight through Toronto. At no time after landing and before going through Canadian Customs did we leave a secure area, and yet we were required to have our carry on bags go through security. Oh, well, an extra layer of security. The worst part of this was the surly security personnel -- the rudest around. Let's just say that after flying for awhile I have a system of where I place my bags, liquids, coat, shoes, and this involves a couple of containers. The surly security woman made me take things out even though everything was ready to go through the security x-ray. After I went through the x-ray and was waiting for my items, I pushed an empty container down to the end to get it out of my way. That's when another surly security person said: "What? Do you work here now?" Okay, I usually push empty containers to the end when waiting for my items because it helps other people along, and most times I'm thanked by the security personnel who are so busy. The guy who went through the x-ray before me was also annoyed by their rudeness and told the security people to "lighten up". I really do not want to make a connecting flight through Toronto ever again.

Oh, but the last straw was our flight back to DFW. Our first flight was from Ottawa to Toronto on Air Canada. Everything was going well and we were on schedule UNTIL the flight crew made the decision to wait for three people who were making a connection. And so we waited 15 minutes for the three people, then we waited another five to ten minutes for their luggage to be put in cargo. In total, our flight was delayed by more than 45 minutes before taking off. So, in order to acommodate 3 people Air Canada made ten times that number either miss their connections or be late for connecting flights. The attendants wouldn't even announce which gates people should go to for connecting flights. Maybe they realized that some passengers had actually missed their connections. A fellow sitting beside me had less than five minutes to get to his flight. Hubby and I walked as quickly as possible to the US connections where we waited fifteen minutes for our luggage, and then proceeded to US Customs where we waited another fifteen minutes. We got there just in time to board. Don't think we'll be flying Air Canada the next time we go home. It really is too bad that there is no competition for Air Canada, because competition is what it needs to get its act together and improve.