Don't Cair Canada

Here we go again. The last time this happened, you'd have thought I learned my lesson. Apparently not. If there was a way to put Air Canada on any more notice than they are already on, I would. My latest issue is the 4th one in my last 4 trips with this airline. That's right, they are managing a 100% customer unsatisfactory rating. Their planes had no air vents on our way back from Hawaii, we were delayed twice for hours en route to Italy, they bumped me on my flight last fall, and now this.

This story begins from the last one (link above) where Air Canada pissed me off and I subsequently got a $200 voucher from them to use within a year. Since I was going to watch the TFC v. Real Madrid game in Toronto, I figured this was a way to chink away at Air Canada's profits a little.

I went to the TO airport yesterday on my way home. Because I was traveling to the airport on public transit, I wanted to get on a later flight to avoid any possibility of missing my flight. However, there were no direct flights in the early afternoon. Now, being naive (read: stupid), I figured the 45 minute layover in Winnipeg was fine. I mean, it's not like I was traveling with Air Cana... D'oh!

All I wanted was to get back in time for my soccer game last night. I knew instantly that wasn't going to happen when the AC agent at the gate came on the mic and said "I know a lot of you are frustrated..." I guess a different flight to Winnipeg got canned and people we having problems getting home. But hey, what do I care? They screwed somebody else for a change. But the message went on: "the plane has be over-fueled and they need to figure out a way to get the fuel out, so there will be a delay."

This is where it gets really funny. What does AC do next? They remove all the checked luggage from the plane and send the plane out an hour late of course! Because goal number one is maximum inconvenience. Bad airlines make Alex something something, but fortunately I didn't have any checked luggage. So they missed me on that one. Nice try though guys!

But since we left an hour late, there was virtually no way I was going to make the flight to Saskatoon. Something I was already resigned to when we left Toronto. But it turns out we were going to get to the gate in Winnipeg at 5:10PM. Since my Saskatoon flight was scheduled to leave at 5:00PM and since nobody who was connecting (and there were more than just me) had any checked luggage, all we would have had to do is run onto the plane and it could leave. A total of 10 minutes of inconvenience to the Saskatoon flight.

Of course, that wouldn't happen. All I got was a friendly "here's your new boarding pass." They didn't even apologize for the inconvenience. They must get screamed at so often by passengers they piss off, they probably stopped caring long ago. And they didn't buy me a meal for wasting 4 hours of my time either.

It really amazes me that this airline can piss so many people off and still continue to operate. When do we all smarten up and say enough is enough? This time, I am. WAKE UP PEOPLE! JOIN THE REVOLUTION! I DON'T CARE IF YOU TAKE WESTJET, OR A ZEPHYR, OR EVEN WALK! GET OFF AIR CANADA FOR GOOD!